How to Always Open Emails in Maximized Windows

This trick lets you open full-screen emails each time

Overhead view of man working on laptop with huge monitor
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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated September 19, 2018

Opening emails in full-screen is best if you want to maximize the use of your monitor while reading messages, but if you have to keep maximizing the window each time you open a new email, there is a little trick you can perform.

Microsoft Windows saves and reuses the window size information only in its normal, non-maximized state. What you need to do, and what the instructions below explain, is resize the normal window so that when you open Outlook or some other email client, windows are sized just as you made them.

After following these steps, every time you open an email, the same window size will appear and you can quit having to manually resize the window to make it larger.

How to Always Open Emails in Maximized Windows

  1. Open any email by double-clicking or double-tapping it.

  2. Make sure the window is not already maximized. If it is, use the small box next to the exit button on the top right of the email window to restore it back to a non-maximized state.

  3. Move the window to the top left corner of the screen, as far to the corner as you can get it.

  4. From the bottom right side of the window, drag the corner to the bottom right corner of your screen. You're essentially manually maximizing the window without actually making it fit the screen perfectly.

  5. Close the email window and reopen the same one or a different email. The email should open in this semi-maximized state each time.

Repeat these steps if you need to adjust the size of the screen. You can do it as many times as you need to.