Outlook is one of the most heavily used email services, especially inside organizations which leveraged Microsoft"s tech stack within their infrastructure. The Redmond tech giant regularly adds new features to it, delays some, and removes a few based on user feedback. Now, it has confirmed a rather annoying bug in Outlook, which it is currently investigating.
In a support article, Microsoft has described an issue in classic Outlook that causes the mouse cursor to disappear as you are hovering it within the application. Even though the pointer isn"t visible, emails in the list will change color as if you are hovering over them as you move the cursor. Interestingly, this problem has also been noted in some other Microsoft 365 applications, such as OneNote. However, the frequency is to a "lesser degree" than Outlook.
As of right now, the Outlook team is investigating the issue. It has requested IT admins experiencing the problem to open a support case, while also providing the logs for WebView2 WPR traces, so that there is more diagnostic information available for troubleshooting.
For now, though, Microsoft has offered some rather wonky workarounds for those encountering this bug. As you"re hovering your invisible cursor over emails and they change color, click on them, which may cause your cursor to reappear. The second workaround is to "open PowerPoint and click into an editable window in PowerPoint and then click back to Outlook and check if you have your mouse pointer again." Finally, if all else fails, simply restart your PC.
Needless to say, none of these options are concrete fixes or convenient, so those running into the issue would hope that Microsoft provides a more tangible fix as soon as possible. The Redmond tech giant hasn"t confirmed a timeline for a fix yet. Perhaps this is your chance to consider upgrading to the new Outlook experience?