Outlook message window loosing focus after opening pdf attachment in adobe

There is a feature in windows 10 that can autimatically can bring the window focus back to the window under the mouse.  I just checked it and it worked for the type of scenario where outlook opens an mail in a new window and then after closing the window it brings the focus back to the outlook message window. 

In this way it is possible to go through hundreds of e-mails with attachments without having to click on the Outlook window again, or alt-tab to make it active.   T

he setting literally says "Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse".  You can find this setting under the following area:

Open the Classic Control Panel (just type control panel in windows 10 search and it's the old style one)

-> Ease of Access

-> Ease of Access Center

-> Make the mouse easier to use

-> check the box near the bottom by "Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse". 

Now whenever you close a PDF attachment the "window" under the mouse should be the outlook and, and it will automatically make it the active window after a short second.  That will enable you to then continue to use your keyboard shortcuts to navigate or simply click enter to open the next message.  This is a wrist saving feature when your job is to go through hundreds of PDFs for approval review or any time you want to quickly process a lot of e-mail without having the reach for the mouse every half-second.  

Hope it works for you.   I just confirmed it's working for me on Windows 10 Enterprise, 20H2.  I was googling for the same thing as you and it took me some time but I found the solution.  The solution was not one of the first search results in google (this was) for what I searched for (Make outlook window have focus after closing another window).   I had recently changed outlook settings to open mail in a new window, and every time I then deleted the message the main outlook window would not have focus.   With this setting turned on now it works perfectly and I don't need to hit alt-tab or click the outlook window after every e-mail.   The only negative is that now mousing over a window that's behind your current window will make it active and pull it to the front.  I actually see this as a nice feature and makes moving around windows much easier  vs having to click the title par or alt-tab to make any window you see active. With this setting all I need to do is mouse over any window I might see on screen, or on the other screen I have wich is also very nice vs having to click on it.  

I have a user with the same or similar issue.

After opening a pdf file in outlook and then closing it, outlook is no longer in focus so she has to use her mouse or hit alt-tab to refocus to outlook so she can delete it the email.

It's a major pain because she has to go through 100's of emails each day with pdf attachments and this extra step costs her a lot of time.

This just started happening to her 2 days ago.

Was there a update for Adobe Reader that would cause the last application that was open to not come back into focus? I've tested with word, excel and other attachments and this does not happen.

It seems like Adobe on close is not allowing the last application to come back into focus.

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