You’ll hate Microsoft’s new Outlook less — after facing an annoying Outlook Classic bug cranking CPU usage to 50% in Windows 11 when typing

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Microsoft has admitted to a significant issue affecting Outlook Classic users, stating that this bug leads to increased CPU consumption during application use, potentially escalating CPU usage by as much as 50% while typing within the app.

According to Microsoft:

While composing an email on the traditional Outlook for Windows, you might see the CPU usage surge to between 30-50% occasionally, which in turn boosts energy consumption. This can be noticed if you have Task Manager open as you’re typing your message.

Remarkably, it appears that this problem can be traced back to November 2025. During this time, numerous users took to social media platforms to express their concerns. A typical complaint was about the CPU usage in Outlook 2016 spiking from 16-22% while typing a message and dropping back down to 1% once typing stopped. This issue was detailed by one user on Microsoft’s Community forum.

Users reporting the problem found that disabling add-ins, graphical acceleration, and spell-check options didn’t solve the issue. It appears that this issue is unique to users on Outlook versions 2406 Build 17726.20126 and later who are part of the Current, Monthly Enterprise, or Insider channels.

In the meantime, Microsoft suggests that users who are experiencing problems due to the bug should consider switching to the Semi-Annual Channel release, as this version has not been affected by the issue.

It appears that a bug is primarily affecting Windows 11 users, which could imply that Windows 10 has remained unaffected so far. For Windows 11 users experiencing a sudden increase in CPU usage while using the Classic Outlook app during typing, it may be beneficial to switch to the Semi-Annual Channel following the steps provided below:

Steps for Switching to the Semi-Annual Channel:

1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update.
2. Click on ‘Change settings’ under ‘Important Updates’.
3. Select ‘Semi-annual (Targeted)’ and click ‘OK’.
4. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

  1. Open a Command Prompt and select the Run as administrator option.
  2. Paste the command highlighted below and press Enter: reg add HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\officeupdate /v updatebranch /t REG_SZ /d SemiAnnual
  3. Finally, navigate to File > Office Account > Update Options and select Update Now to switch to the Semi Annual Channel.

Here’s an update: This situation is still unfolding; we will closely monitor for any further updates or solutions and make sure to share them with you as they become available.

Or, more informally: We’re keeping our eyes on things here, so if there are any new twists or fixes, we promise to keep you in the loop!

Have you encountered CPU surges while typing in the traditional Outlook app on Windows 11? We’d love to hear about your experiences, so please share them below.

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2025-04-16 18:40