Keep Outlook from Stealing Focus

Outlook steals focus and brings itself to the front multiple times when starting up. It's highly annoying, but it can be stopped. The villain is the /recycle switch that is added to the default shortcut for Microsoft Office Outlook in the Quick Launch toolbar. Removing the switch will make Outlook more behaved when it's starting.



However, you can get multiple Outlook windows if you use the shortcut to activate Outlook when it is already running. Replacing that shortcut to Outlook with the following AutoHotkey script will prevent a multiple window side-effect:

#NoEnv ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
SendMode Input ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir% ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
IfWinExist, ahk_class rctrl_renwnd32
WinActivate
Else Run, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE