You need to send an email with voting buttons in Outlook so recipients can vote on a proposal, meeting time, or decision without leaving their inbox. Outlook includes a built-in polling feature that adds Approve, Reject, or custom buttons to any message. This article explains how to add voting buttons to an email, how to track responses automatically, and what to do when voting results do not appear as expected.
Key Takeaways: Send and Track Voting Buttons in Outlook
- Options > Use Voting Buttons: Adds predefined or custom voting options to a new email message.
- Tracking folder in Sent Items: Shows a summary of who voted and their response directly in the message view.
- InfoBar in the original message: Displays a running tally of votes when you open the sent email.
How Outlook Voting Buttons Work
Outlook voting buttons are part of the message tracking feature. When you add voting buttons to an email, Outlook inserts a set of clickable options in the reading pane of the recipient. The recipient clicks a button, and Outlook sends a reply message back to you with the vote recorded. The vote appears as a tracked response in your Sent Items folder, not as a separate email in your Inbox.
This feature works only with Exchange, Microsoft 365, or Outlook.com accounts. It does not work with POP3 or IMAP accounts because those protocols do not support server-side tracking. The recipient must use Outlook as well for the voting button to appear. If the recipient uses a different email client, they see the voting buttons as plain text or an attachment and cannot vote with a single click.
Steps to Add Voting Buttons to an Email
- Open a new email message
In Outlook, click Home > New Email or press Ctrl+N on your keyboard. - Locate the Options tab
In the new message window, click the Options tab on the ribbon. This tab contains the Tracking group. - Click Use Voting Buttons
In the Tracking group, click the Use Voting Buttons button. A dropdown menu appears with three predefined options: Approve;Reject, Yes;No, and Yes;No;Maybe. - Choose a predefined set or create custom buttons
Select one of the predefined sets, for example Approve;Reject. To create custom buttons, click Custom at the bottom of the dropdown. - Enter custom button names
If you selected Custom, the Properties dialog opens. In the Voting and Tracking Options section, check the box labeled Use voting buttons. In the text field, type your button names separated by semicolons. For example, type Option A;Option B;Option C. Click Close. - Compose and send the message
Fill in the To, Subject, and body fields. Click Send. Outlook adds the voting buttons to the message before it leaves your Sent Items folder.
How to Track Voting Replies
After recipients vote, Outlook collects the responses automatically. You do not need to create rules or manual folders to track votes. Follow these steps to view the voting results.
- Open the Sent Items folder
In the folder pane on the left, click Sent Items. - Open the original voting email
Double-click the email that contains voting buttons. Do not use the reading pane for this step. - View the InfoBar at the top
Above the message header, Outlook displays an InfoBar that says something like: 3 of 5 recipients have responded. Click the InfoBar to see a detailed breakdown. A dialog box opens listing each recipient and their vote. - Check the Tracking tab
In the open message window, click the Tracking button in the Show group on the ribbon. The Tracking tab shows a table with Recipient, Response, and Date/Time columns.
If Voting Results Do Not Appear
Recipients use a non-Outlook email client
If a recipient uses Gmail, Apple Mail, or another client, they see the voting buttons as plain text or an attached message file. They cannot click to vote. Ask them to reply with their choice in the email body. You must manually record the vote in your tracking by opening the reply and clicking Vote > Record Vote in the message window.
Votes arrive as separate emails instead of being tracked
This happens when the recipient replies instead of clicking a voting button. The reply appears in your Inbox as a normal email. To attach it to the original vote tracking, open the reply and click Vote > Record Vote. Then drag the reply into the Sent Items folder and drop it on the original voting email.
Voting buttons are missing from the sent message
Ensure you added the voting buttons before clicking Send. If you added them after sending, they are not applied. Delete the sent message and resend it with the buttons enabled. Also confirm your account type supports voting buttons. Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings and check the account type. Exchange and Microsoft 365 accounts support voting. POP3 and IMAP accounts do not.
Predefined vs Custom Voting Buttons: Key Differences
| Item | Predefined Buttons | Custom Buttons |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | One click from the dropdown | Three clicks plus typing button names |
| Flexibility | Limited to three fixed sets | Any number of buttons with any labels |
| Best use case | Quick yes/no or approve/reject polls | Multi-option decisions or branded surveys |
| Recipient experience | Same as custom buttons | Same as predefined buttons |
Outlook voting buttons let you collect decisions directly inside email without third-party survey tools. After you send a voting email, track results by opening the sent message and checking the InfoBar or Tracking tab. For recipients who cannot use voting buttons, record their replies manually using the Vote button on the ribbon. Try adding a custom voting button set with three options to your next team decision email and watch the results accumulate in your Sent Items folder.