How do I turn off the badge showing unread message count on the icon for Outlook in my MacOS dock?

Dear Christopher Keady

I understand how stressful that persistent red unread badge can be when you are trying to keep a clean, distraction-free desktop.

You haven't missed a hidden setting. Microsoft Outlook for Mac does not have a toggle within its internal settings to disable the Dock icon badge.

The reason Microsoft Outlook is not appearing in your macOS System Settings > Notifications list is because the app has not yet registered with the macOS notification system, or its notification preferences have defaulted off at the system level.

Here is how you can resolve this and turn off the red badge:

Step 1: Force Outlook to Register with macOS Notifications

• Open Microsoft Outlook.
• Go to Outlook (top menu bar) > Settings... > Notifications & Sounds.
• Under Display alerts, temporarily check any alert box (such as Display an alert on my desktop or Sounds).
• Close Outlook Settings. This action prompts Outlook to request notification rights from macOS.

Step 2: Turn Off the Badge in macOS System Settings

• Open your Mac's System Settings (Apple menu > System Settings).
• Click Notifications on the sidebar.
• Scroll down and locate Microsoft Outlook (it will now appear in the list).
• Click Microsoft Outlook and toggle off the Badge app icon option.

Per official Microsoft documentation, application badge behaviors on macOS are governed directly by Apple's Notification Center settings once the app registers notification permissions with the OS.

Turn off or change notifications and sounds in Outlook for Mac

Outlook for Mac

Please let me know if this resolves the issue for you or if you need any further assistance.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".   

Note: Please follow the steps in the forum document to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.