When I launch Outlook, its icon appears in the far-right end of the System Tray. (I'm not sure why this icon appears automatically, as there doesn't seem to be any box to check or uncheck anywhere in Outlook's Tools/Options tabs to let the User set this.)

Anyway, when I right-clicked on that Outlook icon in my system tray, I saw that 'Hide When Minimized' was checked. (I think I did that several weeks ago, to decrease the number of distracting icons near the system clock that I refer to all day long.) I unchecked that option, and VOILA!, now when I click my Show Desktop icon, Outlook doesn't exit by itself! (The Outlook window along my Task Bar still shows.)

I think what this means is that Outlook wasn't really exiting (as in closing itself down), it was just Hiding because 'Hide When Minimized' had been checked. So that option doesn't apply to the Outlook ICON in the System Tray, it applies to the windows that shows Outlook is a program you're rurnning!

Hope this solution works for "jerry" the Guest who originated this thread!

:-D