Defaylt folder keeps changing in Outlook

OKUNOWO OLUWASEGUN 21 Reputation points
2020-10-06T20:28:31.237+00:00

Sent and Deleted folders are missing, they got renamed to Inbox.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business
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4 answers

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  1. Jade Liang-MSFT 9,986 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2020-10-07T05:58:38.307+00:00

    Hi @OKUNOWO OLUWASEGUN ,

    What's the type of your account(POP, IMAP, Exchange)?

    they got renamed to Inbox.

    Did you do any special operations before it happened?
    Do your Sent and Deleted folders turn to Inbox and you have many Inbox folders now?
    As I know, there could only be one Inbox folder on a mailbox, and we couldn’t rename other folders to Inbox by any settings in Outlook client or MFCMAPI tools, so please provide me with the screenshot about your issues to further analyze your issues.(Notice: Please hide your personal information in the screenshot for security.)

    Also, to check if the issue is related to your client, it’s suggested to log in your account to the Web Mail to see if these folders could display normally.
    If they could display normally on your web mail, the issue may be related to the sync between your server and client, please try to reset your folders locally(windows + R>type "outlook.exe /resetfolders">Enter)like below and check if your issue has any difference.
    30436-snipaste-2020-10-07-11-01-22.png

    If the issue still exist, corrupted profile also may cause it, please try to recreate a new profile and re-add your account(Control Panel>Mail>Show profiles>Add>type your profile name>add your account) to check if it is effective.

    If that is not your case, please provide me with more information about your issue and I would give you more targeted help.

    Update 1:

    Did this issue only happen to you? Could other users in your organization work normally?
    Due to the issue was also occurred in OWA, it may be more related to your mailbox server instead of the client as you mentioned. What's the type of your Exchange server(on-premises or online)?

    As I know, for on-premises Exchange, we could use the New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet to repair your folder, it's suggested to try it to test if your issue has any difference.

    Update 2:

    Due to the issue is indeed related to your mailbox itself, considering your mailbox may be corrupted. In order to repair it, it's suggested to first move your mailbox from one DB to another to test.

    If the issue still exists, as a workaround, please try to convert your mailbox to a shared maillbox, then turn it back again to check if your issue has any difference.

    If it's also invalid, I'm afraid that you need to rebuild your mailbox


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  2. OKUNOWO OLUWASEGUN 21 Reputation points
    2020-10-07T09:22:03.363+00:00

    @Jade Liang-MSFT you are correct that default folder can't be renamed. The first instance that this happened, both deleted and sent items folder got changed to inbox on both OWA and outlook desktop application. I used MFCMAPI to rename deleted and sent items by changing the PR_Displayname attributes. I noted that the container class still remains IPF.note. after about 24 hours, the sent items got changed back to inbox, so having two inbox folder and on deleted folder. This time around, I still use MFCmapi to rename it. The third instance, all the three folders got changed to sent items and this got me thinking that this is not client or user issue. It happens on OWA and desktop application as well as mobile client. The worst part is email received goes to any of the folder that got changed to inbox. I Will grab a screenshot for you to see. Any assistance would be well appreciated. I have also tried using "outlook.exe /resetfolders", "outlook.exe /resetfoldernames", no luck. This behavior is strange. I have tried couples of troubleshooting such using OWA and Powershell to change the language and time format and then changing it back to the normal format. Issue keeps re-occurring.


  3. OKUNOWO OLUWASEGUN 21 Reputation points
    2020-10-13T18:01:04.707+00:00

    @Jade Liang-MSFT kindly find below the screenshot showing three sent items:
    32045-image.png

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  4. OKUNOWO OLUWASEGUN 21 Reputation points
    2020-10-13T18:07:37.887+00:00

    Did this issue only happen to you? Yes, it affect only one mailbox
    Could other users in your organization work normally? yes
    Due to the issue was also occurred in OWA, it may be more related to your mailbox server instead of the client as you mentioned. What's the type of your Exchange server(on-premises or online)? Exchange Online
    we could use the New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet to repair your folder, it's suggested to try it to test if your issue has any difference.: This cmdlet is available only in on-premises Exchange.

    I hope I'm able to provided all the needed info. @Jade Liang-MSFT

    Folder structure using MFCmapi: 32081-image.png


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