iCloud emails disappeared in Outlook when moved from another account

Found the answer (and so easy!)

When an account is setup as IMAP in Outlook sometimes the folders do not display.  To get the folders to display in Outlook right click on the IMAP account in folder view > Choose IMAP Folders > Click on Query > on the ALL tab it will list all the folders on the mailserver.  Click on Subscribed tab, this tab list all the folders you are subscribed to and see in Outlook.  If a folder is not listed on the subscribe tab then go to the all tab select the folder and click on the subscribe button.

From the menu, I selected Folder > IMAP Folders > click on Query button

You will see all the folders listed, the ones without a folder icon don't appear in Outlook. Click on each file folder name and click on Subscribe button. Click Apply and OK when you have selected all your folders.

Click Send/Receive button and your folders should reappear and be populated with their emails.

I have no idea what triggered this as the folders were there for a while, some for months before they disappeared.

Kathleen, thanks for your hard work here. I had exactly the same problem - out of nowhere all my subfolders disappeared from my icloud on Outlook. Thanks to you I have managed to reinstate them.

Hello! Kathleen(Home)

Thank you for the reply!

First of all, we are glad that you have found the answer to your problem and resolved it on your own. I see so the folders were just hidden and you went to the folder view > IMAP folders > Click on the Query Button > And click All tab. Then the subfolders will show on the list and you have selected the following subfolders that were hidden/not showing in the Inbox list.

Thank you for sharing this steps. This will help other user who will encounter the same issue as you.

In my past experience, this might've caused by when moving the folders from to another, or might've clicked something since there is an option to "Hide" folders when right-clicking on the subfolders in your inbox.

But yes, please keep a backup always, I say every month or so just in case something happened in your account you will still have your backup of all your emails, subfolders, contacts, calendars, and etc. Introduction to Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost) - Microsoft Support

Best regards,

Vince

Microsoft Community Moderator

·         What version and edition of Office do you have installed in your device? Example: Personal/Family/Enterprise? – Microsoft Office Standard 2016

• You can open any Office apps
• Go to File > Accounts - on the right side you can see Product Information
  • What error message are you getting? –
    • No message, no errors found in Event Viewer.  iCloud (for Windows 10).
    • They folders and their content just disappear from Outlook.  They appear in the cloud and on my iPhone.
    • Also having problems with iCloud for Windows 10 with photos and iDrive.
  • Have you tried checking the junk/spam/deleted folders in Outlook if they are there?
    • Yes, they exist in my account online and there is nothing in my Outlook.  I have searched all emails in that account and all accounts in Outlook
  • Do you have a backup before doing this?
    • yes
  • Have you tried checking the emails in the webmail host of your email account?
    • Yes, they do exist
  • I would like to know what @domain and who is hosting your email account? example for @domains: Gmail.com, Yahoo.com, Outlook.com/Hotmail.com
    • The domain is my ISP.  Not a free or IMAP account. It is using POP.
    • May I know if the account is for Work/School use? or Personal (Hotmail/Outlook.com) use?
    • Personal, not Hotmail or Outlook.com

Please note that POP works by contacting your email service and downloading all of your new messages from it. Once they are downloaded onto your PC or Mac, they are deleted from the email service. This means that after the email is downloaded, it can only be accessed using the same computer. If you try to access your email from a different device, the messages that have been previously downloaded won't be available to you.

Sent mail is stored locally on your PC or Mac, not on the email server. For more information, you may visit: What are IMAP and POP? - Microsoft Support

• Yes, I know POP downloads from server, although I have it set up to stay on the server for 2 weeks after downloading before removing.  This allows me to keep the downloaded emails but still access them from other devices for 2 weeks if necessary.  This is working as it should.
• I am switching my email from my ISP to iCloud and there were emails that I needed to access after that 2 week period or for future references.  That is where the trouble started.
• I also have a folder with emails from GMAIL that have also disappeared.

Let’s troubleshoot this issue step by step:

1. Check Sync Status:
   • Sometimes, syncing issues can cause emails to vanish. Try the following:
     • Go to your iCloud account settings in Outlook.
     • Click on the “Send/Receive” tab.
       • The folders were created in Outlook, the folders and content disappeared. Other folders remained.  It appears to be just the folders where I moved the email or folder from my POP account.
     • Ensure that your iCloud account is set to sync properly.
       • Other emails addressed to my iCloud account have continued to work.
       • Folders created in Outlook that have only iCloud addressed emails in them continue to work.
     • Manually initiate a sync to see if your emails reappear.
       • This is not the problem.
2. Repair Your Account:
   • Repairing your email account within Outlook might help:
     • Click on File in the top-left corner of Outlook.
     • Select Info > Account Settings > Account Settings.
     • Choose your iCloud email account from the list.
     • Click Repair and follow the prompts.
       • Successful when used with Manual settings
3. Check IMAP Settings:
   • Verify that your iCloud account is set up as an IMAP account (not POP):
     • Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
     • Select your iCloud account and click Change.
     • Confirm that the account type is set to IMAP.
     • Ensure the server settings are correct (incoming server: imap.mail.me.com, outgoing server: smtp.mail.me.com).
       • Other emails are working, confirmed with other devices.
4. Online/Offline Mode:
   • Try switching your account between online and offline mode:
     • Click on your account in Outlook.
     • Go to Tools > Slide the Online/Offline button to work offline.
     • Then switch back to online mode and check if your emails reappear.
   • On the Send/Receive tab, choose Work Offline, and check your status bar. If the status shows Working Offline, repeat the action until the status changes to connected.
     • Nothing changed, also shut down and restarted Outlook
5. Check iCloud Webmail:
   • Log in to your iCloud account via webmail (using a browser).
   • Verify that the missing emails and folders are visible there.
   • If they are, it confirms that the issue is specific to Outlook.
     • Yes everything is there, POP emails and Gmail.
6. Recreate Your Outlook Profile:
   • Create a new Outlook profile and add your iCloud account:
     • Go to File > Account Settings > Manage Profiles.
     • Click Show Profiles and create a new one.
     • Add your iCloud account to the new profile.
     • Set the new profile as default and restart Outlook.
       • There is not “Manage Profiles” under Account settings or Account Settings>Account Settings.
       • I have removed the account, shutdown Outlook, shutdown computer, restarted computer next day, opened Outlook, added iCloud account again.  The last few folders I created appear in Outlook, they do not have any emails moved from another account.  All the older folders, including two that have no emails in it but was created in Outlook still do not appear in Outlook.

Some of the emails that were moved to iCloud were done many months ago and they were visible, they have only disappeared in the last week or 2.

Just tested a laptop running Windows 10 and a similar version of Outlook and I see the same folders as on my PC and the same folders are not visible.

This is definitely a problem with Outlook.

My phones are not using Outlook with my iCloud account their mail apps are working as expected.

Hello! Kathleen(Home)

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community

It seems to me that you’re experiencing with your iCloud emails disappearing in Outlook. Allow me to ask:

• What version and edition of Office do you have installed in your device? Example: Personal/Family/Enterprise?
  • You can open any Office apps
  • Go to File > Accounts - on the right side you can see Product Information
• What error message are you getting?
• Have you tried checking the junk/spam/deleted folders in Outlook if they are there?
• Do you have a backup before doing this?
• Have you tried checking the emails in the webmail host of your email account?
• I would like to know what @domain and who is hosting your email account? example for @domains: Gmail.com, Yahoo.com, Outlook.com/Hotmail.com
  • May I know if the account is for Work/School use? or Personal (Hotmail/Outlook.com) use?

Please note that POP works by contacting your email service and downloading all of your new messages from it. Once they are downloaded onto your PC or Mac, they are deleted from the email service. This means that after the email is downloaded, it can only be accessed using the same computer. If you try to access your email from a different device, the messages that have been previously downloaded won't be available to you.

Sent mail is stored locally on your PC or Mac, not on the email server. For more information, you may visit: What are IMAP and POP? - Microsoft Support

Let’s troubleshoot this issue step by step:

1. Check Sync Status:
   • Sometimes, syncing issues can cause emails to vanish. Try the following:
     • Go to your iCloud account settings in Outlook.
     • Click on the “Send/Receive” tab.
     • Ensure that your iCloud account is set to sync properly.
     • Manually initiate a sync to see if your emails reappear.
2. Repair Your Account:
   • Repairing your email account within Outlook might help:
     • Click on File in the top-left corner of Outlook.
     • Select Info > Account Settings > Account Settings.
     • Choose your iCloud email account from the list.
     • Click Repair and follow the prompts.
3. Check IMAP Settings:
   • Verify that your iCloud account is set up as an IMAP account (not POP):
     • Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
     • Select your iCloud account and click Change.
     • Confirm that the account type is set to IMAP.
     • Ensure the server settings are correct (incoming server: imap.mail.me.com, outgoing server: smtp.mail.me.com).
4. Online/Offline Mode:
   • Try switching your account between online and offline mode:
     • Click on your account in Outlook.
     • Go to Tools > Slide the Online/Offline button to work offline.
     • Then switch back to online mode and check if your emails reappear.
5. Check iCloud Webmail:
   • Log in to your iCloud account via webmail (using a browser).
   • Verify that the missing emails and folders are visible there.
   • If they are, it confirms that the issue is specific to Outlook.
6. Recreate Your Outlook Profile:
   • Create a new Outlook profile and add your iCloud account:
     • Go to File > Account Settings > Manage Profiles.
     • Click Show Profiles and create a new one.
     • Add your iCloud account to the new profile.
     • Set the new profile as default and restart Outlook.

Remember to back up any important data before making changes. Hopefully, one of these solutions will help you recover your missing iCloud emails in Outlook! 

Thank you,

Vince

Microsoft Community Moderator