After Trying New Outlook on Mac and switching to Legacy Outlook, the local mail folders in On My Computer are all empty. Is this expected?

Question

After Trying New Outlook on Mac and switching to Legacy Outlook, the local mail folders in On My Computer are all empty. Is this expected?

PC 5

I had a Mac user at work try switching from Legacy Outlook to New Outook. She use be on windows Outlook a long time ago and when she switched to a mac, we imported all her email from a PST file so they showed in the On My Computer section on Mac Outlook many years ago.

The user then decided to try New Outlook back in October and it said it was migrating all the emails that were in the On My Computer section. After the migration, all her old imported emails were there in New Outlook.

However, she really didn't like the interface in New Outlook and switched back to Legacy Outlook. When she went to the imported emails in On My Computer, all the folders were empty. Is this expected? How can she see her local emails again in Legacy Outlook?

3 answers

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Answer 1

Matthew-P 9,275 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi PC ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum! Have a good day and I hope you're doing well!

Thank you for explaining the situation in detail. I understand how concerning it can be to see your local folders empty after switching back to Legacy Outlook.

Based on my research and testing in a virtual environment, I have a few insights to help you better understand the differences in how Legacy Outlook for Mac and New Outlook for Mac handle local data:

To bring local data into New Outlook, you need to export an .olm file from Legacy Outlook first, then use Import On My Computer Data in New Outlook.
Any changes you make to On My Computer folders in Legacy will reflect in New Outlook after import.
However, changes made in New Outlook (adding, deleting, editing On My Computer folders) do not sync back to Legacy. Legacy folders remain untouched. They’re not deleted, but they won’t update based on actions in New Outlook.

New Outlook is designed as a cloud-first experience, focusing on accounts connected to Microsoft 365 or Exchange. It does not support exporting data back to Legacy Outlook. Once migrated, local data stays in New Outlook’s database.

If you still have the original PST file or an .olm file that was exported earlier during migration. Try importing it back into Legacy Outlook to see if it restores your On My Computer folders and reflects the changes.

Legacy Outlook for Mac is approaching end of support soon. Microsoft recommends moving to New Outlook for the best experience, security, and ongoing updates.

You can read more here: End of support for Legacy Outlook for Mac.

I truly recommend continuing with New Outlook to ensure the best experience and long-term support. It offers modern features, seamless integration with Microsoft 365, and improved reliability that can make your day-to-day work smoother and more secure.

If you ever need to switch modes in the future, I strongly suggest exporting your data from Legacy Outlook to an .olm file beforehand. This simple step helps safeguard your information and prevents any unexpected data loss.

I hope the information I’ve provided helps clarify things at least partially and gives you some useful insights. If you have any concerns or questions, or if I’ve misunderstood or anything seems unclear, please feel free to let me know.

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

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PC 5 Reputation points

2026-01-08T22:37:47.0433333+00:00

Hello, thank you Matthew for the prompt reply. When the user decided to try New Outlook, it just started migrating the mail in the folders in the On My Computer section to New Outlook and by the next day, she can view her local mail without problem. At least she hasn't lost her email.

However, she and others in our environment don't like the interface in New Outlook, so she decided to switch back to Legacy Outlook but when she did, all the folders for her Local Mail in the On My Computer Section are all empty. The folder structure is intact but the emails are missing. I was wondering if there was an easy way to get these back. I'll did warn her that Legacy Outlook may be going away and she may be stuck with New Outlook. I don't know if she still has the pst files that we use to import the emails from her windows Outlook. It was probably about 15 years ago... Restoring her mail profile with her local mail may take awhile from Crashplan so not sure I want to go that route. I may try to kick off a Spotlight reindex hoping that can resolve her issue. Thanks again for your feedback.
Matthew-P 9,275 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-08T23:28:32.7933333+00:00

Hi PC,

Thank you for your response.

Just to confirm: Are the emails in the On My Computer folders missing in both New Outlook and Legacy Outlook, with only the folder structure remaining? Or is it just Legacy Outlook that’s missing the emails while New Outlook still shows them normally? If you could share a quick update, it would really help me guide you better. Thanks!
Matthew-P 9,275 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-12T06:39:51.6+00:00

Hi PC,

I hope you're doing well. Just reaching out to see if you've had a chance to review the responses shared earlier.

We’d love to hear back from you whenever you're ready. Any updates you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
PC 5 Reputation points

2026-01-12T19:16:52.61+00:00

Hi Matthew, thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, we don't have a good way to recover her emails so they show up while in Legacy Outlook. We imported her emails over ten years ago so trying to re-import that file will not help as the user has been actively saving emails in that location in On My Computer in Outlook. Restoring her email profile in Group Containers from our backups wouldn't help as we don't know a specific time when her local emails stopped appearing while in Legacy Outlook. I poked around in the Main Profile folder but there isn't any obvious place were the mail folders for On My Computer are located unless someone at MS can point that out.

For the time being the user will continue to reference her local mail while in New Outlook but revert back to Legacy Outlook when working in her email as they feel New Outlook falls way short as far as functionality. This is concerning when I read about all the other issues users are having with Local Mail, especially when it is long time executives who tend to have more Local Mail than anyone else.
Matthew-P 9,275 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-14T12:16:05.2433333+00:00

Hi PC,

I really appreciate the effort you've put into troubleshooting this issue and working through all the possible options with me. It's clear you've done everything you can on your side to help recover the user's local mail.

As a forum moderator, I'm unable to perform a remote session to directly examine the profile folder on the user's Mac, but based on my research and experience with similar cases, here's what I can confirm:

You can only get the local emails back if the old database still exists on your Mac.

Please check this folder path:

~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/

If you see your old Main Profile folder still present there, Legacy Outlook may be able to reload the emails again. However, if that folder is gone or was deleted during the migration to New Outlook, the local emails are unfortunately permanently lost from the Legacy Outlook side.

For reference, you can also review this related discussion: How can I get back my local folders and contents when switching back to Legacy Outlook for Mac.

Since the New Outlook currently does not support exporting "On My Computer" data, the workaround you mentioned, keeping the data in New Outlook for reference while using Legacy Outlook for daily work, is indeed the most feasible solution at this moment.

Thank you again for your patience and cooperation.

Answer 2

When switching between New Outlook and Legacy Outlook on Mac, it is not uncommon for local mail folders (such as those in the "On My Computer" section) to appear empty after reverting to Legacy Outlook. This behavior can occur due to differences in how the two versions handle local data and folder structures.

To recover the local emails in Legacy Outlook, the user can try the following steps:

Check the Folder Structure: Ensure that the folder structure is intact and that the folders are not hidden or collapsed.
Reindex Outlook: Sometimes, reindexing Outlook can help in recognizing the local folders again. This can be done by rebuilding the Outlook database.
Verify Account Settings: Make sure the account settings are correctly configured in Legacy Outlook to access the local folders.
Restore from Backup: If the emails were backed up or exported before switching to New Outlook, restoring from that backup might be necessary.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, it may be beneficial to consult Microsoft support for further assistance specific to the Legacy Outlook version on Mac.

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After Trying New Outlook on Mac and switching to Legacy Outlook, the local mail folders in On My Computer are all empty. Is this expected?

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