all my outlook mail folders are gone

Question

all my outlook mail folders have disappeared. how do I get back

Answer 1

Hello Teresa Stahl, thanks for posting this in the community.

Sometimes folders appear missing because of view settings. In Outlook Desktop, go to the View tab, then Folder Pane, and make sure it’s set to Normal. In Outlook Web (OWA), click the menu icon, scroll down, and ensure Folders are expanded.

You can also search for the missing folders by using the Search bar to locate an email you know was in the missing folder. If the email appears, check its current folder location to confirm whether the folder was moved or deleted.

If the folders were accidentally deleted, check the Deleted Items folder. If not found there, use the Recover Deleted Items option available in Outlook Desktop or OWA under Deleted Items to restore the folder or emails.

If you use a local PST file, go to File, then Open & Export, and select Open Outlook Data File to check if the folders are in another PST. If OST corruption is suspected, close Outlook, delete the OST file, and restart Outlook so it can re-download the data.

You can also log in to Outlook Web at https://outlook.office.com. If folders appear there, the issue is local to the Outlook client. If they are missing online too, the folders were deleted or moved on the server side.

Kind regards,

John Oli

Answer 2

If all your Outlook mail folders have disappeared, it could be due to several reasons. Here are some steps you can take to try to recover them:

1. Check Folder Visibility: Sometimes folders may be hidden. You can use the MFCMAPI tool to check if the folders are marked as hidden and restore their visibility.
   • Download and install MFCMAPI.
   • Log in to your Outlook profile using MFCMAPI.
   • Navigate to the affected folders and check the PR_ATTR_HIDDEN property. If it is set to True, change it to False.
2. Check for Filters: Ensure that no filters are applied that might be hiding your folders. You can reset your view settings in Outlook.
3. Repair Outlook Data Files: If the folders are still missing, you might need to repair your Outlook data files (.pst or .ost). You can use the Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe) to do this.
   • Close Outlook and run Scanpst.exe.
   • Follow the prompts to repair your data file.
4. Create a New Profile: If the issue persists, consider creating a new Outlook profile. This can sometimes resolve issues related to corrupted profiles.
5. Check for Updates: Make sure that your Outlook application is up to date, as updates can fix bugs that may cause issues with folder visibility.

If none of these steps work, you may want to reach out to Microsoft Support for further assistance.

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References:

• Default folder is missing in Outlook and Outlook on the web
• How to repair your Outlook personal folder file (.pst)