Can't Find my Templates

Question

where did my templates go? I can't find the ones that I usually import in to emails and there are several standard ones that I've saved

Answer 1

Hi Alonso, Anthony (ES)

The Email Templates / My Templates feature in classic Outlook for Windows is delivered through an Outlook add‑in. When the icon suddenly disappears from the ribbon, it is typically not caused by a local configuration change.

Based on current information, this behavior aligns with an active Microsoft service incident (EX1238375). This incident affects access to organizational add‑ins such as My Templates and Viva Insights across multiple platforms, including classic Outlook for Windows. The issue is tenant‑level and server‑side, meaning it cannot be restored manually by individual users.

As a first step, I recommend reviewing the AI‑generated response shown in the thread, as it closely reflects the current understanding of this service behavior.

• Please refer to the following article: My Templates are missing from Outlook

Next, please contact your organization’s IT administrator and ask them to submit a support request through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. You can refer to the following resource: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn. When opening the case, it may be helpful to disable the AI Support Assistant to ensure the request is reviewed directly by a support engineer.

As a temporary workaround, you may consider using Outlook Signatures for frequently reused content. While this does not fully replace the functionality of My Templates, it can help reduce disruption while the issue remains under investigation. For guidance, please refer to the following Microsoft article: How to add and change an email signature in Outlook - Microsoft Support

Thank you so much for your understanding and patience while this behavior is addressed. I will keep an eye on this incident and let you know if there are any major updates.

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Answer 2

In classic Outlook for Windows, missing email templates can be due to either the My Templates add-in not loading or custom template files not being in the expected location.

For Outlook’s My Templates add-in:

There is an active service issue where the View Templates button and the My Templates add-in can disappear from the ribbon and from All Apps → Add Apps. Symptoms include:

1. View Templates missing from the ribbon when composing an email.
2. My Templates missing under All Apps.
3. Errors like “Something went wrong” when trying to add the add-in back.

This is tracked as incidents EX1238375 and MO1243496. The cause is recent changes to authentication for add-ins in Exchange Online. The fix is being deployed service-side; once fully rolled out, the My Templates add-in (and other affected add-ins like Viva Insights and Salesforce) should reappear without local changes.

If an admin is working with Microsoft support, they may be asked to:

1. Collect a HAR/performance trace in new Outlook while reproducing the missing My Templates issue.
2. Run Exchange Online PowerShell commands such as:
   • get-app -Identity a216ceed-7791-4635-a752-5a4ac0a5eb93 to check the My Templates add-in status.
   • Set-App -Identity a216ceed-7791-4635-a752-5a4ac0a5eb93 -OrganizationApp -Enabled $true to enable it.

These PowerShell steps are only needed if requested by support.

For custom Office templates (e.g., .dotx/.oft) used across Office apps:

If custom templates were created in earlier Office versions, they may still exist but not show by default. To make them appear under the Personal tab in Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher):

1. Open File Explorer and browse to the templates folder by entering in the address bar: %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates\
2. Copy the full path from the File Explorer address bar.
3. In each Office app where these templates should appear, go to File → Options → Save and paste that path into Default personal templates location.

This affects Office apps generally; Outlook’s email templates that rely on Word’s template system may also be impacted if the default personal templates location is not set correctly.

If customizations like AutoText, styles, or macros disappeared after an update, they may still be present in a backup of the Normal template (NormalEmail.dotm for Outlook). Restoring the correct backup file (for example, renaming NormalEmail.dotm.old to NormalEmail.dotm) in the templates folder can bring those customizations back.

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References:

• My Templates are missing from Outlook
• Where are my custom templates?
• Missing customizations in Office Word after an update