Steps to recover Outlook email folders if they disappeared

Madalina Dinita
by Madalina Dinita
Former Managing Editor
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Outlook email folder disappeared

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We like to organize our emails just as we enjoy keeping things organized in our day to day lives.

But sometimes things might go missing, or in this case that folder that contain your most important emails, and everything seems lost.

Causes can vary from recent changes to your device, such as updates, or a connection error, or even corrupted system files.

But there’s a workaround to this problem.

What to do if your Outlook email folders disappeared

1. Restart Outlook

Sometimes, restarting the application can do the trick. It might sound simple, turning it off and on, but if it works, why not try this first?

  1. Disconnect from your mailbox (you should only do this once);
  2. Reconnect to your mailbox (again, do this once
  3. Create a new folder(with a different name) in the same folder or sub-folder as the missing folder;
  4. Both folders should appear now.

2. Repair Outlook

If at first you don’t succeed, we have other options, we’re not giving up. This solution also works well in the event that Windows can’t find Outlook.exe.

  1. Go to the Start button, then select Apps and Features in the menu;
  2. Select Microsoft Outlook then select Modify;
  3. The system will guide you to the necessary steps you need to follow in order to fix your Outlook. repair outlook

It offers two options: clicking on Online Repair then Repair will get everything fixed, while the second option of Quick Repair will scan your application files and replace the corrupted ones. Check if this solution worked.

3. Disable add-ins

If you’ve gotten to this point, the first two solutions didn’t work, but worry not, we’ve got more fixes ahead. This third method involves disabling the add-ins.

  1. Launch the run box by pressing Windows + R key;
  2. Type the following command in the run box and press Ok: “Outlook.exe /safe”;
  3. Outlook is now in Safe mode, the next step involes disabling the add-ins, now you have to click “Go to File” select Option then Add Ins;
  4. In the Manage section select COM add-ins, select the Go Button, and lastly clear the add-ins checkbox to disable it;
  5. You’re good to go now.

We hope these fixes helped, and you’ll be able to further enjoy using Microsoft Outlook.