What to do if 'On My Mac' mail folders disappear in Outlook for Mac

13/7/2022 2 Comments

What to do if 'On My Mac' mail folders disappear in Outlook for Mac

This week, I had a panicked call from an iTandCoffee client. She was going through the settlement process after selling her home and needed access to emails that she had filed into local folders in her Mac's Outlook app.

But all of her On my Mac folders - and the emails they held - had suddenly disappeared. She had tried everything but there was no sign of them anywhere.

Here's what had happened and why.

This client had recently installed an update to Outlook and found, after that update, that her Outlook had upgraded to the 'new look' version of Outlook for Mac. (She's not sure if she inadvertently agreed to this or if it happened automatically.)

Unfortunately, this new version of Outlook for Mac does not (at the time of writing this article) cater for some features of the 'legacy' Outlook, including local mail folders.

Here is an article that covers what features are included/excluded/upcoming in the new version of Outlook.

In this article, under the Folders heading, you will see that it says Access On My Computer (local) folders is Upcoming (as shown in the next image).

So what could this client do in the meantime, to get back her folders?

There is still the option to revert to the Legacy version of Outlook. This can be found in the Help menu of Outlook for Mac (see next image).

We selected the Revert to Legacy Outlook option.

When Outlook re-started, she had the 'old-look' Outlook again, and all of her Local 'On My Mac' folders were visible again.

Phew!

I do like the new look Outlook for Mac - as it allows me to use one of my favourite features, the Snooze feature (to make an email go away and come back at a chosen time, when I can or want to deal with it).

But if you have local folders, you will need to be aware of this missing feature and delay updating to the new version for now. And it's good to know that (for now) you can revert to the old version if you do accidentally update.

2 Comments

Alex Patton

30/8/2023 02:38:02 am

I recently ran into an issue with our COO where he ran the latest updates of Outlook for MAC, which converted everything to the new look (including all of the auto filters). He can now only see mail for the last 30d per the update notice I find on every website when I search this issue. In an attempt to help alleviate some space issues with his email we were backing up mail to "Desktop" folders in his client. When we converted FROM the new look TO the old, the folders are no longer there. As of yet, I can't seem to find anyone else having this issue (to be specific, folks are having issues converting FROM the legacy to the update, but not in reverse). How could we go about retrieving the folders from the new version and making sure they show up in the legacy setup. He needs to be able to see email >30d, AND needs to be able to see the desktop folders, so far we can do one, OR the other.

Any/all advice/help is appreciate in advance. Thanks!

Lynette link

30/8/2023 09:11:40 am

As of December 2022, you can import the 'on my Mac' local folders to the new Outlook. There is a preference that allows you to then hide or show the On My Mac folder.

https://insider.microsoft365.com/en-us/blog/local-folders-now-available-in-the-new-outlook-for-mac

In terms of the 30d limit issue, I am lucky enough to be able to see all my mail in the new Outlook - not just the last 30d. And I haven't had any clients present with the issue you describe. But I do see many others online have issues.

Do you use an on-premise Exchange server (which I did read can be be the causing the 30d limit - https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2251361-outlook-app-maximum-30-days-of-e-mail-for-on-premise-exchange)?

When you ask about retrieving folders from the new version and making sure they are then in the legacy version, are you saying that he has created a new set of 'on my Mac' folders in the new Outlook?

From what I understand, any local folders created in the new Outlook won't be visible in the legacy version, but will still be there when you revert to the new version.

Unfortunately, the Export option is still not available in the new version there is not even the option to export those new folders from the new version and import to the old.

Lynette from iTandCoffee

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