Public Folders Not Showing in Outlook? Easy Fixes
Are your public folders not showing in Outlook despite being a paying subscriber of Office 365 cloud? I know the situation can be frustrating, having experienced it firsthand myself.
Public folders are a key feature allowing multiple people in an organization access to critical resources like archived documentation. So when these folders disappear without explanation, users might know what to do next. You cannot simply shift to another collaboration resource, like a shared mailbox, as there are many differences between public folders vs shared mailboxes.
However, I want you to know that this problem has a few easy fixes users can try out on their own. I have also added a few fixes for your IT administrator to do on your behalf, so share this blog with them. Moreover, the guide will surely help you to end the issue of missing public folders on whichever platform you use to access Outlook. Let’s start by listing the reasons why public folders go invisible. It will help you to select the exact solution for your situation.
Public Folders Not Showing in Outlook? Understand Why
Here are some of the most common causes for this issue. Recall if you have recently faced something similar in your work routine.
- The user has incorrect or missing permissions for the public folder. Or there may be a conflicting deny rule on the parent folder that overrides the user’s “Allow” access.
- The PF Mailbox may have gone bad post-assignment. Anything from a down, unhealthy, or decommissioned mailbox can cause this to happen.
- It is possible that the MAPI protocol is disabled on the user’s mailbox, which ends up blocking Outlook desktop client access (this can happen in both the classic and new clients).
- The user themself may no longer have an Exchange Online license. This automatically disqualifies them from many M365 facilities, including the public folder.
- Organization uses Modern Auth, but the user’s Outlook client is still on the legacy authentication. This results in them being blocked tenant-wide & getting public folder access revoked.
- Admin made an overtly aggressive client-side Group Policy Object (GPO) that hides or blocks public folders.
- There might be an ongoing M365 outage specifically impacting the public folder infrastructure.
- Slow networks in remote areas may cause a content replication lag that prevents the O365 public folder from fully displaying all the content.
- If you use Autodiscover, there is are chance that the incorrect DNS records may prevent Outlook from finding the public folders.
- Some Outlook client applications (e.g., Outlook for mobile) lack native support for public folders altogether.
- Other reasons, like a corrupt local Outlook profile or a damaged .ost data file, are also known to affect public folder visibility.
These cover most but not all reasons your own situation might be unique; rest assured, the solutions we have will work regardless of the cause. We will begin with the simplest solutions that users can try on their own and work our way up to the more complex ones that only admins can attempt.
What Should Users Do If Outlook Public Folders Are Missing? Easy Troubleshooting
Classic Outlook “Folder View” Trick
This option is available to all those who are using the classic desktop version of Outlook for Windows or Mac. All you have to do is push two keys simultaneously.
On Windows: Press Ctrl+6 on your keyboard.
On Mac: Press Command+6.
Doing this switches your view to the ‘Folder List’. There, you can see every folder available to your account. If this does not work, then try the following.
Step 1. Click on File > Toggle Account Settings and select Account Settings.
Step 2. Select your Exchange account and hit Change.
Step 3. Tap More Settings > Advanced tab > Ensure “Download Public Folder Favorites” is checked.
Close and reopen the Outlook client, or better yet, access Outlook on a browser. Desktop clients take a while to sync with the server; the web version, on the other hand, is faster if all you have to do is view the public folder.
Repair Outlook App to Make Public Folders Visible
For Outlook 2016: Right-click on the Windows icon > Apps and Features > Microsoft Outlook 2016 > Change > Quick Repair (or Online Repair if Quick fails).
For the New Outlook App: Right-click on the Windows icon > Apps and Features > Outlook > Advanced Options > Repair.
How Admins Can Bring Back Disappeared Public Folders
Step 1. Confirm Public Folders are Enabled:
Run Get-OrganizationConfig | FL PublicFoldersEnabled
The result should be “Local” or “Remote.”
Step 2. Verify User’s Public Folder Mailbox: Check that the user is assigned to a public folder mailbox by running:
Get-Mailbox "[email protected]" | FL *PublicFolder*.
Step 3. Use the Microsoft Diagnostic Tool: As a powerful first step, run the “Cannot access public folders” diagnostic tool in the Microsoft 365 admin center: https://aka.ms/PFCTE.
Best Practices to Follow for O365 Public Folder Management
Your job is not done by fixing the case of missing public folders in Outlook. By that, I mean you have to make sure this problem does not occur again in your environment. There are a few ways to ensure that:
Migrate public folders with a trusted utility. Use the SysTools Office 365 Migrator to ensure that your public folder data remains intact during a cloud migration. The newest version now has the support to create and move public folders, and also transfer security group permissions alongside the public folders.
If you are an admin planning on an O365 public folder migration, check out the demo version today.
Conclusion
Public folders not showing in Outlook is no longer a problem you have to worry about. By following this tutorial, you have surely gotten the remedy. Here we told you about not only the simple ways that users can attempt on their own, but also revealed the fixes admins can apply.