Outlook Favorites: Folder Order Frequently Changes

Last reviewed on February 8, 2018 8 Comments

Many users, myself included, are annoyed by Favorites on the Navigation pane rearranging itself in Outlook 2013 (and newer).

It didn't take me long to figure out at least part of the problem was due to opening my Exchange mailbox on different computers, with different email accounts in the profile. Navigation pane information is stored as a hidden file in the mailbox and travels with the mailbox. But when the profiles are not identical and folders from the missing accounts are on the Favorites list, Favorites is rearranged when the account is opened on the computer with all of the accounts in the profile. Closing Outlook and reopening it often resorts the Favorites to the original order.

Several users discovered another cause: folders from IMAP accounts on the Favorites list. If there are problems connecting to the IMAP account, Outlook waits to add the folders from the IMAP account, resulting in reshuffled Favorites.

There are two solutions:

Put IMAP folders and folders from accounts that aren't in all profiles at the bottom of Favorites and the reshuffling is reduced. While it's annoying to have your folders arranged the way Outlook wants, instead of the way you want, it's less annoying than having the folders rearrange themselves frequently.

If you don't want the IMAP folders at the bottom of the Favorites list, try this solution instead: Right click on a folder and select Open in New Window. A new window opens with the folders sorted correctly. Close the previous window with the sort issue.

About Diane Poremsky

A Microsoft Outlook Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 1999, Diane is the author of several books, including Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginners Book. She also created video training CDs and online training classes for Microsoft Outlook. You can find her helping people online in Outlook Forums as well as in the Microsoft Answers and TechNet forums.

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Tom

November 1, 2016 10:02 am

Microsoft's software offers a terrible user experience.

Lax Roth

June 1, 2016 3:12 am

Just add this code to the ThisOutlookSession in VBA and save - for me it worked perfectly. The trick is to select Inbox and open it in new window.

Private Sub Application_Startup()

    Dim myNameSpace As Outlook.NameSpace
    Dim myFolder As Outlook.Folder
    Dim myExplorer As Outlook.Explorer
    
    Set myNameSpace = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")
    Set myFolder = myNameSpace.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)
    
    myFolder.Display
    
    Set myExplorer = Application.Explorers(1)
    myExplorer.Close
    
    Set myExplorer = Application.Explorers(1)
    myExplorer.WindowState = olMaximized

End Sub

rogerthat54

November 18, 2015 3:29 pm

great tip. Opening a favorite in another window seems to return to desired order. Wow! Certainly is a quirky system and great fix

Sam Riley

November 26, 2014 5:40 pm

Thanks Diane. This is the only solution I found that works!

Ilan

September 4, 2014 12:19 pm

Hi , Im using mac and have outlook 2013 , my Q is how i replay back (i know how to add another email address)and i want the attachment that i recived to be includes on my replay.
Thx. Ilan

Diane Poremsky

Reply to Ilan

October 1, 2014 12:16 am

You'll need to save it and insert it into the reply or forward instead (you'll need to address it).

Dan

Reply to Diane Poremsky

March 24, 2016 9:35 am

Hi Diane,
I was trying to figure out a way to get my question to you. It is sort of related to this thread. I have a user using Outlook 2013 and on Exchange 2013. She keeps losing folders that she adds to her favorites. They stick around until she closes Outlook. Not all of them will disappear but there is always at least one that goes missing each time. Do you have any idea why users would lose their favorites in Outlook 2013? Thanks

Diane Poremsky

Author

Reply to Dan

April 28, 2016 1:17 pm

Are they in an imap account? in a shared mailbox that is not cached? Both are known to cause disppearing folders. it often helps to put the disappearing folders at the end of the list so they load last.

If it's not that, then the navigation panel file could be corrupt. Resetting (/resetnavpane) will fix, but it reset the pane to the default - not always desirable if you have added a lot of folders.

Another issue i've seen is opening the same Exchange mailbox in different profiles or on different computers and having different accounts in each profile. some nav pane settings are stored in the mailbox and they get messed up.

About Diane Poremsky

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