"I have phantom folders named Edit <0W> X folder (the X increments from 0 to 89 at last glance showing up in a .pst file. I can delete most of them, but 0 and 2 I cannot, and when I close Outlook, a lot of them come back!
Those folders are created by security or anti-spam software, such as Norton or McAfee, that installed an addin in Outlook. Disable the addin to solve the problem of these folders even being created.
The inability to delete those folders indicates the data file is corrupt. Close Outlook then run scanpst and the problem should be solved.
If that doesn't fix the problem, export your data to a new pst file, add it to your profile and remove the corrupt profile.
Disable Addins
To disable the addin, go to File, Options, Addins and click the Go button at the bottom of the dialog. Uncheck the addin and close the dialog. More information and screenshots are in the following article:
David Greifer says
Real simple if it is Gmail....delete the gmail account from your Outlook 365. Add it in as a new account. Get a new app specific password from Google. Set up gmail as a new account and use the password provided to you from Gmail. Re-sync. Goodbye to fake folder . Watch your Outlook/Hotmail folder going forward. I rarely use it and I get junk email from Hotmail that is unsolicited. Delete anything you don't want in Outlook by checking first on Outllook.live.com and delete any foreign language emails...they are trying to screw up your Outlook
Maarten Tijssens says
It appears to be the Norton Anti-Spam plugin?
Diane Poremsky says
The Norton plugins cause a lot of problems. Any antispam plugin, really, because of the way they have to hook into Outlook to work.
Gene says
I'm running Norton 360 as my AV s/w... I do have some add-ins installed (Lync Meeting Add-in for MS Office 2013, MS Exchange Add-in, MS SharePoint Server Colleague Import Add-in, Norton AntiSpam Outlook Plugin, OneNote Notes about Outlook Items, Outlook Change Notifier, and Outlook Social Connector 2013). As for Safe Mode... I can't really answer that as I have not tried it...
Diane Poremsky says
Try Safe mode - To open Outlook in Safe mode: Close Outlook then hold Ctrl as you click on the Outlook icon. You'll get a message asking if you want to start in Safe mode. Click Ok.
Gene says
Hi Diane,
I'm running Office 2013 32-bit under Windows 7 Ultimate x64, and see these same ‘Edit ’ Folders. I've tried scanpst on all the files, and they generally show issues which are repaired. But the problem resurfaces. I've also created new PSTs and moved the items from the old PSTs to the new PSTs (even re-creating the sub-folders), but the problem resurfaces. While they don't seem to bother anything (as far as I know), they are an annoyance and I'd like to get rid of them. Any further suggestions? Thanks!
Diane Poremsky says
This is the first I've heard that the problem in in Outlook 2013. What antivirus do you use? Any addins installed? Are they created in Safe mode?
Florian says
Hello Diane,
thanks for your answer.
Outlook is Outlook 2010 Sp2 x86 on Windows 7 x64.
And yes, we are caching mail- and non-mail-folders for shared mailboxes.
Should the folders vanish after the ost-Scan, or just no new folders be created?
Diane Poremsky says
if they are corrupt, they should vanish, i think. Or you could delete the ost and let outlook make a new one.
Florian says
Hello, thanks for this article ...
We also have this problem, partly on mailboxes that are only added via "open as additional mailbox" in the profile, no one opens this as primary mailbox (backend is Exchange 2003). So, it can't be the PST in this case, or would that mean that the OST file of one of the users that added that mailbox is corrupt?
Diane Poremsky says
It sounds like the .ost is corrupt. Which version of Outlook? Are you caching shared mailboxes?
If the folders are getting pushed back to the mailbox, I would also change the permissions on the shared mailbox to remove create folder permissions from most users (all users if no one needs to create folders in it).
Tod Beckett-Frank says
I can't find scanpst on my computer. Where can I get it?
Diane Poremsky says
It's at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX, where XX is your version of Office. In Vista and Windows 7 64-bit, the folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX. More information: How to use scanpst