Hide On My Computer folders checked and grayed out

Anonymous
2020-03-17T21:53:35+00:00

Microsoft Outlook for Mac version 16.35

I have folders created under "On My Computer" and it's been working fine until last week, when I don't see "On My Computer" in the Sidebar anymore.

When I go to Preferences => General, the Hide On My Computer folders is checked and grayed out.  How do I un-grayed it out?

When I search for an email that is stored in one of the folders in On My Computer, I can see it and even manually move it to Inbox on the exchange server.  So I know the emails in On My Computer are there and not lost/corrupted.  I just can't go to the On My Computer folder.  Is this a permission problem?

Outlook | MacOS | Legacy Outlook for Mac | For home

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2021-01-27T17:03:42+00:00

Had the same issue. The only thing that seem to work for me, was turning OFF the "New outlook" feature.

You should be able to unhide "On My Computer":

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2020-12-27T06:16:13+00:00

just did the upgarde and had same isue

you can use the TOGGLE to go back to older outlook its a switch at the top right of the OUTLOOK screen.

Was this answer helpful?

7 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

39 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2020-11-22T04:24:39+00:00

    I've seen no resolution or reply yet from Microsoft, which is frustrating.  Reverting to the old Outlook interface restores the On My Computer folders, but as soon as you switch to the new interface, they're hidden and the option to unhide in preferences is grayed out as shown in the screenshot from Parker Crawford.

    Microsoft - are you out there???  What's the plan here to enable the preference option so in those cases where On My Computer folders remain relevant, even with only an Exchange account active, we as users can opt to unhide?

    In my case, I have gigabytes of older mail that was offloaded from a prior Exchange server into local mailboxes On My Computer.  I need regular access to those mailboxes and have no way to access them if I use the new Outlook interface.

    Thank you!

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-01-13T15:11:03+00:00

    Use this command on terminal :

    defaults write com.microsoft.Outlook HideFoldersOnMyComputerRootInFolderList -bool true

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-03-18T18:08:29+00:00

    Hello Tech Newbie,

    Thank you for your posting and detailed information. According to the issue symptom, I didn’t encounter it when test on Outlook 16.35 (20030803). I consider you could firstly check if it’s an preference issue by OutlookResetPreferences tool. Please be kindly noted that this tool will reset all Outlook preferences to the default settings.

    To make sure you receive the expert’s assistance, I recommend you contact our Outlook for Mac client dedicated team via Help -> Contact Support on Outlook menu bar, they’re focusing on Outlook for Mac client issues and will help you addressing the issue.

    Best Regards,

    Anna

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments