This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
We use categories to group emails coming into a Support mailbox. We set up lots of different categories for different people, teams etc. Each has a different colour assigned to it. When emails come in we will assign the appropriate category. Over the weekend, the categories appear to have been wiped from our categories list i.e. we now have only some predefined ones like Blue Category, Green Category etc. For emails previously categorised, I can still see what category I applied but the coloured 'sticker' is missing and I can no longer select those categories. In addition, if I set up a new category now, whilst I can apply a new category, it's not subsequently available for me to select in the category list, plus the coloured 'sticker' does not appear. Any thoughts on how we might resolve please? I'm using Outlook via Office 365.
Using New Outlook on Windows for personal email, calendar, and contact management
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.
We have also had the same thing happen to one of our employees. I can see the category when I click on the contact but the lists that were once listed under categories are no longer there. Out of 20 we have 5 left. This is not in a shared list but used by one of our estimators when sending out bids.
Our categories have vanished overnight.
We use the web version of outlook.
Like everyone else on this thread, this is having a major impact on our business. We have over 2,500 clients in our business address book, and used over 350 different categories based on job title, industry, seniority, location, etc, etc.
Oddly, when I view a contact, I can see the categories on their record, but the actual category list, and the ability categorise new contacts, has vanished.
To come into the office this morning and have all that info wiped out has caused us a system critical failure on an epic scale.
I need those categories back. Microsoft, are you listening? We need your help with this.
We have tried clearing cookies and cache, thinking maybe it was a localised issue with the Edge browser. That did not help.
When we click into Settings > General > Categories there are just thirteen left, out of over 350 carefully crafted and well thought out categories.
How are we supposed to recreate that? It'll take months.
This has also happened to me recently as well
I am having this issue as well. Around the same time too actually... I can't pinpoint it to a date, but my categories are just gone now, within the week. I can't remember them all, so it would be nice to somehow get them back.
Hi De Paul
In terms of 2. the categories are definitely no longer listed. I just have Blue Category, Green Category etc. However, the old categories seem to be present somewhere, just not with their coloured flags. You can see below for To be prioritised - it says its not in the Master Category List. However, if I add a New category in with the same name and give it a colour, then all the existing emails update correctly to use that flag.
We've had to add some of our categories back today, to try and keep on top of managing the mailbox. I just hope this won't happen again.
My Outlook version is Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise and it's Classic Outlook.
Thanks
Alison