Over the weekend my Outlook categories have disappeared from the Categories list. How do I get them back?

I've had so many conversations with Microsoft Tech Support on this subject over the last 18 months that I've literally lost count, and gave up a few months ago.

Every call, dozens of them, would last upward of 30 minutes, and precisely none of them resulted in a solution. Many hours lost to this bug.

The last call was this:

"We're rolling out an update in June. This will allow you to delete categories."

I haven't seen any update so far.

Like your customer, I also have the problem where I've lost categories, recreated them, and suddenly the lost ones come back, so now I have nearly a thousand duplicate and triplicate categories, to the point where it's completely unusable.

I spent two years meticulously creating and maintaining a client/supplier database using categories, only to have Microsoft blow it apart in 24 hours.

Is this issue when using CLASSIC Outlook or the New Outlook (which I hate because it lacks a lot of features we used to have). I noticed the NEW OUTLOOK permits the use of the categories and Follow up Features for flags that disappeared in CLASSIC OUTLOOK despite the fact that they existed for dozens of years.

What the heck, Microsoft? We're paying a lot of money for this program, so fix it already. If it worked before, why did you stop it? I don't want the new Outlook. I like the old one with all its features. And frankly, I don't know how to stop the AI features that you put on my machine. i don't need help to write an email. I don't want it popping up all the time. How do I stop it?

Thank you.

I replied to this thread on June 26, 2024, to say I was having the same issue.

I just wanted to post an updated reply to see if maybe I could provide some insight into the issue with other things I've experienced, and to maybe offer some help for others in the same boat.

To start, I have been taking screenshots of my category list any time I make a change. This will be important in a moment.

Eventually I had given up with respect to this issue and decided to just work around it. In taking screenshots, I figured, I would just remake the categories and work from there. In my world, I use categories to sort current tasks, and once completed, the category is no longer important to me. So if completed items lost their category, it wasn't a big deal.

I did notice, however, that for items that had "lost" a category (and by this I mean the categories I had made that had disappeared), the item still retained something of a "ghost" of a category. It was basically just a blank/white category with the name of the old one, but it no longer existed in my category list. Here is what that looked like:

This is so common for my team that we just call them "ghost" categories colloquially... LOL

Here is what I noticed, based on the information above...

Because I was taking screenshots of my categories, and re-adding them in Outlook, I began to notice that the "ghost" categories began to regain their colour. And what's more, they were "shifted" over to the new categories that I re-made in Outlook! It's like the system picked up on the same colour and title and just... switched it back.

This isn't a fix to this problem, as I am in a position where losing my categories is just annoying rather than consequential to my work flow, as is the case for others.

I just wanted to provide my insight for those that may find it beneficial.

Cheers,

Christine

Are you using the Outlook app, or the web version?

We are using Outlook Web, and when we toggle off the new outlook, the category function vanishes entirely.

I tested it in the app version (which basically looks like a web wrapped app) and it does the same thing...toggle back to old outlook and the category feature disappears.

Could I ask what version of outlook you're running please?

Thanks

John

Dear Alison Whittick,

Good morning! Thank you for posting in the Microsoft Community. We will be happy to help you.

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing issues with your Outlook categories. One possible solution is to check if the categories are hidden.

1. Could you please provide some screenshots for further investigation?
2. Have tried going to the Home tab in Outlook > Click on the Categorize button in the Tags group > Select All Categories > Check if the categories you're looking for are listed? If they are, make sure they are not unchecked.
3. If the categories are not listed, it's possible that they were accidentally deleted. Unfortunately, there is no way to recover deleted categories in Outlook.

We look forward to hearing from you; please let me know and provide details such as the version of Outlook and screenshots, I will be happy to help you.

Please note that our initial response may not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. Thank you for your help.