Suddenly can't assign categories in Legacy Outlook Mac -- only lets me edit categories

Amy Uhrbach 115 Reputation points
2025-11-13T01:11:39.25+00:00

Until this morning I've been happily using categories: created my own, assign and change them regularly. Suddenly under Categorize I can't assign categories. The only option is to edit categories (which works) but can't assign to email nor calendar entries. Help please. When I do go to Edit Categories, it shows my account as IMAP -- but it is NOT, it is POP.

Screenshot 2025-11-12 at 8.13.42 PM

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Outlook | MacOS | Legacy Outlook for Mac | For home

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Answer accepted by question author
David White 110 Reputation points
2025-11-20T14:14:42.39+00:00

The rollback workaround as posted above from Amy U works! (Thank you).

  1. Unclick autoupdates
  2. Close Outlook
  3. Delete Microsoft Outlook.app from applications
  4. Install previous version for their link

For MacBook users be sure to delete Outlook.app (step 3) or the fix won't work. Here's the link for previous updates: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac

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  1. Mary Lou James 0 Reputation points
    2025-12-06T16:20:37.27+00:00

    I was able to update Outlook to Version 16.103.3. The categories began working again. I am running Sequoia 15.7.2

    I just discovered I can no longer search within a folder or across all items. I can perform a find in a given message, but again, the search option in the top right corner no longer works. It finds nothing.

    Anyone else having this problem?

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  2. Amy Uhrbach 115 Reputation points
    2025-11-30T17:11:25.65+00:00

    As noted above, this is FIXED in the current Outlook update.

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  3. Mary Lou James 0 Reputation points
    2025-11-21T17:30:11.9066667+00:00

    I noticed that my Outlook Legacy application was updated at 9pm Wed night. Thursday morning, I no longer could categorize emails or events on my calendar. I have a POP account. AI stated "If categories in Outlook stopped working, first check your email account type to ensure it's Exchange or Office 365, as IMAP accounts do not support categories. Next, try creating a new item to see if categories work, and check for Outlook updates. If the issue persists, clear the Outlook cache, reset your view settings, or create a new Outlook profile. "

    I think that the most recent autoupdate requires an Exchange or Office 365 account. What a bummer.

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