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. Randy Baroja 20,780 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-11-20T02:23:00.6333333+00:00

    Hi,

    I’m really glad to hear the rollback worked and that turning off autoupdate kept you on the stable version, that’s a solid way to avoid the category issue.

    Kind regards,

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  2. Randy Baroja 20,780 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-11-18T00:51:30.4266667+00:00

    Hi,

    I’m really sorry you lost access to that link, Since I’m an independent advisor and not part of Microsoft’s internal support team, I don’t have access to the specific rollback link they provided. What you can do, though, is reopen a quick chat with Microsoft Support and let them know the download link expired.

    Kind regards,

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  3. Amy Uhrbach 115 Reputation points
    2025-11-15T17:54:19.9766667+00:00

    I just got off chat w/Microsoft Support. They said they ARE working on a fix to this issue. They will update me when fixed, but no ETA.

    They also sent me a link to install the previous version. It worked. All my previous emails kept their categories too. The ONLY steps I needed to do:

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

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    7 people found this answer helpful.
  4. Randy Baroja 20,780 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-11-15T12:46:09.14+00:00

    Hi,

    Got it, thanks for letting me know that option isn’t showing up. You can try this: create a new Outlook profile, since an update can sometimes corrupt the existing one and break features like assigning categories. Close Outlook, open Applications > Microsoft Outlook Profile Manager (or search for "Profile Manager" in Spotlight), add a new profile using the + button, then set up your POP account again. After that, reopen Outlook and check whether categories start working normally. This gives Outlook a clean environment to load your settings, while your original profile stays untouched in case you need it.

    Regards,

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