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. Family B 30 Reputation points
    2025-11-15T09:27:22.0533333+00:00

    After reading this post and having a lengthy online chat with Microsoft, I've been told

    "I would like to inform you that the previous information that you provided me about the update of your Mac OS. You’re correct about that categories are no longer available for Gmail accounts in Outlook for Mac after the recent update. Previously, Outlook for Mac allowed local-only categories for IMAP accounts, but the latest update (combined with macOS Tahoe 26.1) removed that workaround. That’s why the “Categorize” button disappeared."

    Not happy Jan!

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    3 people found this answer helpful.
  2. Randy Baroja 20,780 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-11-14T00:04:02.73+00:00

    Hi,

    You can try this: reset Outlook’s feature database, since updates can occasionally scramble the internal settings that control things like categories. To do that, close Outlook fully, open the Microsoft AutoUpdate app (you can find it quickly by searching for it in Spotlight), then go to Advanced > Reset Microsoft 365 Apps and follow the prompts. This won’t remove your emails or accounts, it simply rebuilds Outlook’s internal configuration so any glitches introduced during the upgrade can clear themselves out. Once it finishes, reopen Outlook and check whether the Categorize option works again.

    Kind regards,

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  3. Randy Baroja 20,780 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-11-13T01:45:24.58+00:00

    Hi,

    I’m sorry about the issue you’re running into, Were you able to try restarting Outlook after noticing this issue? Sometimes Outlook can misdetect account types temporarily, which seems to be what’s happening here since it’s showing your POP account as IMAP.

    You can also try this:

    Check Account Settings

    1. Go to Tools > Accounts in Outlook.
    2. Verify that your account type is listed correctly as POP. If it still shows IMAP, remove and re-add the account carefully as POP (back up your emails first).

    Reset Categories Cache

    1. Close Outlook.
    2. Navigate to ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile/Data (the path may vary slightly depending on your version).
    3. Look for files related to categories (like Category List). Move them to the desktop temporarily.
    4. Restart Outlook. It will rebuild the category list. You can then re-add your custom categories.

    Check if Assigning Categories Works in New Items

    1. Sometimes older items or synced calendars have category assignment disabled if Outlook misidentifies the account type. Try creating a new email or calendar event and see if the categorize option works there.

    Have you recently updated Outlook or macOS?

    Kind regards,

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