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. 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.
  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. 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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  4. 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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