Why Are All Folders Not Showing in Outlook? Best Guide

  

Published By Jamie Kaler 

Approved By Rollins Duke

Published On September 17th, 2025

Reading Time 7 Min Read

The issue of Outlook not showing public folders generally affects businesses where Exchange Server is needed. It can happen due to permissions, sync failure or incorrect account settings. End-users may be unable to access shared calendars or emails, while administrators may face difficulties in managing team-wide folders. Both small and large teams can impact, or also can affect productivity if issues are not fixed quickly.

Public folders in Outlook are designed to help teams to access information directly without requiring any permission and can access multiple users at same time. They work as a centralized shared storage within Microsoft Exchange Server where users can store emails, contacts, calendar, notes and files that multiple people can easily access. The main purpose of the public folder is to simplify collaboration by allowing all teams to access and manage shared resources without sending separately for each one.

Common Use Cases in Organizations

• Shared Mailboxes – Teams can manage incoming emails.
• Calendars – To schedule meetings, track events or manage departments.
• Contacts – A centralized address book for all clients, partners, or teams.
• Knowledge Sharing – Storing documents, policies or FAQs at single storage.
• Task Coordination – Assigning and tracking tasks across departments.

Causes of Outlook Not Showing Public Folders

• If your Outlook is not configured properly then the public folder may not appear. This can happen when the Exchange Account isn’t added properly or if the public folder mailbox hasn’t been linked to your Account.
• Even if the public folder exists, you won’t see them when the Exchange Administrator has not granted permissions. A lack of Read or Owner permissions can hide public folders from your Outlook view.
• Outlook mostly uses Cached Exchange Mode to store mailbox data locally. If the cache file is outdated or corrupted, then Outlook may fail to display the public folder correctly. Disable or re-enable Cached Exchange Mode can sometimes fix this problem.
• A damaged or corrupt Outlook profile can prevent synchronization with Exchange Server. In such cases, Outlook may not display a public folder until the profile is recreated.
• Public folders rely on proper synchronization with Exchange Server. Network Issues, Server downtime, or misconfigured mailbox databases can all cause Outlook not to show public folders.

How to Fix Outlook Not Showing Public Folders?

If you are facing the issue of Outlook Not Showing Public folders then try the above mentioned steps:

Method 1. Check Account Permissions

1. Ask your Exchange Administrator to confirm that you have the right permissions to access the public folder.
2. At least you must have Read Access. For shared calendar or mailboxes, Owner or Publishing Editor permissions are required.

Method 2. Update Outlook and Exchange Server

1. Check your Outlook is updated and run Window update and check for Office Updates.
2. If your organization manages Exchange Server, confirm with your IT Teams that the server is fully patched. Updates often resolve synchronization and visibility issues.

Method 3. Enable Cached Exchange Mode

1. Open Outlook and go to file.
   
2. Click on Account Settings and tap on Account Settings.
   
3. Select your Exchange Account and tap on Change.
   
4. Check the box for Use Cached Exchange Mode and relaunch Outlook.
5. If it’s already enabled, then disable it and relaunch Outlook to refresh the Cache.

Method 4. Reset the Outlook Profile

1. A corrupt Outlook profile can cause Outlook not to display a public folder.
2. Navigate to Control Panel and click on Mail(Microsoft Outlook).
   
3. Click on Show Profile and tap on New to create a New Outlook profile.
   
4. Set the New Profile as default and relaunch Outlook.

Method 5. Re-add Public Folders in Outlook

1. Navigate to folder list view in Outlook.
2. Right-click on the Public folder and select Add to Favorites.
3. Expand the folder structure to confirm the public folder appears in your Outlook Navigation pane.

Method 6. Repair Outlook Data Files (OST/PST)

1. Navigate to Outlook path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\ScanPST.exe
   
2. Launch it and click on Browse to select Outlook files.
   
3. Press on Repair to get healthy Outlook files.
   

1. Download and run Recommended Software on your system.
   
2. Click on Select file or folder to choose Outlook files.
   
3. Preview to select Outlook folder as you want to convert.
   
4. Choose the PST file in the list of Saving options and browse the destination.
   
5. Press Repair to get healthy Outlook files and now visible all Outlook folders including Public or Personal.
   

Other Benefits of Using Automated Tool

• This software is specially created to restore Outlook files and also can convert PST to PDF, EML, MBOX, and many more.
• With this wizard, you can preview the PST folder to verify data and also allows you to select data as you want to convert.
• It also offers an easy to navigate interface to make it reliable software for all types of professional and individual users.
• You can easily repair any single or batch Outlook files without facing any limitations.
• This tool also supports PST filters such as separate PST per user, split PST, and many more.

Outlook Not Showing Public Folders in Different Versions

The issue of Outlook not showing a public folder can look slightly different depending on which version you are using. Below are version specific notes and tasks.

Outlook 2016 / 2019 / 2021

1. Go to the folder list view to check if the public folder is hidden.
2. If they don’t appear, try re-adding them via favorites as explained earlier.
3. Make sure Cached Exchange Mode is enabled for these desktop versions.

Outlook for Microsoft 365

1. Public folders may not show automatically in the left hand pane.
2. Expand the More Items section in your navigation pane.
3. If still missing, remove and re-configure your Exchange Account in Account Settings.

New Outlook(Preview Version)

1. As public folders are not showing in the new outlook as it does not support all public folders.
2. If public folders are missing, you may need to switch back to the Classic Outlook desktop client.
3. Check Microsoft’s update roadmap, as support is still being expanded.

Outlook Web App (OWA)

1. Login to your mailbox folder via browser.
2. In the folder pane, click Public folder and tap on favorites.
3. Add the public folders you need from the directory.
4. If the folder does not appear, it may have server-side permissions or duplication issues.

Conclusion

If you are reached here, then we hope you got the exact solution as you want. As we have shared all possible manual and alternative methods to fix Outlook Not Showing Public folders. The manual approach required technical expertise and much effort. So, we recommend you to first try the Expert recommended approach as it offers faster results and no risk of losing any data.