I can see the emails in outlook and they show up on my other pc running Outlook 2013, but 2016 will not download any email past 2011. It shows connection to server, upload and download, but nothing is happening. Outlook 2016 + 365 keeps asking for credentials. So far 15 out of our 42 active Windows Outlook users have been impacted (not counting Mac Outlook, or holiday users). In a similar case some time ago, I put Outlook 2016 in online mode (not cached) and prompt disappeared. Put it back to cached mode and all was good.

Here’s the story of an odd Outlook 2016 bug that you might run into. Microsoft has been urging everyone with an Office 365 license for the Office programs to update to Office 2016.

It’s a modest upgrade at best, as the programs are virtually identical to the 2013 versions, but it feels good to get the latest version for free, right? When you click “Update Office” in the banner that appears in the Office programs, you’ll start a process that takes 10-30 minutes and is usually painless. (Except when Outlook throws a fit and requires a rebuild of the mail profile, which seems to happen about 10% of the time.) Some Outlook 2016 users have been running into a bug that was apparently introduced by an update in April. Outlook starts up normally but something doesn’t seem right. It’s like all the folders have disappeared.

This is what Outlook looks like normally. Notice the left column with Inbox and the subfolders. That’s called the “Folder Pane.” This is what Outlook looks like when the Folder Pane isn’t visible on the left. Outlook has been randomly starting like this for some people. There’s nothing to click on for Inbox or Sent Items or Favorites.

They’re gone! Clients make choking noises and reach for the phone to call me. That it has tracked down the bug and will fix it in a patch soon. In the meantime, it’s easy to fix as long as you remember that this is an issue and you don’t panic because you’re afraid that all your folders are missing. If the folder pane disappears, click on View / Folder Pane and check “Normal.” The Folder Panel will immediately appear. It may disappear again the next time Outlook is started, until Microsoft releases the patch that fixes it permanently. It’s one of those problems that only affects a few people on a few computers, and only some of the time.

There’s a where people have been complaining about this since the April update that apparently introduced the problem. There are anecdotes claiming that this problem has appeared on a few of ten identical Surface laptops lined up next to each other – but only a few. I’m telling you,! I have tried all thatI have the pane OK but lost all my personal folders of references letters etc. Quite important about 8 in all.

I can see a list of them in HOME> MOVE but I can’t open themwhether I could drag and drop I don’t know. The only personal folder in the Folder Pane is one that I thought had been deleted (with great difficulty) and replaced ages ago. I have a list of a million usual things eg drafts sent items etc, TWICE, occupying the whole Folder Panel. I am not a techie but I have tried everything, every button, but to no avail. Could they have deleted the content without saying are you sure you want to delete etc??