Suddenly my Outlook local folders are not opening to show contents. How do I restore them

Hi,

Have you tried the following?

1. Open Outlook and go to Preferences from the menu bar.
2. Select Accounts to view all configured email accounts.
3. Choose the affected account and click the – (minus) button to remove it. This removes only the account configuration, not your local data files.
4. Click the + (plus) button and add the account again using the updated password.
5. Complete the sign-in process to establish fresh authentication.
6. Once added, Outlook will reconnect and sync your existing data without data loss.

Also, worth trying:

• Close Outlook completely.
• Hold the Option key and launch Outlook.
• The Microsoft Database Utility will open automatically.
• Select your profile from the list.
• Click Rebuild to repair the database.

I hope this information helps. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

Otherwise, please take a moment to rate the answer. Wishing you good luck!

For Outlook for Mac, if local folders are not showing or their contents look wrong after account or cache changes, reset the Outlook cache for the affected account so it can re‑sync properly.

Follow these steps:

1. Ensure the Mac is online and can connect to the mail server.
2. In Outlook for Mac, on the toolbar, go to Tools > Accounts.
3. In the left pane, select the mail account whose folders/content are not appearing correctly.
4. At the bottom left of the Accounts window, select the three dots (…) and choose Reset Account.
5. Outlook will clear the local cache for that account and re‑download mail and folders from the server.

Important note: Any items that exist only locally and are not synchronized with the server will be deleted by this procedure. If there are truly local‑only folders (not on the server), they should be backed up first before resetting.

References:

• Clear the cache in Outlook for Mac