OLM archive file greyed out

Question

OLM archive file greyed out

Tim Richards 0

I've exported my contacts from my old computer but can't import the archive.olm file into my new laptop.

You said – If the.olm file is greyed out when browsing to it, one supported cause to check is whether On My Computer is hidden. In Outlook, go to Outlook > Settings… > General, then clear Hide On My Computer folders

Yes, I have enabled SHOW ON MY COMPUTER FOLDERS but the archive.olm folder is still greyed out.

Im not getting anywhere and have been trying to solve this for over 2 hours. PLEASE ESCALATE THIS AND LET ME CHAT WITH A HUMAN

Tim Richards 0 Reputation points

2026-08-24T16:31:09.6933333+00:00

That's not good enough! I pay £85 a year for Outlook and the lack of effective technical support sucks. Why shouldn't I just get a free Gmail account?
Hornblower409 14,425 Reputation points

2026-08-25T09:39:17.47+00:00

Appears to be a duplicate or continuation of:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5984124/tryin-to-export-my-contacts-and-folders-from-imac

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5984141/how-to-get-legacy-outlook

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5984171/importing-contacts-to-outlook

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5984183/importing-archived-olm-contacts-into-outlook-for-m

1 answer

Your answer

Tim Richards 0 Reputation points

2026-08-24T16:31:09.6933333+00:00

That's not good enough! I pay £85 a year for Outlook and the lack of effective technical support sucks. Why shouldn't I just get a free Gmail account?
Hornblower409 14,425 Reputation points

2026-08-25T09:39:17.47+00:00

Appears to be a duplicate or continuation of:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5984124/tryin-to-export-my-contacts-and-folders-from-imac

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5984141/how-to-get-legacy-outlook

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5984171/importing-contacts-to-outlook

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5984183/importing-archived-olm-contacts-into-outlook-for-m

Answer 1

Chloe-V 12,610 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Tim Richards

I’m sorry you’ve spent so much time trying to import the archive.

The .olm import instructions currently apply to Legacy Outlook for Mac, which is why the file may appear greyed out in New Outlook. Please select Help > Revert to Legacy Outlook, then select Tools > Import > Outlook for Mac archive file (.olm) and try the import again.

If you would prefer direct assistance, select Help > Contact Support in Outlook to contact the Outlook for Mac support team.

You can also share your feedback with the Outlook product team through the Microsoft Feedback Portal.

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators, contributors including external Microsoft employees cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas only.

Thank you for your understanding.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Tim Richards 0 Reputation points

2026-08-25T07:17:22.5666667+00:00

Thanks, that was a more helpful answer than the AI one! I managed to import the OLM archive by doing this. However the import only took about 1 second for a 7.6 Mb file - and it only seems to have imported recent contacts. Over half are missing. Even more annoying, it hasn't exported any of my contact LISTS. Any idea what `I can try?
Chloe-V 12,610 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-26T02:41:23.7933333+00:00

Hi @Tim Richards

I’m glad the file imported, but I understand the concern about the missing contacts.

An OLM file only contains the item types selected when it was originally exported. If you still have access to the old Mac, please check whether all contacts are visible there, then export again with Contacts selected and re-import the new OLM file. Imported contacts should appear under People > On My Computer.

If the contacts are also missing on the old Mac, they may not have been included in the original archive.
Chloe-V 12,610 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-28T02:29:35.3+00:00

Hi @Tim Richards

Is there any update from you?

If yes, please feel free to let us know.
Tim Richards 0 Reputation points

2026-08-29T12:33:36.49+00:00

Thanks Chloe. It seems the OLM export for my old Mac (Outlook v.16.43) has only exported recent contacts . At least half are missing. The AI instructions were to export from the LEGACY version of Outlook, but no clues were offered about how to do that, I have no idea if v.16.43 was 'Legacy' or not? I'm having two other issues with the new Outlook: 1. There wasn't any option other export my CONTACT LISTS, so it looks like I've lost them? 2. I can't search for messages on the new Outlook. I can do this easily on the old Mac. but it just doesn't work on the new set-up. This is a major disadvantage - I can't find anything!
Tim Richards 0 Reputation points

2026-08-29T12:33:45.35+00:00
Thanks Chloe. It seems the OLM export for my old Mac (Outlook v.16.43) has only exported recent contacts . At least half are missing. The AI instructions were to export from the LEGACY version of Outlook, but no clues were offered about how to do that, I have no idea if v.16.43 was 'Legacy' or not?
I'm having two other issues with the new Outlook:

There wasn't any option other export my CONTACT LISTS, so it looks like I've lost them?

I can't search for messages on the new Outlook. I can do this easily on the old Mac. but it just doesn't work on the new set-up. This is a major disadvantage - I can't find anything!
Chloe-V 12,610 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-30T23:04:19.76+00:00

Hi @Tim Richards

Outlook version 16.43 was part of the Legacy Outlook experience.

Regarding the missing contact lists, the Microsoft documentation confirms that an OLM archive can contain contacts, but it does not specify that contact lists are exported separately. Please check whether the lists are still available on the old Mac before removing or changing any data.

For the search concern, because the new account and OLM data were recently added, indexing may not yet be complete. Please allow time for indexing to finish. If search still returns no results, try the OutlookSearchRepair utility in Microsoft’s Outlook for Mac search guidance.
Tim Richards 0 Reputation points

2026-08-31T00:23:13.07+00:00

Thanks Chloe. There was no option to export CONTACT LISTS when I made the OLM archive from 16.43. It seems pretty user unfriendly that I have to kiss them goodbye just because I bought a new laptop? Is there a way round this? Also, I'm still not clear why it only seems to have exported/imported recent contacts.

Concerning the SEARCH function, this has never worked with the new set-up. It's not something that has happened since I imported the contacts. My old emails are in the inbox, but it can't find any of them. This happened straight away, even with emails that were only a few days old.

Considering `I'm a MS365 annual subscriber, I expected a more streamlined transition. 'Repairing' the Search Function is not something I expected to have to do! Why is it broken?!
Chloe-V 12,610 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-31T23:12:00.33+00:00

Hi @Tim Richards

I completely understand your frustration. Moving to a new Mac should not feel like a risk to your existing contacts or make it harder to find emails you've already imported.

OLM archives support email, contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes, but there is no documented option to export Contact Lists separately.

Regarding Search, I appreciate how disappointing this experience has been. Search is a core Outlook feature, and having imported emails visible but not searchable can significantly affect daily productivity.

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators, contributors including external Microsoft employees cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas only.

Thank you for sharing your feedback and experience. Hopefully, this information helps clarify the current behavior, even though it may not be the outcome you expected.
Tim Richards 0 Reputation points

2026-09-05T12:03:44.2566667+00:00

Hi Chloe, thanks for your comment. However you have not suggested a solution to the SEARCH problem I'm experiencing. Is it normal for Outlook not to be able to find emails imported from an OLM archive? It asks if I want to search via 'CoPilot' but that doesn't seem to make any difference. What is CoPilot anyway?
Chloe-V 12,610 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-05T23:30:06.8333333+00:00

Hi @Tim Richards

Thank you for clarifying. No, it is not normal for Outlook to be unable to find emails that are visible in your folders. If the setup or import was recent, Search may need time to finish indexing. However, since Search has not worked from the beginning, please select Help > Contact Support in Outlook for Mac so the support team can investigate further.

Copilot is Microsoft’s AI assistant for tasks such as summarizing and drafting emails. It does not replace Outlook Search or fix the underlying search behavior.

Thank you for your understanding.