Sometimes you would like to know where you have an email located in Microsoft Outlook. If you have a lot of folders, this can be a common problem. Fortunately, you can find the folder location for any email using these steps.
- Open Outlook and search for the message using the quick search box located toward the upper-right portion of the window. When searching, be sure that “All Outlook Items” is selected in the drop-down box.
- Once you press “Enter” to submit your search, there should be an “In Folder” field that will tell you which folder the email is located in.
If you do not have this field perform these steps:
- Select the “View” tab.
- Select “Add Columns“.
- From the “Select available columns from:” drop-down menu, select “All Mail fields“.
- Select “In Folder” then select “Add” to add it.
Alexis says
Any of the 2 options works:
option 1: search your email, open your email, press CTRL+SHIFT+
option2: in Outlook, click view, add columns, all mail fields, add “in folder”. This will add the “in folder” column in outlook, allowing you to see where is the email located.
Thanks for sharing!
Michelle says
This was EXACTLY what I was looking for. When I did an email search, I couldn’t determine where the email was actually found so I could reallocate it to a different folder if necessary.,
I could not find these instructions anywhere on Microsoft website anywhere. Thank-you!!
Tony Mason says
Thanks Ofira Sharon for your work-around
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for finding the path of a specific Email do this:
1. Open the email
2. Click CTRL+SHIFT+F
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Sandor Boldizsar says
THANKS A LOT Ofira Sharon!
It worked for me perfectly!
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for finding the path of a specific Email do this:
1. Open the email
2. Click CTRL+SHIFT+F : the Advanced file dialog is opened in it choose the button “Browse…”
there you can see the the full path
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Tim Sluckin says
I have the same trouble as these complainants. The lack of a file path is a real problem. The software people are not real users!
Larry says
Best bet is to get X1. far outshines the worthless Microsoft search. All of the concerns and complaints are valid. I have been using X1 for several years and love it. click on the file or email you want then click on folder and you’re there.
Ofira Sharon says
for finding the path of a specific Email do this:
1. Open the email
2. Click CTRL+SHIFT+F : the Advanced file dialog is opened in it choose the button “Browse…”
there you can see the the full path
Travis says
It worked for me using Outlook desktop for Windows.
Edward says
This is the functionality users are actually looking for:
http://vboffice.net/en/developers/get-the-message-folder/
It’s relatively easy to install and use;
1. Enable macros in Outlook, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings… > Macro Settings > “Notification for all macros” > OK
2. Use keys ALT+F11 in Outlook to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications editor, and go to Project1 (VbaProject.OTM) > Microsoft Outlook Objects > ThisOutlookSession, and double click, then paste the code, File > Save VbaProject.OTM, and close the editor.
3. To use the macro, if you have message preview pane on, you can just select the email you require the information on, then use keys ALT+F8 to and choose your new macro ‘GetItemsFolderPath’.
Fran says
I tried to do this and it doesn’t work. It keeps asking me to Name the new column and then the new column is not created. I finally figured out I had to drag it to the row of columns, but the column is blank. It doesn’t indicate which folder the email is filed in.
scott says
This is ridiculous. Seriously.
Shelia says
No this did not help. I just want to see the list of my e-mail folders and I can’t figure out how to get to it.
David says
A brand new folder called Bulk Emails appeared form nowhere. It fills up with spam and other junk. I want to remove it but Microsoft has prevented it from being removed. Add this to the millions of other complaints.
James Wilton says
Come on Microsoft, just show the file path, including the email account:
i.e. \\[email protected]\inbox\sorted\otherwise lost forever
Victoria MacDonald says
Absolutely useless. Microsoft file explorer can find the exact location with a folder address. This isn’t a new concept for Microsoft.
Gubbs says
As pointed out by previous posters, the ‘In Folder’ column is useless if the folder is nested more than once from the root folder – it should show the entire path (like windows explore search). Didn’t Microsoft just get a tax break? Maybe they can take a little of that money and make this function a little more usefull.
Gregory Kielczewski says
No, it doesn’t help at all, because it “explains” obvious and avoid difficult. I have hundreds of folder in Outlook. Sometimes they change position in the folder structure, or possibly I inadvertently and unconsciously move them to a new place. At this moment I am in trouble. Microsoft does not provide any tool to locate such “lost” files, or possibly I have not discovered such a tool. When I search for files in a “lost” folder Outlook show them, and even tell me in which folder they are. The problem is that I have no idea what is the location of the folder.
Stephen says
I can find the “in folder” but I cannot locate the folder itself.