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.
Anjani says
Absolutely useless. I nest lots of folders. Without the path, the file name is meaningless.
AngryMan says
totally ridiculous !! how can MS neglect such simple need from users?
i am frustrated in locating the folder and the related emails …..
should MS incorporate Google search in their Outloook!
Paige says
None of this was helpful; 1 way shows you the subfolder but doesn’t tell where the subfolder is. the CTLR + Shift = F just shows “Inbox” for EVERYTHING. Yeah, I know it’s in a subfolder in the Inbox; that’s so not helpful…..
Colin Bonfield says
Your outlook search function is utter TRASH! Please sort this out so that we can see the full path of where an email is stored.
CURTIS LANGAGER says
updated to a new computer and now it no longer shows which folder the email is in in the results box. this causes me to waste an incredible amount of time trying to find emails.
can’t beleive outlook was stupid enough to delete this simple but essential function!!!!
Nik says
1. Open email
2. Click File. and under “Move item to different folder” the current folder is displayed
John says
OK, attempt three.
Do these changes in “View”, but not in “View Settings” do it in “Change Settings” then it seems to stick there.
Good luck!
John says
Only recently has the “In Folder” column disappeared, which it has just done again! Microsoft should be able to make this easy and essential function remain available.
Erin says
No this did not help. I’m looking for a way to change settings so that the InFolder tab is always visible after conducting a search. Then you can easily determine where the email is located. This is especially important if you’ve accidentally deleted it – it would be good to know this!
AH says
It is utter insanity that Outlook does not easily show the paths of a folder, only which folder it is in. This is almost the mid 21st Century and cannot believe how much time I waste looking for things because of this very simple ask.
For example, i oragnise emails by [Conversations[]. A new email comes in that says previously filed emails are in Folder D.
Folder D, is a sub folder of Folder C, which is a sub folder of Folder B, which is a sub folder of Folder A. I am a lawyer so this is how I file. Why can you not show me the path without a ridiculous search function which also doesn’t really work. Sort it out please!!!!!
Michael Maxwell says
The method described in the post ONLY tells you the bottom-most folder the message is in. (This holds for both the information shown in Properties, and for the information shown in the “In Folder” column.) This is NOT sufficient if you have nested folders, since you may not remember where a particular deeply nested folder is; and worse, you might have more than one nested folder with the same name (like “Budget” if you have a budget folder for each project).
The ONLY way that will tell you the path to the folder is the Ctrl-Shift-F + Browse button method.
This has been a problem in Outlook forever. It is really inconvenient to have to use the Ctrl-Shift-F method when the other methods ought to work. (It’s also inconvenient that when you do a search for emails, Outlook doesn’t automatically show you the “In Folder” column–instead, you have to add that column every time you re-open Outlook, which for me is ever day.)
DavidC says
There is an extra step required. Go to File – Options – Search.
Then on “Include results only from” Select radio button “All mailboxes”.
Then (copied from comment above: )
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
Enjoy
LF says
Thanks!!!
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
=================================================================================================
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. \\bob@bobski.com\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.