Outlook not moving between folders

This is a new problem I have been having, say maybe in the last several weeks.   I begin a new email by clicking on New Message, work on writing my email, but let's say I need to check another email in my Inbox first before sending it, I cannot go to any folders, like the Inbox, Sent, Drafts, etc.    The only option I have is to save the email as a Draft and log out.  I don't recall having this problem before.  My solution is to close out of Outlook and login again, then I can go to the Drafts folder, open it, and then I can actually access the folders. But start a new email, again the folders are not accessible.  It seems like it is somehow related to the New Message action.