Public folders have disappeared in NEW outlook for Mac

Copper Contributor

Just switched to Microsoft Outlook for Mac version 16.42. Public folders have disappeared and the option is greyed out under tools. if I switch back to the old outlook, the public folders are there again.

 

How do I get them in the new outlook?

28 Replies

@MiscGriz 

 

The new Outlook for Mac is a work in progress.  There are a few features that are not yet available in it.  I've tried it myself a couple of times but had to switch back due to a missing feature.  

 

When you switch back though, you can fill in a form telling Microsoft why you have reverted.  

 

The features will make their way into the new version in time.

@PeterRising 

Is this a missing feature for sure? Or is it something i'm missing?

@MiscGrizI am facing the same issue, has there been any progress here?

 

We are seeing the same thing for all of us at our org still in Jan 2021, any updates yet?  Public folders have disappeared and the option is greyed out under tools. if people switch back to the old outlook, the public folders are there again.

@socrat3k 

Apologies, are any of the people that have replied to this comment actually from Microsoft? Have they formally said the feature is simply not in the beta yet?
very frustrating that many months after you shared this/asked this question there is still no PF option in the new look o/l :(
Still no public folders here (Outlook 16.49, new interface). Not to mention that the access of public folders in the old version on mac already was a quite painful experience, if you need access to a lot of public folders inside the folder hierarchy. This is more than frustrating since we are paying for E3 and E5 license model.

I just ran into this issue (I work for a small MSP).  Try selecting the toggle back to the old interface of Outlook (if available). 

 

 

NickConder_0-1622214086531.png

 

August 3, 2021 - still no PF in "New" outlook? I'm getting a "DOS ain't done til Lotus won't run" vibe.
Still no news. How comes that public folders are so -badly- integrated into Outlook on Mac? The access to PF on the old version (by subscribing one by one), is ridiculous, as soon as you have a minimum of hierarchy within your PFs.
I guess some more people are pretty annoyed, because they actually PAY for corporate accounts, while Microsoft fails to provide a decent method to access the PFs in a corporate environment, even if the old version is -somehow- able to give access. Very disappointing.
This is fun. "New" outlook - No Public Folders. "Old" outlook - No Search Results. Now I have to switch back and forth between outlook versions depending on whether I want to be able to search, or access public folders. Really looking forward to a microsoft self-driving car. My use of capital letters is intended. Fix your broken garbage and you'll get your Capital letters back.

Absolutely, this example of bad feature implementation on mac is beyond me. I guess this is just a secret approach of MS to scare people away from MacOS back to Windows, where software (which people did pay for!), actually works like intended. Given the time, which the Mac-Department from Microsoft needs to fix this (over two years now, still counting), I assume, that I won't see an actually satisfying Outlook on Mac before my retirement. And I'm retiring in 22 years.

I've been using new on my mac and going to the browser when I need to do something I can't.

I just had to switch back to "old" outlook because "new" outlook cannot create a new meeting from File | New while I'm reading email.  Good news is, suddenly my search is working again in "old".  Hopefully I won't have to re-enable "new" ever again.  Gad, that "new" INTERFACE, yuk.  If "new" is an entire rewrite, created to solve a problem, great, go for it.  If "new" is just a reskin, I suggest microsoft lose a couple of thousand pounds of dead weight by scuttling that department.  Aside from my recent Search issues (and the fact that "new" will eventually be FORCED on me), I have nothing but good things to say about "old", its a workhorse.

Definitely a workaround for a typical user. Most days however, I'm alternately logged into multiple client tenants using different accounts It gets really time consuming logging out, and clearing history, etc. Even with 3 different browsers plus their private modes, its a pita. Just plain crazy the workarounds we're forced to implement for an "upgrade" nobody asked for.

Adding to what mskars said, it's a bad workaround for users who heavily rely on a grown hierarchy of public folders. it's just impossible to configure access to public folders in a user friendly way in the web interface, because *all* the subfolders have to be favorited by hand via outlook, one by one, to make them visible on the web interface.
not to mention that microsoft removed the administration of permissions on public folders via the GUI. I really want to know what they were thinking here...

Hi @chrismeiss,
I'm not convinced the've removed permissioning public folders via the GUI. You can still set the permission in the Exchange admin center as far as I know. Agreed, the "do this on all subfolders" doesn't work (well it didn't when I tried it a while back, they've removed the check box and replaced it with the note "Use https://aka.ms/PFPermissionScript in case you want to apply permission to subfolders." now), but you can set the permissions folder by folder.
We have been waiting for so long to be able to use public folders in the new Outlook for Mac. With version 16.56 there are still no PF. We can't use it without public folders.
Now it becomes even more important because since macOS Monterey 12.1, the search in the current Outlook for Mac is completely not working.
Almost a year and a half later and there is still no word on the availability of Public Folders in the New Outlook for Mac? In the latest update, they removed the greyed-out option under Tools. This has me worried that they don't plan on supporting it in the future. Is Outlook for PC next?

Can anyone at Microsoft tell us what the plan is?