Item in Outlook will not stay in the folder I put them in. They keep returning to my inbox

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Item in Outlook will not stay in the folder I put them in. They keep returning to my inbox

Kim Lloyd 0

I've read several threads on the subject and none seem to provide a solution. Maybe I've not looked at enough threads yet, I read an email, close it, move it to a folder. After some period of time (sometimes a few minutes, sometimes a day or two later), it moves back into my inbox.

It is extremely frustrating to try managing email in Outlook due to this issue. I have outlook on my company computer where this is not an issue. But my personal computer outlook is apparently different and the problem persists.

Does anyone have a solution? Or are we just waiting on Microsoft to make the fix?

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Answer 1

Carlo Luna 6,895 Independent Advisor

Hi Kim,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community. I'm here to help.

This usually happens due to sync issues between Outlook and your email server, especially with IMAP or Exchange accounts. It’s common in the New Outlook interface, which has had some bugs with folder management and indexing. Microsoft has acknowledged this as a known issue in certain outlook versions.

Can you let me know if you’re using Outlook on Windows, Mac, or the web? Also, is your account with Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, or another provider? That’ll help figure out whether switching back to Classic Outlook or adjusting sync settings might help.

Feel free to reply for better understanding.

Regards,
Carlo

Kim Lloyd 0 Reputation points

2025-11-03T21:28:38.06+00:00

Outlook on Windows. Happens with both classic outlook and new outlook. My email is with gmail. Does that help?
Kim Lloyd 0 Reputation points

2025-11-03T21:41:28.22+00:00

O provided a comment instead of an answer and not sure you would see it right away.

I'm using outlook for windows. Same issue whether using classic or new outlook. I do have 365. My email is gmail. Does that help?
Margaret 0 Reputation points

2026-04-06T23:22:14.5133333+00:00

I also have this problem on a new home Windows 11 PC with new outlook. Emails from my daughter won't stay in Inbox
Kim Lloyd 0 Reputation points

2026-04-06T23:31:50.54+00:00

Seems from my search lots of folks are having the same problem and Microsoft has no answer. Maybe someday it will reach critical mass and be addressed
Margaret 0 Reputation points

2026-04-07T00:27:25.2666667+00:00

I hope it is fixed soon. I have the old PC on next to new and am using old PC to forward the email to myself so I can open on new PC. Quite ridiculous!!! Not wanting to fully retire old PC till new is fully functi.onal
Hornblower409 6,905 Reputation points

2026-04-08T22:25:16.5866667+00:00

@Margaret said

I also have this problem on a new home Windows 11 PC with new outlook

You might be better served by starting a new thread using the "Ask a question" button at the top of this page to create a new Question and include the details for your specific problem. What version of Outlook you are using? What kind of email account(s) are you using (e.g. outlook.com, hotmail.com, GMail, Yahoo)

This provides much higher visibility to your issue than commenting on an old post, which is only seen by people who are already following this question.

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Item in Outlook will not stay in the folder I put them in. They keep returning to my inbox

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