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I previously had the focused inbox in my outlook 2016 and then one day it mysteriously disappeared. And was replaced with something less practical than the old combined inbox where read and unread are in different areas.

The key difference between this and the other questions I've seen is that I had the inbox then it disappeared and I want to know the steps required to get it back. It still works on the portal website.

enter image description here

All the documentation I've seen suggest checking the view ribbon to setup the focused inbox

View ribbon missing cannot select focused inbox

Configuration notes

  • Office 365 for business
  • The computer I'm using is on windows 7
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  • Focused Inbox is available for Office 365, Exchange, and Outlook.com accounts in Outlook for Windows. You may go to the View tab and make sure the option of Show Focused Inbox is selected. See this link below for the discussion on a similar issue: social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/…
    – Yuki Sun
    Mar 14, 2019 at 1:58
  • The focused inbox option was previously there. The option for a focused inbox is no longer on the view tab. Mar 14, 2019 at 7:51
  • If you type "Focused Inbox" in the search bar, does it show the option? Mar 15, 2019 at 14:47
  • Also, is this a business environment and do you have local IT? Have you checked to see if there was a recent patch to Outlook that may have made this disappear? Is your email account POP or IMAP, or is it Outlook.com, Office 365 Business, or Exchange 2016? Mar 15, 2019 at 14:58
  • @music2myear its Office 365 for Business, I tried local it and did not get an answer. There is distributed ownership so it can be challenging Mar 15, 2019 at 23:44

7 Answers 7

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One possible solution: Try to add Focused Inbox back to the View ribbon

Open File > Options > Customize Ribbon

Under Choose commands from select All Tabs and under Customize the Ribbon select Main Tabs.

In the column on the right, select View.

From the column on the left search under View for Focused Inbox and if you see it, select it and click the Add >> button in the middle to add it to the View section on the right.

This is how and where in the UI:

enter image description here

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    Nice approach. I was able to follow the instructions all the way but now there's a focused inbox section in the toolbar without a "show focused inbox button"
    – zudduz
    Sep 23, 2019 at 18:52
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My focused inbox was suddenly missing after an office update. I solved the problem by Quick repair the office package. (Settings/apps/office/modify - Quick Repair)

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  • Can you elaborate a little further on how to get to quick repair? Was it from outlook, did you search in the start menu? was it through the folder structure. I don't know my way there. Apr 26, 2019 at 23:40
  • I went to Settings from the start menu..
    – axel_ande
    Apr 27, 2019 at 18:33
  • what version of windows? Apr 27, 2019 at 21:38
  • I have Windows 10, Office built version 1808
    – axel_ande
    Apr 28, 2019 at 4:46
  • Do you happen to know how to do the same thing in windows 7? Apr 28, 2019 at 23:40
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The below option worked for me but I had to add a step. Once I got to "View" and tried to add "Focused Inbox", I got the error message that this could only be done by creating a new group. I hit the 'New Group" tab, "Focused Inbox" showed up, I closed out, restarted my Outlook and Focused Inbox and Other are now showing. Thank you!

One possible solution: Try to add Focused Inbox back to the View ribbon

Open File > Options > Customize Ribbon

Under Choose commands from select All Tabs and under Customize the Ribbon select Main Tabs.

In the column on the right, select View.

From the column on the left search under View for Focused Inbox and if you see it, select it and click the Add >> button in the middle to add it to the View section on the right.

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  • Ok. So it WAS working based on the above but I did a search and it switched back to "All and "Unread"! Super frustrating! I know others have experienced this. Has anyone been able to keep the settings permanent?
    – Faith
    May 17, 2021 at 19:33
  • I also have the situation where 'Focused' is present on first display of the inbox. But as soon as I 'search', then close the search results, I'm back to 'All / Unread'. Exiting / reentering Outlook 'fixes' it temporarily until the next 'search'. Before searching, I can go to the 'view' tab and see 'Show Focused Inbox' but after the search, this entry is 'grayed out'. Further - when I tried to remove / add feature from view menu (Options / ..) I had to add it to the 'new group', not 'view' (as mentioned by another poster). Interestingly, I have a 2nd mailbox configured and it works fine!
    – Steerpike
    Sep 30, 2021 at 3:57
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This is how I lost my Focused and Other mailbox. I went into File, Options, Trust Center, privacy Options, privacy settings, and turned off "All connected experiences," not realizing it would remove my focused folder. As soon as I re-enabled this option, my folders came back. It took me about 4 hours to realize what I did, so hopefully, this will help someone else out.

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I closed down Outlook and opened it back up and it worked. All this searching and I should have started with a simple close and restart on the program facepalm.

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  • That probably means that, while you're symptoms were similar, your root problem was different from OPs. Sep 9, 2020 at 2:35
  • Closing and re-opening Outlook 'solves' the problem for me but only until the first action I take that navigates away from the standard inbox view. For example, if I use the 'search' feature, then close the search result view, my inbox view reverts back to 'Unread / all' (from 'Focused / Other').
    – Steerpike
    Sep 30, 2021 at 21:53
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Based on a suggestion in another instance of this problem, I resolve the exact same problem on my Windows 10 laptop by creating a new Outlook Profile, and then adding my email account(s) to this new profile. No other solutions in the existing profile would persist past the first attempt to search (adding back 'Focused' in the Ribbon half-worked, but only until I searched. Exiting / re-entering Outlook also 'fixed it', but again, only until the first use of the search feature). I have 2 MS Office 365 hosted 'exchange' mailboxes.

To create a new profile, go to Control Panel (small icons view) -> Mail (Microsoft Outlook); select 'Profiles / Show Profiles', then add a new profile, and make it the default (I prefer not to delete the existing profile in case there are settings / configs of value there. There's no reason other than space not to create a new one, leaving the old profile in place as a backup/reference). Next, open Outlook, and add the office 365 mail account(s). I had two separate accounts (both office 365 mailboxes) and they both configured fine, and 'focused view' is now working for both.

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They kick you in the doink to get you to subscribe. Perpetual licensed versions will not get is (unless you have a pro/plus license)

How many feet do they have so that they can keep shooting them?

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/focused-inbox-for-office2013-office2016-home/53ad38e1-6b3a-45b4-8361-ee146a592af0

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