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BRIEF

Is there any way to have Outlook Conversation view show messages in the current folder and in other folders, but to filter out messages in particular other folders?

Similarly, is there a way to filter out duplicate messages from a Conversation View, if a message has been copied to more than one folder?

DETAIL / BACKGROUND

I like Outlook Conversation view. I especially like that conversation view can show messages in both the current folder, typically Inbox, and in other folders (like Sent mail, or Archive).

But... since I started using Outlook many, many years ago (1995? is that possible?) I have had rules that automatically make copies of all incoming mail and all outgoing mail to a folder that I call "Raw Inbox and Outbox". This has saved my bacon more than once, when I accidentally deleted some mail.

Unfortunately, when I turn on Conversation mode, showing messages in other folders, I often see duplicates of messages - e.g. the message in the Inbox, and the message in my "Raw Inbox and Outbox". Ditto "Sent", or refiled. This is quite annoying.

I would very much like to be able to filter out this particular folder, "Raw Inbox and Outbox" from the Conversation view. Does anyone know how?

Needing to filter out just this "Raw Inbox and Outbox" folder is my pressing need. But it would be nice to generalize to being able to filter out several folders - e.g. I might want to see messages in the Conversation that are in Inbox, and that have been moved to a "To do" folder or a "Wait for" folder (GTD style), but not in Archive or Raw.

WHAT I HAVE TRIED

I have tried autoarchiving the Raw Inbox and Outbox to get it off my Exchange server / normal .PST as quickly as possible. That helped a bit, but the autoarchive frequency was not fast enough (can only autoarchive stuff more than a day old). Plus, placing it in a separate .PST on my PC was a pain - not accessible from another machine. Plus, at the moment I am a bit frazzled about autoarchive, since as I mention below native MacOS Outlook is crashing, but I do not run Windows Outlook enough to trust it. *Hmm, clicking around I just noticed an option that is new to me, "Move old items to default archive folder", as opposed to moving to a .PST. That might mean that Conversation mode filters that out ... but it is unlikely to be what I want for "Raw Inbox and Outbox".

CONFIG INFO

I am currently using

Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011, version 14.4.7

and, because the native Mac version is regularly crashing (if you have any ideas why, help! but that should be a separate question. Yosemite)

((I just learned that Outlook 2015 for Mac is available; installing that; hope it will cure the reliability problems; but the issue about filtering conversations still applies.)

I am also using

Microsoft Office 15 on Windows 8.1 on Parallels on my MacBook which is running Yosemite

I had the same problem in Outlook 2010 and 2013

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  • In Outlook 2013 for PC, you would just create a saved search. As part of the "customization" of a saved search, you can designate which folders to include or exclude. I exclude my system logs and reports folders since they are needed when I want to search conversation with colleagues. – Sun Jan 27 '15 at 23:33
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    You can not exclude specific folders in Conversation View. You can either have Conversation view be messages in the current folder only or all folders. The saved search will let you exclude specific folders from search. If they are the same folders you want to exclude from conversation, then it will accomplish your first question. A saved search just gives you all the e-mails you want to search from. From there, you filter further by searching the Current Mailbox. Your second question is not a common use case, but if the duplicate is in an excluded folder, then second question answered. – Sun Jan 29 '15 at 18:12
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Although this thread is old already, I have found a rather complex work-around for this issue. I found that FOLDERS in the DELETED ITEMS category (even if you create a sub-folder, which will not permanently delete the emails stored in it) will not be shown in the CONVERSATION VIEW.

As in my case, I only wanted to see INBOX and SENT emails of a conversation. However, it also kept showing receipts and delivery confirmations, which is annoying. Hence, I created Rules to put all receipts and delivery notifications into a separate folder (i.e. Delivery Notes), which is a sub-folder under DELETED ITEMS.

Now, the CONVERSATION VIEW will only display INBOX and SENT emails, which is easy to follow.

Like I said, it is a work-around, as other methods (such as advanced filters, etc...) did not work for me.

Hope it helps to anyone who still seeks to find solution to this very old issue.

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