How to delete folders in Outlook

Whether you are using the Outlook desktop application or the outlook.com web application maybe you have created a few folders to organize your email messages in the platform. I know all those folders are essential for you but you may need to delete them after a particular time. You should know how to delete folders in Outlook to delete them. If you do not know how to do that no worries, in this article, I will guide you step by step.

Folders in Outlook desktop application

Microsoft Outlook on the left side of your desktop application is called the Outlook folder pane. Where you may see some folders like Inbox, Sent Items, etc. These are the default folders available in Outlook. You cannot delete these default folders.

Read More: How to convert Outlook email to pdf quickly.

Default folders in Outlook

By default inside the folder pane, you may see the following folders.

Inbox-

When you receive an email, this is the place where it arrives unless you create any rule for it. This is the default folder for new emails that arrives. If it is a spam email it can also go to the Junk E-mail folder.

Drafts-

If you are writing a long email and have not finished yet, it is saved in the drafts folder. You can restart writing your email again anytime. For any email you start writing, outlook starts saving every three minutes. When you click send button it is transferred to the Outbox. Learn More: Where did my draft email go in Outlook?

Junk E-mail-

If Outlook suspects any new email harmful to the user, it redirects the email to the Junk E-mail folder. Outlook has strong Junk E-mail settings itself and users can configure it as required. Read More: How to change Junk E-mail settings?

Sent Item-

This is the place where all emails that have been shipped already are stored. As I said earlier, emails from the drafts folder are transferred to the Outbox folder.

Outbox-

This is the place where email is kept for a few moments depending upon internet speed and attachment size, actually, it is a temporary place for an email. During this time period Outlook ship any email with attachment and communicate with the server and complete the total process. Read more: Email stuck in outbox reason and easy solutions.

Deleted Items-

When you delete any email from anywhere, all are moved to this folder. It is like recycle bin. If you delete any email from this folder, no chance to return it again.

Archive-

An archive folder is a separate Outlook Data File (.pst) that you can open from Outlook whenever you need it. The archive feature keeps your inbox clean, which you have already answered. Learn more: How to create archive folder in Outlook

Search Folders-

This folder comes with your search results, it works like a filter if you want to view all emails with attachments it will show you the results in this folder.

All these folders in Microsoft Outlook are the default folders. Remember it is not possible to delete or rename these folders. But don’t worry you can create new folders anywhere as per your requirement and can rename, modify, or delete them.

How to delete folders in Outlook

Before you know the process of deleting a folder you should know how to create a folder in Outlook.

How to create a folder

• Launch Microsoft Outlook and go to the folder pane.
• Right-click on the account name, and select New Folder.
• Name the new folder as you want, and press Enter on the keyboard.

You can create subfolders also, in the same process. Right-click on any folder and follow the same process. You can create as many subfolders under any default folder.

How to delete folders in Outlook

• Launch Microsoft Outlook and go to the folder pane.
• Right-click on the folder that you want to delete.
• Select Delete Folder to delete.

• A confirmation message box will appear please click OK to complete the task.

Alternatively,

• What you can do you can use your mouse. Just drag the folder and drop it into the Deleted Items folder.

Why do we create a folder in Outlook?

When you are using any email client like Microsoft Outlook, definitely you will try to organize the emails that arrived in your inbox. If all emails are gathered in the same place like an inbox your inbox will be messy. To organise your inbox, if you create folders and subfolders and create rules new emails will be redirected automatically to the folder that you created.

If you have multiple projects and organize your email project-wise into a different folder, it is easy to search for any specific email anytime you want.

When should you delete folders in Outlook?

It completely depends upon you. When you think that you do not need the folder, you can delete it. Once you delete any folder it is moved to Deleted items. If you delete by mistake use your mouse to drag it to its place again.

Does deleting a folder in outlook delete emails?

When you are deleting any folder in Outlook that means you are deleting all everything inside it. All will move to the deleted items folder.

How do I delete multiple folders in outlook at once?

You can delete folders one by one as I instructed above but if you want to delete multiple folders at once you can also do the task. There is an easy solution for this. Drag all those folders that you want to delete into a single folder. Now delete this single folder as per the above instructions.

How to delete folders in Outlook.com

The process is the same as deleting folders in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook.com. Please follow the above instructions. You can see the screenshot below to understand better.

Dear learner, I hope this article on how to delete folders in Outlook is very much helpful to you. Please keep a comment in the comment box to encourage us. Thank you very much.