cannot retrieve the emails from Outlook for Mac previously locally stored from a backup on an external disk

Question

cannot retrieve the emails from Outlook for Mac previously locally stored from a backup on an external disk

Anonymous

Hello, I am using outlook for Mac on an Office 365 subscription. I am regularly moving the emails to local folders "on my computer" in order to avoid running out of space on my IMAP account. I had to delete the Mac due to an issue and now I cannot retrieve the emails I had stored previously locally from a backup on an external disk. Following the path suggested on other forums I cannot find them in "...Outlook 15 Profiles / Mail profile / Data". I even copied the "Data" folder from the external disk backup to the computer, but still no success. All I was able to find, divided in 255 different numbered folders were files ending with ".olk15Message", which I could not open nor copy.

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3 answers

Answer 1

You're welcome. I'm glad to hear that you want to try the second solution to delete the olk15Message files. To answer your question, yes, it is normal that you find these files divided into 255 separate folders within the Data/Messages folder. This is because Outlook for Mac uses a hexadecimal numbering system to organize the messages by their ID. You do not have to repeat the procedure for all 255 folders separately. You can select only the Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Data folder and delete it. However, please note that this will also delete all your messages and attachments in Outlook for Mac, so make sure you have a backup or export your data before doing so.

I hope this helps you understand the olk15Message files better and how to delete them.

Answer 2

Dear Sola, thank you for your kind support. I would like to try the 2nd solution proposed by you, but before doing so, I would like to understand if it is ok, that I find these "olk15Message" files divided into 255 separate folders within the "Data / Messages" folder. Will I have to repeat the procedure for all 255 folders separately or can I select only the "Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Data" folder? thank you in advance!

Answer 3

Hi Robert,

Thanks for contacting us,

I'm sorry to hear that you cannot retrieve the emails from Outlook for Mac that you previously stored locally from a backup on an external disk.

One possible cause of this issue is that your Outlook profile is corrupted or damaged. To fix this, you can try to create a new Outlook profile and see if the problem persists. To create a new Outlook profile, follow these steps:

Quit Outlook and go to **Finder** > **Applications** > **Utilities** > **Keychain Access**.
In the left pane, click **login**, and then click **Passwords**.
In the search box, type **Exchange** and delete all the items that have a kind of **MicrosoftOffice15_2 Credentials**.
Go to **Finder** > **Go** > **Go to Folder**.
Type ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9. Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/ and click **Go**.
Move the folder named **Main Profile** to the desktop or another location.
Restart Outlook and follow the prompts to add your email account to the new profile.

Another possible cause of this issue is that your backup files are not compatible with the current version of Outlook for Mac. To fix this, you can try to convert your backup files to a newer format using a third-party tool. One such tool is (name of commercial 3rd party product removed), which can convert your .olk15Message files to .olm files that can be imported to Outlook for Mac. To use this tool, follow these steps:

Download and install (removed) .
Launch the tool and click **Add OLK File**.
Browse to the location of your backup files and select the folders that contain your .olk15Message files.
Click **Open** and wait for the tool to scan and load your files.
Click **Convert** and choose a destination folder for the converted files.
Click **Save** and wait for the tool to convert your files to .olm format.
Open Outlook for Mac and go to **File** > **Import**.
Select **Outlook for Mac archive file (.olm)** and click **Continue**.
Browse to the location of your converted files and select the .olm file that you want to import.
Click **Import** and wait for Outlook to import your emails.

I hope this helps!

Regards, Sola