No search results or content displayed in public folder favorites in Outlook 2016

Original KB number:   3169741

Symptoms

In Microsoft Outlook 2016, you experience one of the following symptoms:

• When you search in a public folder that you have added to your favorites, no search results are returned.
• No content is displayed in a public folder that you have added to your favorites.

Cause

This issue can occur when the option to download public folder favorites is enabled.

Resolution

This issue is fixed in Current Channel build 16.0.7766.2060, which was released on February 23, 2017. For more information, see Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date).

Workaround

To work around this issue until the fix of Deferred Channel is available, use one of the following methods.

Method 1 - Do not cache public folder favorites

1. In Outlook, on the File tab, select Account Settings, and then select Account Settings.
2. Select the Microsoft Exchange account, and then select Change.
3. Select More Settings.
4. On the Advanced tab, clear the Download Public Folder Favorites check box.
5. Select OK, select Next, select Finish, and then select Close.
6. Exit and restart Outlook.

Method 2 - Remove public folders from your favorites

1. In Outlook, open your Folders list. To do this, select the ellipsis (...) in the navigation pane, and then select Folders.

2. Expand Public Folders, and then expand Favorites.

3. Right-click the public folder that is listed under Favorites, and then select Delete Folder.

   Note

   Selecting Delete Folder does not delete the folder from the server. This action only removes the folder from your favorites.

4. Repeat step 3 for any public folders that you want to remove from your favorites.

Method 3 - Revert the Office 2016 Click-to-Run installation to an earlier version

This method is a workaround for the symptom of content not being displayed in the public folder favorites folder and is not meant for the symptom of no search results.

Revert the Office 2016 Click-to-Run installation to the 16.0.7070.2036 version. To do this, follow these steps.

1. Exit all Office applications.

2. Open an elevated command prompt as administrator.

   Windows 10

   1. Go to Start, enter Run in the Search Windows box, and then press Enter.
   2. Type cmd in the Run box, and then select OK.

   Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

   1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then select Search. If you're using a mouse, point to the lower-right corner of the screen, and then select Search.
   2. Enter Run.
   3. Type cmd in the Run box, and then select OK.

   Windows 7 SP1

   1. Select Start, type cmd in the Start Search box.
   2. Right-click Command Prompt or cmd.exe, and then select Run as administrator.

3. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press Enter:

   cd %programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun
   

4. Type the following command, and then press Enter:

   officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.7070.2036
   

5. When the repair dialog box appears, select Online Repair.

6. Select Repair, and then select Repair again.

7. After the repair is complete, start Outlook.

8. Select File, and then select Office Account.

9. In the Product Information column, select Update Options, and then select Disable Updates.

   Important

   This step is very important. The repair process re-enables automatic updates. To prevent the newest version of Office Click-to-Run from being automatically reinstalled, make sure that you follow this step.

10. Set a reminder in your calendar for a future date at which to check this article for a resolution for this issue. Enable automatic updates in Office again after this issue is fixed. Enabling automatic updates again will make sure that you don't miss future updates.

For more information about update channels for Microsoft 365 clients, see Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date).

For more information about reverting to an earlier version of Office Click-to-Run, see How to revert to an earlier version of Office.

Status

This issue is now fixed, per the information in the Resolution section.

More information

To determine whether your Office installation is Click-to-Run or MSI-based, follow these steps:

1. Start Outlook.

2. On the File menu, select Office Account.

3. For Office Click-to-Run installations, an Update Options item is displayed. For MSI-based installations, the Update Options item is not displayed.