Why Is Outlook Not Showing All Emails

Introduction

In this article, I will explain the reasons why Outlook doesn’t show all emails. We have also provided some easy solutions that you can implement to resolve the issue.

Outlook users usually face the problem of Outlook not showing all emails when there is unstable or poor Internet connectivity. However, sometimes, you aren’t able to see all emails due to various other reasons. Below, we have mentioned some possible reasons that may lead to such an issue and the fixes to resolve the problem.

If you notice that Outlook 2019 new emails not showing in Inbox or facing similar issues in other Outlook versions, the following reasons may be responsible for the problem.

Also, you can follow the solutions to solve the problem.

Dependencies in View Settings

The Outlook isn’t showing all emails issue may arise because of the default View settings. For instance, filters, sorting settings, etc. may be hiding certain emails in the default View. You can reset the View settings to solve the problem. To do so, follow the given steps,

Launch Outlook and open the View tab.
Click View Settings.
In the Advanced View Settings window that opens, select Reset Current View.
Select OK in the dialog box.

Misconfigured Cache Settings

If you are using an IMAP or MAPI email account, your emails are downloaded from the live mailbox to the local system. In most machines, Outlook retains emails for one year.

This means only emails of the past year are stored on the local machine. If you are searching for emails older than one year, you have to change the settings. For this, follow these steps,

Go to File > Account Settings.
In the Account Settings window that opens, select your email account and click Change.
Under Download email for the past, pull the slider all the way to the right, and then click Next.
Click Done.

Now, Outlook will download all emails from your Exchange mailbox to the local system.

Oversized PST File

In Outlook 2010 and above versions, OST and PST files have a preconfigured limit of 50 GB. If the Outlook data file is close to this limit or has exceeded this limit, you may face difficulties in receiving new emails. Due to this, you may face Outlook 2016 new emails not showing in Inbox or similar issues in other Outlook versions.

To resolve this issue, you need to reduce the size of the Outlook data file. For this, follow these steps,

Delete all unwanted items from the Deleted Items folder.
Go to File > Account Settings and open the Data Files tab.
Select the mailbox file and then click Settings.
Click Compact Now and then click OK.

You can also use Outlook’s Mailbox Cleanup utility to reduce file size. To find this utility, go to File > Tools > Mailbox Cleanup.

Corrupted PST

If the PST file is corrupted, it can cause the problem of Outlook not showing all emails. However, you can easily repair the PST file with Outlook’s built-in Inbox Repair tool ScanPST.exe.

If the PST file is severely corrupted or large-sized, ScanPST may fail to repair the file. You can use an advanced Outlook PST recovery tool in that situation.

Where can I find ScanPST EXE?

You can find ScanPST for different versions as follow,

Outlook 2016

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16

Outlook 2019

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16

Outlook 2013

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15

Outlook 2010

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14

Outlook 2007

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12

Conclusion

It’s not uncommon for Outlook users to encounter Outlook not showing old emails or all emails issue. This problem arises when the mailbox becomes oversized/corrupted, or the settings are misconfigured. In such situations, you can simply change the settings or clean the mailbox to reduce the file size. However, if the issue arises due to a severely corrupted or oversized PST file, you can use ScanPST.EXE otherwise go for an advanced third-party solution.