Problem with continually and accidentally moving/dragging outlook 2010 subfolders into other subfolders

Has anyone been having issues with accidentally dragging mail subfolders into other subfolders?  This happens without my knowledge, and I am not exactly sure when it is happening.  I am aware of the issue when I go to look for a particular subfolder and it is not in the folder list.  Then I have to expand every subfolder to see if it contains my missing subfolder.  Is there was a setting that requires you to confirm the move of a subfolder?

June 6th, 2011 8:33pm

Hi,

Regarding this issue, we can try to create a new profile to test the issue.
 
Here are the detailed steps on how to create a new profile to test this issue
==============
 1. Exit Outlook.
 2. Go to Start > Control Panel, click or double-click Mail.
 
 Mail appears in different Control Panel locations depending upon the version of the Microsoft Windows operating system, Control Panel view selected, and whether a 32- or 64-bit operating system or version of Outlook is installed.
 
 The easiest way to locate Mail is to open Control Panel in Windows, and then in the Search box at the top of window, type Mail. In Control Panel for Windows XP, type Mail in the Address box.
 
 Note    The Mail icon appears after Outlook starts for the first time.
 
 The title bar of the Mail Setup dialog box contains the name of the current profile. To select a different existing profile, click Show Profiles, select the profile name, and then click Properties.
 
 3. Click Show Profiles. Choose Prompt for a profile to be used.
 4. Click Add.
 5. Type a name for the profile, and then click OK.
 6. Highlight the profile, and choose Properties. Then Email Accounts.., add your email account in the profile.
 7. Start Outlook, and choose this new profile.

If this problem does not occur in the new Outlook profile, the old Outlook is corrupted. We can delete that and use a new Outlook profile.

Hope it does help.

Best Regards,

Nick Wan

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June 9th, 2011 5:31am

Has anyone been having issues with accidentally dragging mail subfolders into other subfolders?  This happens without my knowledge, and I am not exactly sure when it is happening.  I am aware of the issue when I go to look for a particular subfolder and it is not in the folder list.  Then I have to expand every subfolder to see if it contains my missing subfolder.  Is there was a setting that requires you to confirm the move of a subfolder?

No, there is no such option in Outlook available. You might want to take a step back here and wonder why you accidentally drag & drop folders to begin with. Changing the sensitivity/speed settings of your mouse might help already. You can change this in Control Panel or via the software that came with your mouse.

An Outlook level method to prevent accidental moving of folders is to use the GoTo dialog to change folders instead of using the folder list.
In Outlook 2007 and previous you'll find this under Go-> Folder...
In Outlook 2010 you can add it to the Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar via File-> Options-> Customize Ribbon/Quick Access Toolbar-> Commands Not in the Ribbon-> select: Folder...
The keyboard shortcut for this dialog in either version is CTRL+Y.

June 9th, 2011 12:56pm

This happens to me from time to time, and it's a pain. I never have it happen in Microsoft Explorer or in any other program where I drag things--Photoshop, etc.--only in Outlook. I'll be dragging an item from the Inbox into a different folder, and suddenly I see that I have a folder icon attached to my mouse pointer, and I know I'm in trouble.

 

I suspect it might have something to do with having a wireless mouse: maybe it skips out for a millisecond or two while I'm moving past a folder and Outlook thinks I want to drag that folder and--presto!--instant mess. And it's done it with both a Logitech wireless mouse and with a Microsoft wireless mouse. It might also have something to do with the latency I experience with Outlook 2010: in previous Outlook versions, moving an e-mail message from the Inbox to another folder was instant; with 2010 it can frequently take 3 or 4 seconds for the item to move--IMO not an improvement over earlier versions.

 

I've been able to find the missing folders, however, by following the steps in this article: http://www.msoutlook.info/question/444



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August 31st, 2011 5:04pm

I chronically have the same problem as Scare65's on one particular PC. It's not my behavior that's the problem--I use Outlook 2010 on multiple PCs, and the problem only occurs on one of them, and never in Explorer. It's not the mouse, either--I've replaced the mouse twice, with no effect. And the object that is inadvertently moved is often nowhere near my mouse pointer.

Watching Outlook closely, I see that while I'm dragging a message to a folder, Outlooks spontaneously switches the object it thinks is being dragged from the message I'm dragging, to a random folder, then spontaneously drops the latter in a random folder.

December 12th, 2012 7:44am

This happens to me all the time, and it's a pain in the neck!  

It is an abomination that there is no 'undo' option for folder moves in Outlook, and that it doesn't allow any form of confirmation before moving folders. What a design flaw! Microsoft should fix this! 

PS. I did find a third party plugin that adds the confirmation, but I've not tested it. It's called WatchDog.

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December 18th, 2013 2:59pm

If you right-click, hold, and drag the folder to a new location you get a pop-up dialog asking if you want to move or copy.  It will also allow you to Cancel that action.

Not perfect, but at least you have an opportunity to confirm the action.

April 23rd, 2014 8:39pm

YES!! and it's making me crazy!  Supposedly it can't happen but it does.  I'm going to keep reading to see if there is a way to fix it but it's causing me lots of headaches.
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August 18th, 2015 8:58am

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