How to Sort Outlook Folders in Arbitrary, Non-Alphabetic Order

World map on transparent virtual folder
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by Heinz Tschabitscher
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated May 05, 2019

Naturally, you have met your friends, chosen your projects and picked your hobbies so that the most important start with A (like "Aardvark") and the least important begin with Z (like "Zorilla"). They line up perfectly in your Outlook's folder list!

You mean you want to pick up making "Yogurt" and it's very important? And you have tried dragging around your folders to re-arrange them? All to no avail?

Unfortunately, Outlook is very strict about its alphabetically sorting folders. Fortunately, it is just strict sorting cardinally.

These instructions apply to Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2010.

Sort Outlook Folders in Arbitrary, Non-Alphabetic Order

To apply custom order to your folders in Outlook:

  1. Click on the folder you wish to appear first with the right mouse button.

  2. Select Rename from the menu.

    Screenshot of Rename Folder

  3. Precede the current folder name with "1" (not including the quotation marks). If the folder is called "Today", for example, change the name to "1 Today".

    Screenshot of Rename

  4. Select Enter.

  5. Repeat for the folder you wish to appear next; precede its name with "2".

  6. Continue renaming folders with the desired order number.

If you have many folders and wish to retain flexibility, rename folders "1 Today", "10 This Week", "20 This Month" etc. You can also group folders as sub-folders and sort the parent folders using the same technique. As a gentler alternative to numbers, you can use lower case letters: "a Today", "c This Week", "e This Month" etc.

To bring a single folder to the top in the Outlook folder list, Rename the folder preceding its name with "!". "Today" would become "!Today", for example.