Cannot delete spurious folder

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murgatroyd

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Outlook version
Outlook 2019 64-bit
Email Account
POP3
I am running Outlook 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2.

After doing manual archiving, the Archive section now contains an empty folder named "&Don't prompt me about this again", but the Delete option is greyed out. (A couple of these folders appeared, but all except this last one could be deleted.) How can I delete this spurious folder?

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[Diane Poremsky replied:] 1. Hmmm. If the right click Delete folder command isn't live, use MFCMAPI to delete it. (I'm assuming that is a folder you named, not a name Outlook made up - I've seen outlook create weird folder names when using an antivirus plugin, but it was a different name. )
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I did not create or name the "&Don't prompt me about this again" folder, it just appeared in the Archive section after the archiving procedure.

There are three plugins active in Outlook (AbleBits Template Phrases, Sperry AlwaysBcc, Sperry AttachmentSave), but these have never caused any issues previously and don't seem to have any connection with this issue.

I found the website for MFCMAPI, but are you able to advise whether it will work on Windows Server 2008 R2, and how to delete this folder with it.
 
Since my previous post, I found that although the spurious folder that appeared in the Archive section (named "&Don't prompt me about this again") initially had its Delete option greyed out, when I checked some time later after Outlook had been opened and closed a few times, this folder's Delete option became enabled, and I could delete it.
 
After living with this issue for a couple of years (spurious folders named "&Don't prompt me about this again" repeatedly appearing in Archive files in Outlook 2010) and receiving suggestions that it might be caused by things like add-ins or antivirus programs, I recently came across the following (go to this page and scroll down: "&Don't prompt me about this again." folder in Outlook), which immediately resolved the issue.

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We began seeing this issue in April 2013. The steps listed below resolve the issue for PSTs created in Outlook 2010; several of our customers have resolved the issue with the following instructions. However they don't work for PSTs created in earlier versions of Outlook. Any ideas for PST archives not originally created in Outlook 2010?

In Outlook, go to File>Account Settings>Account settings.
2. Click on the Data tab.
3. Highlight the problematic PST file (i.e. the one that contains the “don’t prompt…” folders) and click Set as Default.
4. If there are more than one data files, repeat step 3 for each problematic PST file.
5. After all problematic PST files have been set as default, click on the main Outlook PST file for the user and click Set as Default.
6. Exit and restart Outlook.
7. Notice that a new “Don’t prompt me folder” should not have been created. You can now delete all existing “Don”t prompt me” folders and when you exit and restart Outlook, no more should be created.

Kathi Jones
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the folders are created by antivirus or security program, if i recall correctly, one of the Norton products. Disable the antivirus addin in outlook (but do not disable the scanner in windows) and they wont be recreated.
 
I received many suggestions that this issue might be caused by add-ins or antivirus programs; however, it appears to be a bug in Outlook, to do with default file settings when additional PST files are created.

I do have a couple of third-party add-ins in Outlook (Sperry "Always Bcc", AbleBits "Template Phrases"), and a commercial-grade antivirus program (Sophos, not Norton) on the computer; however, they have been there all along, whereas this issue only started when I first used the archiving function in Outlook, after which the spurious folders repeatedly appeared in the archive file, and the issue then stopped immediately after I used the above procedure (setting and unsetting the archive files as the default file).
 
I have three spurious shared public contacts folders in the Office 365 business cloud that no one can remove after hours of powershell stuff.
 
I have three spurious shared public contacts folders in the Office 365 business cloud that no one can remove after hours of powershell stuff.
Are you using public folders? The public folder mailboxes and public folders within them can be removed from the admin center.
 
I was using shared public folders for a contacts folder. the spurius folders all have the same name as that real public folder has was exported into a local file and imported to become a personal contacts folder that is now shared out. Yes, could delete the real public contacts folder as you describe, but the other could not be deleted.
 
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