Your Outlook templates probably didn’t vanish—they were either moved, hidden by an update, or the My Templates add-in stopped showing in Outlook. In most cases, the local Outlook template folder is at %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates, and Microsoft notes that if the View Templates button is missing in classic Outlook, My Templates may also be missing from the ribbon.

Where to look

  • Open Windows Run with Windows + R.
  • Paste %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates and press Enter. This is the usual folder for Outlook/Office template files.
  • If you use My Templates in Outlook on the web or classic Outlook, check the message compose window’s add-ins or three-dot menu, because recent Outlook changes can move where it appears.

Why they disappear

  • The templates folder may have been deleted, emptied, or corrupted.
  • An add-in can interfere with Outlook and make templates seem missing.
  • In some setups, templates are tied to the user profile and can sync differently than expected across devices.

Fast fixes

  1. Check %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates for your .oft files.
  1. Open Outlook and verify the My Templates add-in is available in a new message window.
  1. Disable suspicious COM add-ins, then restart Outlook and test again.
  1. If the folder exists but templates still don’t show, recreate or move the template file back into the Templates folder.

One useful workaround

If the desktop app still acts up, Outlook on the web can sometimes let you access or rebuild My Templates , and those changes may sync back to desktop later.

Quick check

If you want the shortest answer: go to %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates first, then check whether My Templates is missing from the compose window.