The Elvidge Family

If Outlook messes up all your shortcuts in the left hand list, this is how I get them back to the default setting. (Happens too often for me!!)
1. Exit Outlook completely (no icon in the system tray)
2. Navigate to the folder that Outlook stores settings in. In Windows XP it defaults to:
C:\Documents and Settings\...your profile....\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
3. Find a file called Outlook.xml. Rename the file (in case you need to revert back) by calling it Outlook(old).xml or Outlook.xml.old.
4. Restart Outlook and you will notice all of your favorites are gone. Reset them to the way you would like, exit Outlook again and restart and you will have created a new Outlook.xml file which is not corrupt.