You can recover deleted emails on Outlook to save yourself from the trouble of losing important communications and data. Whenever you delete mails or other items on Outlook, you can restore them by taking timely actions.
By default, Outlook has several features that prevent accidental data losses. This utility of Outlook can help you retrieve email messages, contacts, calendar and task data before they are actually deleted.
In this article, we will tell you the four methods to recover deleted emails in Outlook. You may use the following quick links to reach the desired section of this article:
How to recover deleted emails in Outlook?
Whenever you delete an email on Outlook, it remains available for some time even if you have removed it from the deleted items’ folder.
There are multiple ways to retrieve deleted mails and data, depending on the available backup type. Read the following to know the methods of recovery briefly:
How to recover emails from deleted items folder?
When you delete an email using the Delete key on the keyboard or the on-screen delete option, it moves to the deleted items folder. This deletion is called Soft Deletion.
The data in deleted items folder is volatile, and it remains available only for 30 days. After that, it is emptied. Therefore it is necessary to save the email in a safe folder.
You can recover emails from the deleted items folder of Outlook using the following steps:
- Firstly, open Outlook and go to the Deleted Items folder.
- Select the deleted email you want to recover and click Move as shown in the below image.
- Select Inbox or any other folder where you want to move the email.
- Consequently, the email will be moved from the Deleted Items folder, open the destination folder (Inbox in our case) to find the email.
- Finally, you can find the recovered email in the destination folder.
How to recover permanently deleted emails?
You might have thought that if the email is not available in deleted items’ folder, there is no way to retrieve it, but that is not the case.
Even if an email is no more available in the deleted mails’ folder, you can restore it from the server.
There are reasons for which the email is not available in the aforesaid folder such as hard deletion (deleting by pressing Shift+Delete), more than 30 days of deleting, deleting the email from the folder or emptying the whole folder.
Using the following steps, you can recover deleted items from the server on Outlook if they are not available in the deleted items folder:
- Open Outlook and go to the Deleted Items’ folder.
- Click on the Recover deleted items from server option, can be seen in the below mentioned image.
- Consequently, a list of deleted items still available on the server will appear.
- Select the email you want to restore, select the Restore Selected Items option and click OK subsequently.
- As a result, the email will be restored in the deleted items’ folder, where it will be available for another 30 days.
- In order to permanently save the email, you need to move it to another folder.
Select the email and click Move from the options available in the top menu as shown below. - Select Inbox or any other folder where you want to save the email.
- Finally, the email will be moved into the destination folder. You can open the folder to find it there.
Note: If there is no Deleted Items folder or Recover deleted items from server command, your account does not support recovering items that are no longer in your deleted items folder.
How to recover emails using a backup file?
You can create backup files anytime you want by exporting the conversations. Moreover, Outlook creates a backup file itself as well.
The Outlook backup files have .pst extension and you can store them both offline and online and import them to any outlook email ID.
Follow these steps to recover emails using a backup file:
- Open Outlook and go to File tab.
- In the Open & Export section, select Import/Export.
- A new window will open up, select Import from another program or file and click Next.
- Subsequently select Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.
- Locate the backup file using Browse button, select what you want to do with the duplicates by clicking on the radio button against the options and then click Next.
- Tick the Include subfolders checkbox, select the Outlook account in which you want to import the backup and click Finish.
- Your emails will be backed up successfully.
What are email Backups?
Email backups are the files you can use to restore email on Outlook or any other email client. The Outlook backups are in .pst format which is an Outlook data file. Where pst stands for Personal Storage Table.
Moreover, Outlook saves backups on its server that you can use to restore your data.
Broadly there are two backups on Outlook, and we will discuss both of them here.
Email export files
You can export your emails and import them later into the same or any other account.
An Outlook export file format is PST, whereas that of a Gmail export file is MBOX. You can save these email backups offline or on cloud storage.
Email protocol backups
Email protocols follow few types of email protocols to transfer emails. Some of the popular email protocols are the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the Post Office Protocol (POP), and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).
IMAP and POP can be used to backup emails. However, there is quite a difference between them.
IMAP vs POP3: What is the difference? What should you choose?
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) keeps your email saved after successful delivery on the server and syncs them with all your devices. The IMAP protocol is considered best for multiple device users. Popular email clients such as Outlook and Gmail use the IMAP protocol.
On the other hand, POP3 (Post Office Protocol Version 3), the latest version of POP, removes the copy of emails from the server upon successful delivery. It is suitable for users having a dedicated device for receiving emails. It saves emails on your device for offline access creating a backup.
Conclusion
Outlook has several utilities for the recovery of users’ emails. After reading this article, you can easily recover deleted emails on Outlook. You can also create backups and use them whenever needful.
Visit Assist Me 360 to further resolve more queries on Outlook.
FAQs
Can you recover permanently deleted emails on Outlook?
Yes you can recover permanently deleted emails as long as they are available on Outlook’s server.
How long does Outlook keep permanently deleted emails?
Outlook keeps permanently deleted emails on its server for 14 days. However, you can remove emails from the server earlier than that by purging them.
Does Outlook automatically empty deleted items folder?
Outlook automatically deletes items in the Deleted Items folder after 30 days. Moreover, you can manually empty the folder anytime.
How do I find deleted emails on my PC?
You can find deleted emails in the Deleted Items folder or Trash folder of your email account.
