I need to recover an email that I sent but there was a system error in sending so the email was never recieved

Madison Dahl 20 Reputation points
2026-05-14T18:36:00.1033333+00:00

I recieved this error message after sending an email. The email was undeliverable due to a system error but now I cannot find the email at all to resend. The email did not populate in my sent folder or my drafts. How do I find this email? I do not want to redo it as its very long and complex. [Moderator note: Personally Identifiable Information removed]

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business
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Anonymous
2026-05-14T19:49:17.0066667+00:00

Hi @Madison Dahl, 

I hope you are doing well. 

Thank you for reaching out and for sharing the error you encountered when sending an email. When this type of send error occurs, the message may not be successfully submitted to the server, so it does not appear in Sent Items. However, it is often still recoverable from other locations. 

To recover the message if it is no longer visible in the folder, please follow the steps below: 

  1. Check the Deleted Items folder 
  • Open Outlook and navigate to Deleted Items 
  • Look for the email using the subject line or recipient name 
  • If found, open the message and use Move to restore it to another folder such as Drafts or Inbox 
  1. Recover the message from Recover Deleted Items 
  • Select the Deleted Items folder 
  • In the ribbon, select Recover Deleted Items From Server 
  • Locate the email using the subject or sent time 
  • Select the message and choose Restore 
  1. Search the mailbox 
  • Use the search bar at the top of Outlook 
  • Enter keywords such as the subject or recipient 
  • Change the search scope to All Outlook Items 
  • This helps locate the message if it was saved in a different or unexpected folder 

To prevent this from happening in the future, please follow these steps to keep the number of folders and subfolders under 450 and keep the folders collapsed:

  1. Delete Some Folders 
  • In Outlook, in the folder list on the left side, find some folders you’re happy to delete.  
  • Move emails out of a folder and into another before you delete it, so you don’t have to lose your emails. 
  • Once you’ve found a folder that’s ready to delete, right-click on it and press the “Delete folder”. 

User's image 

  1. Keep Subfolders Collapsed When Writing and Sending Messages

If  you have hundreds of folders in Outlook, but you can't just remove them because you use them frequently or because they hold critical and valuable files and emails. If that's the case, you may simply "collapse" the folders when composing and sending messages, which might enable you to successfully email individuals without seeing the problem. 

  • Review the folders in your Outlook inbox and look for any parent folders that are open. 
  • Click the downward-facing error on the parent folder to collapse all the subfolders. 

User's image 

For more information regarding the error, please refer to this document: Emails sent using Outlook Desktop results in Non-Delivery Report [0x80040305-0x00000000-0x00000000]… 

 

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow the steps above and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can continue working together to resolve the issue.  

Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out so I can continue to support you. If you found the response useful, please consider marking it as accepted, as this may help other community members who are looking for similar guidance.  

I look forward to continuing the conversation.  


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