How do I get back an important draft email that may have been archived that has somehow completely disappeared from my Outlook?

Question

Somehow, I accidentally archived a draft email I was sending to my boss. I think I accidentally archived the whole chain at one point, but becuase I restored the whole chain, I figured the draft would be a part of that restore. I still had access to my draft yesterday as it had kept saving. But when I closed out of Outlook yesterday, I'm not sure what I did or what happened because as of today, the draft has disappeared. It's not in my inbox, archives, deleted or any file folders that would make sense, and it's not showing up in a search. It was literally ready to send this morning. Could someone help? :( I'm working on a Lenovo Thinkpad.

Answer 1

Hello Katelyn Hendricks,

Good day! Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community for assistance.

To locate your missing draft, you can try the following steps:

If your draft was accidentally deleted, the deleted draft is still in the deleted items folderor the recover deleted items folder. if it’s in the deleted items folder, you can move the deleted emails back to theinbox folder or other folders. if the deleted emails are in therecover deleted items folder, you can click recover in the upper left corner to recover all these deleted emails.

Deleted items folder:

Recover deleted items folder

if the deleted draft can be searched, you can export the search results into .pst files and import the .pst files into the user’s mailbox via Outlook client. for more information, please refer to:

Get started with Content search | Microsoft Learn

Import email, contacts, and calendar from an Outlook .pst file - Microsoft Support

Use Advanced Search:

• Use the advanced search feature in Outlook. Go to the search bar, select 'Search Tools' > 'Advanced Find,' and then specify more detailed search criteria such as the date range when the draft was created or keywords from the draft content.

Check AutoSave Location:

• Outlook automatically saves drafts periodically. Check if there is an auto-saved version of your draft. Go to File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File, and browse to the auto-save location which is usually in the path: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook.

Outlook Web Access:

• If you have access to Outlook Web Access (OWA), log in to your account via a web browser and check if the draft is available there. Sometimes, drafts might be synced differently between desktop and web versions.

Check Other Devices:

• If you access your email from multiple devices, check if the draft is saved on another device. Sometimes drafts might be stored locally and not synced correctly across devices.

Check for Local Cache:

If you are using the Outlook app, there might be a local cache that contains your drafts. Sometimes, drafts can be stored temporarily in the local cache even if they are not visible in the main folders.

Backup Files:

If you have any backups of your Outlook data, check those as well. Sometimes, backups can contain previous versions of your emails and drafts.

Please understand that our initial response may not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

Looking forward to hearing from you and having a nice day!!

Sincerely,

Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Hi there,

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I ended up being able to re-write the email before hearing back, and later checked my emails on my phone and found the old draft. Somehow it wasn't stored across devices as you mentioned, even though I had only edited it on my computer previously. I appreciate the help and will come back here if needed in the future :)