My inbox is randomly deleting my emails

Question

My inbox emails are randomly being deleted. I then have to go to the deleted folder, click on the link at the top that says #emails have recently been deleted and search for the emails (hoping I remember them all).

Answer 1

Hi @Angela Miller, 

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.   

Based on your description, your inbox emails are automatically moving to the Deleted Items folder in Outlook on the web. Your effort in tracking and recovering those messages is truly appreciated, and the details you shared help identify what’s happening. 

This behavior usually occurs when inbox rules, junk mail filters, or connected accounts automatically move or delete emails based on specific conditions. Another possible reason is a third-party app or mobile device syncing with your account and marking messages for deletion. 

Since you haven’t specified your account type, I may not be able to provide an exact solution. However, assuming you're using a work account, you may consider the following steps that suit for your situation:  

1/ Start by checking your inbox rules to confirm they are not causing unexpected behavior. 

• Go to Settings (⚙️) > Mail > Rules. 
• Review any active rules and delete or turn off ones that may move messages to Deleted Items. 

2/ Then, check your junk and sweep rules to confirm they are configured appropriately. 

• In Settings, select Mail > Junk email. 
• Check blocked senders and safe senders lists to ensure legitimate emails aren’t affected. 

3/ Next, confirm that retention policies are correctly configured to meet compliance standards. 

• Under Settings > Mail > Retention policies, check if any policy is applied to delete emails. 

4/ Proceed by reviewing linked apps and devices, followed by clearing the browser cache. 

• Temporarily sign out from mail apps on other devices (e.g., phone or tablet). 
• Then monitor whether emails remain in your inbox when using Outlook Web only. 
• If using Outlook Web, clear your browser cache and sign in again. 

5/ After that, ensuring all lost or missing email messages are recovered. 

• Go to the Deleted Items folder and look under Recover items deleted from this folder at the top of the page to restore your messages. 

6/ Conclude by turning off Auto-Archive settings. 

• In Classic Outlook: File → Options → Advanced → AutoArchive Settings → Turn off. 

7/ As your account is managed by your organization, please contact your IT administrator to check your permission and policies. For a more efficient resolution, we recommend using your administrator account or contacting your IT administrator to submit a support request directly to Microsoft Support team.   

They can raise a support ticket by visiting: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn  

Following these steps should help you identify what’s automatically deleting your emails and prevent it from happening again. 

As community moderators, we appreciate your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If you have any updates regarding the issue, please feel free to share them with me.  

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments of this post so I can continue to support you.  

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

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Answer 2

Thank you!! I will follow all these steps. My organization's IT said they had no idea why it is happening. I use both the Outlook on the web and Outlook Classic. We do not use the New Outlook because it does not allow you to change the subject lines of the emails, which is a requirement in my organization's dept.