My hotmail email was hacked and the inbox emails are gone. Can they be recovered?

Question

I have successfully reclaimed my hotmail account and updated the security information. Any emails in my inbox prior to 11/22/2025 are gone. I have checked the Trash Folder and Recoverable Mail file. Is there anything I can do to get these back?

Answer 1

Dear Jackie,

Thank you for reaching out here in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

We notice that Q&A Assist has provided some general troubleshooting steps. Please note that the references to Exchange, Exchange Online, and administrator-configured retention policies apply to business or organizational accounts and do not apply to personal Outlook.com/Hotmail accounts like yours. For your personal Microsoft account, the recovery process is different. 

Since you have already confirmed the emails are not in the Deleted Items folder and are also absent from the "Recoverable Items" section (accessible by right clicking the "Deleted Items" folder on Outlook.com and selecting "Recover deleted items"), this indicates that the emails may have been purged from the service's recoverable storage. 

For personal Microsoft accounts, once emails are permanently removed from the "Recoverable Items" area, they cannot be retrieved through standard user tools or forum-based support. The retention period for this recoverable storage is limited and begins from the time of deletion. 

In this scenario, the only remaining avenue to inquire about recovery possibilities is to contact the Microsoft Live Chat Support team for personal users directly.  

1. Visit the Microsoft Support contact page: Contact - Microsoft Support 
2. In the search bar provided on the page, type "Contact" and press Enter. 
3. Click on the "Get Help" button that appears. 
4. Scroll down the page until you see and click on the "Contact Support" option. 
5. When prompted to select your product or service, choose "Other Products". 
6. For the category, choose "Microsoft 365 and Office". 
7. Look for and click on "Chat with a support agent in your web browser". 
8. Confirm your personal email when prompted—this is the email Microsoft will use to communicate with you during and after the support session. 
9. Explain your situation clearly: Be concise but provide all the relevant details.   

We understand this may not be the resolution you were hoping for, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this incident has caused. We appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this process.