How do I find lost email that were in the inbox

Question

My wife lost several hundred files that she had stored in her inbox. A few days ago they just disappeared. Does anyone know how to recover them. thanks

Answer 1

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

To help narrow down the issue:

1. Could you share a bit more background, for example, was the account recently compromised or inactive for a long period?
2. Also, do she know if her Outlook mailbox might have reached its storage limit before the emails went missing?

In the meantime, please check "Deleted Items" and "Archive" folders, sometimes older messages are automatically moved there.

Also try searching for a specific old email to see if it still appears.

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If the issue persists, please provide more details by answering my questions.

Click "Add comment" below to let me know.

Regards,

John J.D.

Answer 2

To recover lost emails that were in the inbox, you can use the following methods:

1. Check the Deleted Items Folder: Sometimes emails are accidentally deleted and can be found in the Deleted Items folder.
2. Use the Recoverable Items Folder: If the emails are not in the Deleted Items folder, they may be in the Recoverable Items folder. You can recover items from this folder if single item recovery is enabled.
3. In-Place eDiscovery: If you have the necessary permissions, you can use In-Place eDiscovery in the Exchange admin center (EAC) to search for missing items. This method allows you to search for emails that may have been deleted and recover them to a discovery mailbox.
4. PowerShell Commands: You can also use PowerShell commands to search for and recover missing items. For example, the Search-Mailbox cmdlet can be used to search for specific emails and copy them to a discovery mailbox.
5. Audit Logs: If you need to investigate who deleted the emails or why they are missing, you can check the audit logs using the Search-UnifiedAuditLog command to find deletion activities related to the emails.

Make sure you have the appropriate permissions to perform these actions, and if you're unsure, it may be helpful to consult with your IT administrator.

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References:

• Recover deleted messages in a mailbox in Exchange 2013
• Recover deleted messages in a user's mailbox in Exchange Server
• Identify who deleted an email message or why an email is missing