recover deleted To Do list entries

Question

I moved hundreds of entries from a list in Microsoft To Do, into the Tasks folder (on the To Do app on my android phone). The items moved successfully, and I could see them in the Tasks list. Then I deleted the old list. A minute later, all of the tasks I had just copied to the Tasks list disappeared. I then went to my laptop, turned off wifi, found the deleted list and moved all of the entries into a new backup list. As soon as I turned on wifi, all of those tasks also deleted themselves. I need to recover the deleted tasks. I still have the tasks locally on my desktop, on which I have turned off wifi. Can I back them up somehow before turning on wifi and they all disappear again? BTW, I have checked in the deleted items in Mail, in the recovery folder. I cannot see the deleted tasks in there.

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Moved from Outlook | MacOS | New Outlook for Mac | For home

Answer 1

Tasks and lists in Microsoft To Do are stored in Exchange Online and sync automatically across devices. When a task or list is deleted and that deletion syncs, the only supported recovery path is via Outlook/Exchange recovery; there is no supported way to keep one device permanently “offline” and then re‑sync only selected items.

From the described steps, the deletions have already synced from mobile to the service, so when the desktop client goes online it will also sync those deletions. The only supported recovery options are:

1. Try to restore deleted tasks via Outlook Tasks in To Do are stored as Outlook Tasks. Deleted tasks can sometimes be recovered from Outlook:
   1. On the desktop, sign in to Outlook with the same Microsoft account used in To Do.
   2. Open the email folder list and select Deleted Items.
   3. Look for items corresponding to the deleted tasks. If found, right‑click each and choose Move > Other Folder > Tasks. This returns them to the Tasks folder and they should reappear in To Do.
   If the tasks are not present in Deleted Items (or have already been purged), they cannot be restored via this method.
2. Restore a deleted list via Outlook If an entire To Do list (folder) was deleted, it may appear as a deleted folder in Outlook:
   1. In Outlook, go to Deleted Items.
   2. Locate the deleted folder that corresponds to the To Do list.
   3. Right‑click it and select Move > Other Folder > Tasks. This restores the list and its items.
3. Behavior when the desktop goes back online Once the desktop app reconnects to the internet, it will sync with Exchange Online. If the service already considers those tasks deleted, the local copies will be removed during sync. There is no supported way, from the provided information, to export or “freeze” those local tasks in a way that prevents this sync behavior.

If the tasks and lists are not visible in Outlook’s Deleted Items (or second‑stage recovery, if applicable), they are not recoverable using the documented To Do/Outlook mechanisms.

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References:

• Create, edit, delete, and restore tasks
• Delete and restore lists
• Syncing your Microsoft To Do account