How to recover deleted emails

Question

Hello,

I believe my email account has recently been hacked and i have lost all emails since August 2025. Some of these emails are very important. Is there any way to retrieve them?
I have tried recovering them from my deleted folder but they aren't in there. Is there any way to get them back. I am devastated to have lost all of these.

I have sorted out the security issue and reset password an set up two factor authentication etc. its just the lost emails that I really need.

Thanks

Answer 1

Dear Matt,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum. I’m happy to help you today, and I’m really sorry this happened. I understand that losing important emails after a security incident can be very upsetting. I’m glad to hear that you’ve already secured your account by resetting the password and enabling two‑step verification.

For Outlook.com accounts, once emails are no longer present anywhere in the mailbox (folders, Deleted Items, or recoverable storage), Microsoft does not have a support‑assisted or backend method to restore them. In addition to Q&A Assist, please also check the following:

1, Check for hidden inbox rules

• Sign in to Outlook.com via https://outlook.live.com in a desktop browser
• Select Settings (gear icon) > Mail > Rules
• Review all rules, even disabled ones
• Delete any rule you don’t recognize (especially rules that delete, move, or forward mail)

2, Check automatic forwarding

Compromised accounts are often set to forward mail elsewhere.

• Go to Settings > Mail > Forwarding
• If forwarding is enabled to an address you don’t recognize, turn it off

3, Confirm emails weren’t moved to other folders

Sometimes messages are moved instead of deleted.

• In Outlook.com, expand the full folder list
• Check:
  • Archive
    • Any custom folders you don’t remember creating
• Use the Search bar and search by:
  • Sender address
  • Keywords from older emails
  • Date ranges (before and after August 2025)

Hope the steps help. Please feel free to reply to this thread if any issue pops up. I am happy to assist further. Have a lovely day! 

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

Answer 2

For Outlook.com and Outlook on the web, recovery options are limited to what is still retained in the service’s deleted‑item storage.

Try these steps in order on a PC or Mac (not a mobile browser):

1. Check Deleted Items and Junk Email
   • In Outlook.com / Outlook on the web, open the Deleted Items folder and look for the missing messages.
   • If found, select them and choose Restore or Move → Inbox.
   • Also check the Junk Email folder. If legitimate messages are there, select them and choose Report → Not junk or Move → Inbox.
2. Use “Recover items deleted from this folder”
   • In Deleted Items, at the top of the message list, select Recover items deleted from this folder.
   • In the Recoverable Items list, select any messages that match the missing period and choose Restore.
   • Items removed from Deleted Items are only recoverable for 30 days. Messages deleted more than 30 days ago, or already purged from Recoverable Items, cannot be restored by the self‑service tools.
3. Understand retention limits
   • Email is automatically deleted from Deleted Items after 30 days.
   • Items removed from Deleted Items are recoverable for 30 days from removal.
   • Junk email is retained for 30 days before it is automatically deleted.
   • If the missing emails are not in Deleted Items, Junk Email, or Recoverable Items, they are most likely permanently deleted and not recoverable from the mailbox.
4. If nothing appears in Recoverable Items
   • For consumer Outlook.com accounts, if messages are not present in Recover items deleted from this folder, there is no additional end‑user recovery option.
   • For work or school accounts (Exchange Online), an administrator may have additional retention or eDiscovery options; in that case, contact the organization’s IT admin to check whether any retention policies or backups allow recovery.

Going forward, avoid storing important mail in Deleted Items or Junk Email, and consider creating dedicated folders or using backups/export where appropriate.

---

References:

• Recover and restore deleted items in Outlook
• Email is missing from your Outlook.com inbox