recent added new folders have lost emails, how do i recover them to my hotmail

Question

I recently added new sub folders for hotmail emails and although the folders are there all emails have disappeared. i need these emails back quickly for important stuff

cna anyone help

Answer 1

Hi Andy Ingram,  

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

From your description, it sounds like you created new subfolders for your Hotmail account in classic Outlook for Windows, the folders still appear, but the messages inside those folders now look like they’ve disappeared. This can happen either because the messages were moved/deleted on the mailbox itself, or because Outlook on the PC is not currently showing/syncing the folder contents correctly.

To narrow this down and recover the messages as quickly as possible, please try the checks below in order.

1, Confirm whether the messages are still on the mailbox (Outlook.com)

Sign in to your Hotmail mailbox in a web browser (Outlook on the web) and open the same subfolders there.

If the messages are visible on the web, the mailbox data is still there, and the next steps focus on getting classic Outlook to display/sync them properly.

• If the messages are missing on the web too, focus on the recovery steps in Step 2 and Step 3.

2, Check Deleted Items (and the built-in recovery option) on Outlook.com

On Outlook.com, open Deleted Items and look for the missing messages. If you do not see them there, select “Recover items deleted from this folder” at the top of the Deleted Items list, then restore any recovered messages back to the appropriate folder. Email is missing from your Outlook.com inbox - Microsoft Support

You can also follow the recovery article here, which covers Deleted Items and the recoverable items view in detail. Recover and restore deleted items in Outlook - Microsoft Support

3, Check the “Recover Deleted Items from Server” option in classic Outlook

In classic Outlook for Windows, go to the Deleted Items folder. On the ribbon, select the Home tab, then select “Recover Deleted Items from Server,” choose the items you want, and restore them. Recover deleted items from the server - Microsoft Support

4, If the folders are present but look empty only in Outlook, re-sync folder visibility (IMAP scenario)

If this Hotmail account was added to Outlook as an IMAP account, Outlook may not be subscribed to all server folders. In that case: In Outlook, right-click the top folder for the IMAP account > IMAP Folders > Query, then select the missing folders and choose Subscribe. If you created folders elsewhere and they do not show in the list, right-click the account and choose Update Folder List. Choose which IMAP account folders appear in Outlook - Microsoft Support

5, Repair the local Outlook data file

If everything looks correct on Outlook.com but classic Outlook still won’t show the messages, the local data file may need repair. Microsoft documents how to use the Inbox Repair Tool (SCANPST.EXE) for PST/OST files, and also notes that for Exchange-style accounts, deleting the offline OST allows Outlook to rebuild it the next time Outlook opens. Repair Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost) - Microsoft Support

Disclaimer: Before you repair or rebuild any Outlook data file, please make sure you have a backup of your Outlook data. Also, if you delete an offline data file (.ost), Outlook will recreate it the next time you open Outlook, which may take some time to resync depending on mailbox size and internet speed.

If the messages are not present on Outlook.com after the recovery checks above, the next step is to Contact - Microsoft Support for account-level review and any recovery options that may still be available. As a community contributor on this forum, I can guide troubleshooting steps here, but I don’t have access to Microsoft’s internal account systems to restore mailbox data directly.

I hope the steps above help you locate and restore those messages quickly. Feel free to let me know how it works.

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