Reply to email, in draft dissappeared when moved to inbox

Question

I replyed to an email

it was then in draft

i moved it to inbox and now i can't locate it

Answer 1

Hi LaVera Davis,

What most likely happened is that the reply was still saved as a draft, and after it was moved from Drafts it ended up in Archive or is hidden inside the conversation view, rather than being lost.

In Outlook on the web, Archive sits right next to Delete, so drafts can be archived accidentally. Drafts also auto‑save periodically, so in cases like this the message is usually misplaced, not permanently deleted.

Please try the following in Outlook on the web:

1. Check the Archive folder first.
2. Use Search, enter a word from your reply or the subject, and be sure to search All folders if that option is available.
3. Check Drafts again.
4. Open the original email in your Inbox and expand the full conversation, the draft reply may be nested within the thread.
5. Go to View, turn Conversation view off, then back on if needed. This can help when replies aren’t rendering clearly.
6. Press F5 to refresh the page, as items moved between system folders can sometimes appear delayed.
7. Also check Deleted Items, just in case.

If you still can’t locate it, please let me know whether it appears in Archive, whether searching all folders finds it, and whether Conversation view is currently enabled.

Please let me know if this proves useful to you, or if you would like further assistance.

I'm looking forward to your reply.

---

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

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