My outlook closed and I can;t find my unset emails anywhere

Question

Where can i find my unsent emails that disappeared after outlook restart

Answer 1

Welcome Suzy Emara,

I understand how frustrating it can be when you’re unable to find an unsent email after Outlook closed and restarted. 

Regarding your case, I can see that QA Assist has already provided some helpful troubleshooting steps. Besides, you may find these additional options helpful:  

Option 1: Check Outlook AutoRecover files on your computer 

• Close Outlook 
• Open File Explorer 
• Paste the following path into the address bar and press Enter:  C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook 
• Look for .tmp or .asd files that may contain unsaved draft content 

Option 2: Look for recovered items after restarting Outlook 

• Reopen Outlook 
• If a Document Recovery pane appears, review any recovered items listed there 

Option 3: Search across all folders 

• Use the Search bar at the top of Outlook 
• Search by keywords you typed in the missing email 
• Change the search scope to All Outlook Items 

I hope this information helps resolve your issue. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me again in this thread. 

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Answer 2

Unsent mail that was in the compose window or Drafts and then disappeared after Outlook closed is treated the same as deleted mail: it can only be recovered if Outlook managed to save it into Drafts (or another folder) before the restart, or if it is still recoverable as a deleted item.

Check these locations in classic Outlook for Windows:

1. Drafts folder
   • In the folder list, open Drafts and look for the missing message.
2. Deleted Items and Junk Email
   • Open the Deleted Items folder and look for the message.
   • If found, right‑click it, choose Move, and move it back to Drafts or Inbox.
   • Also check Junk Email in case the message was misclassified.
3. Recoverable Items (if it was deleted from Deleted Items)
   • Go to the Deleted Items folder.
   • On the ribbon, select Recover items deleted from this folder.
   • In the Recoverable Items window, select the message (if present) and choose Restore.
   • Restored messages go back to their original folder when possible (for email, usually the original folder or Inbox).

If the unsent message was never saved (for example, Outlook crashed before the first auto‑save to Drafts), it will not appear in Drafts, Deleted Items, or Recoverable Items and cannot be recovered.

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References:

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