when deleting emails

Question

When deleting emails, the app continues to delete the emails that follow without my permission. Automatically!!! I have watched videos that instruct me on how to stop it, but that doesn't work. I have to delete emails in bulk because I have so many. How do I stop it from automatically deleting emails? THX

Answer 1

In Outlook for Windows, automatic deletion while moving through messages is typically caused by how deletion and navigation are configured, not by Outlook deciding to delete messages on its own.

Try these steps to control what happens when deleting messages:

1. Check whether conversations are being ignored
   • Go to the Deleted Items folder.
   • Find one of the conversations that keeps disappearing.
   • On the Home tab, in the Delete group, select Ignore.
   • If prompted, choose Stop Ignoring Conversation.
   • This removes the Ignore status so future messages in that thread are no longer automatically moved to Deleted Items.
   When a conversation is set to Ignore, Outlook automatically moves all messages in that thread to Deleted Items and continues to do so for new messages in the same conversation until the Ignore status is removed.
2. Use bulk delete safely
   • To delete in bulk without accidentally deleting more than intended, select only the messages that should be deleted (for example, by using Shift+click or Ctrl+click in the message list) and then press Delete.
   • If messages are deleted by mistake, they can be recovered from Deleted Items as long as they have not been permanently removed.
3. Permanently deleting vs. moving to Deleted Items
   • When a message is deleted normally, it moves to Deleted Items and still counts toward mailbox storage until Deleted Items is emptied or messages are purged.
   • To permanently delete selected messages immediately, select them and press Shift+Delete. This bypasses Deleted Items and cannot be undone.

If messages are being removed beyond what is selected, verify that Ignore is not enabled on those conversations and that only the intended messages are selected before pressing Delete.

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References:

• Ignore email conversations
• Messages in an e-mail thread are automatically moved to the Deleted Items folder
• Storage limits in Outlook.com
• Read and send email in the light version of Outlook
• Delete email in Outlook.com