Missing Emails

Question

I recently got a message that my Microsoft 365 had expired, and that I was out of storage. In order to avoid paying for another year, my husband started deleting emails and clearing out older deleted emails in order to make room. when he was done, he returned to the inbox and discovered that our current active emails were gone. I quickly signed up for another year of Microsoft 365, hoping that buying more storage would help, and the emails would be restored. I have plenty of storage now, but the emails are still missing. Then I went to check the deleted emails and used the restore tool, hoping my emails might be in there. I now have an inbox full of old deleted useless emails and the original emails from my inbox are still gone.

Answer 1

Hello,

the missing emails are not visible anywhere (inbox, junk, deleted items, recovered items, etc). I have checked with a laptop computer, tablet, and phone. They disappeared on Thursday, July 23

Answer 2

Hi Carla Delloso

Please reply with:

• Are the missing emails visible when you search the whole mailbox?
• Do they appear in Recover items deleted from this folder?
• Are you checking from Outlook.com in a computer browser?
• About when were the current emails deleted?

Also try the steps below from a computer browser:

1) Stop deleting or emptying folders for now

Do not empty Deleted Items, Junk Email, Recoverable Items, or any other folder again until you finish checking for the missing emails. This helps avoid permanently removing items that may still be recoverable.

2) Search the whole mailbox, not only Inbox

• Sign in to Outlook.com Mail.
• Use the Search box at the top.
• Search for a sender name, subject word, or phrase from one missing email.
• Check whether the result is located in:
  • Inbox
  • Archive
  • Deleted Items
  • Junk Email
  • Sent Items
  • Another folder
• If Focused Inbox is turned on, also check the Other tab.

3) Check Deleted Items and restore only the correct emails

• Open Deleted Items.
• Search within Deleted Items for known senders or subject words.
• If you find the current emails, select only those messages.
• Select Move > Inbox, or move them to another folder you choose.
• Avoid using restore all again unless you are sure you want everything restored.

4) Check “Recover items deleted from this folder”

• Open Deleted Items.
• At the top of the message list, select Recover items deleted from this folder.
• Search or sort the list to find the missing recent emails.
• Select only the specific messages you need.
• Select Restore.

5) Check Archive, Junk Email, filters, rules, and Sweep

Please check the following:

• Open Archive and search for the missing emails.
• Open Junk Email and check whether any current messages were moved there.
• Select Filter above the message list and set it to All.
• Go to Settings > Mail > Rules and check whether any rule is moving or deleting mail.
• Check whether Sweep was used for any sender-based cleanup.

6) Clean up the old restored emails safely

Since restoring deleted items may have placed many old emails back into the mailbox, recover the important current emails first, then clean up the old ones carefully.

• Sort by date, or search for old senders and subjects.
• Move old emails to a temporary folder first if you are unsure.
• Delete only emails you are certain you no longer need.
• Empty Deleted Items only after confirming the current emails are safe.

7) Understand what may not be recoverable

If the emails are not in Inbox, Archive, Junk Email, Deleted Items, or Recover items deleted from this folder, they may no longer be recoverable.

Please tell me how it goes. If the problem persists, please don’t hesitate to reply to this thread and I will be happy to help. Have a lovely day!  

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