How to recover deleted user emails (M/O365)>?

Question

I admin a O365 non-profit environment that consists of <15 users. Microsoft 365 Business Basic Plan.

A user resigned unexpectedly and deleted a few weeks of in- and out-bound emails right before losing their credentials. I need to recover those emails.

I followed the support UA in Support:

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Support article
Recover deleted items from Exchange Admin Center
Within the simplified and updated mailbox management experience, within the Exchange Admin Center (EAC), you can select the
users specific mailbox and recover items.
Choose mailboxes under Recipients.
Select the user you want to recover emails from.
Select recover deleted items.
You may need to look under the ... more drop-down to see recover deleted items.
User the filter options to find the items you need to recover.
For more information, see Use new EAC for recovering deleted messages.

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I went to Exchange Admin Console (EAC), clicked on Mailboxes in the left column, clicked on the mailbox in question, clicked on Other, but the Recover deleted items option is greyed out.

This is urgent, due to possible legal needs. I also believe these are only retained for 14 days. While I'm a twenty-year retired MSFT-y, I'm not super deep on these managing this type of environment.

Can anyone help??

Thanks,

David

Answer 1

Hi @David Hill (dshill) ,

Looks like permission issue as the option is greyed out. Add your account to the Discovery management role with mailbox import/export permission and then check if the option is available.

1. To assign Discovery Management rights, please go to the new or old Exchange Admin Center-> Roles -> Admin Roles -> look for Discovery Management and open -> Under the assigned tab, add your user account and click Add.
2. To add Mailbox Import Export permission to the Discovery Management role group, please go to the new or old Exchange Admin Center-> Roles -> Admin Roles -> look for Discovery Management and open -> Click + sign and add the permission.

You can refer below for more information
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/recipients-in-exchange-online/manage-user-mailboxes/recover-deleted-messages

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Answer 2

Hi @David Hill (dshill) .
Would you get an notification told you ”You do not have permission to edit this information” when you select the Recover deleted items?

Before we can restore mail for a user we need permission to do so. The permission in question is the Mailbox Import / Export permission. By default, no one is assigned this permission in Exchange.

Log onto the Exchange Admin Center and navigate to Permissions > Admin Roles.

Then click new button and type a new for your role. Click “+” button Roles.

Select “mailbox import export” and click ok.

Add members to assign this rule.

Once the role is created, it would take up to one hour for the permission to take effect.

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