How to Recover Deleted Emails in Outlook

Learn how to recover deleted emails in Outlook, check Microsoft 365 admin recovery options, and restore messages from an existing backup.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Deleted Outlook emails can be restored from Deleted Items while they remain in that folder.
• Deleted Items from the Deleted Items folder or if using the Shift + Delete option will stay in Outlook.com for 30 days. In Exchange Online this is 14 days but can be changed to a maximum of 30.
• PST files, Microsoft 365 Backup and 3rd party backup solutions can also help recover your missing message. As long as the backup contains the missing message.
• Your missing message could be in a different mailbox, Archive or the Junk Email folder. Or perhaps an inbox rule is moving it.
• If you have an administrator for your Microsoft 365 they may have options to recover your deleted message from retained data or a hold that may be in place.
• There is no way to recover the message if there is no copy available. Contact the sender or other recipient of the email to see if they have a copy.

Sooner or later, virtually every Outlook user faces the conundrum of needing to recover a deleted email.

Sometimes, the solution is easy: Users can simply restore emails from Outlook’s Deleted Items folder.

Unfortunately, though, this method doesn’t always work. The best way to recover deleted emails from Outlook depends on a variety of factors, such as how recently the email was deleted, whether the Deleted Items folder has been manually or automatically purged since the deletion occurred, how retention settings have been configured, and whether backup copies of the email are available in a storage system that is external to Outlook.

To provide guidance on how to restore deleted Outlook emails in different scenarios, this article walks through all potential recovery methods. It explains which approach to use under which circumstances, as well as the types of resources (such as email backups) that must be in place for certain recovery methods to work.

Which Method Should You Use to Recover Deleted Emails in Outlook?

The following table summarizes the main Outlook email recovery scenarios and the best recovery method to use under each one:

While these approaches may seem straightforward, a complicating factor is that different Outlook versions or platforms handle deleted emails in varying ways, with the result that the feasibility of using a certain recovery method can depend on which type of Outlook installation you have in place:

• Personal Outlook.com accounts: By default, Outlook.com automatically removes messages from Deleted Items after 30 days. From there, users have an additional 30 days to recover messages from the Recoverable Items folder.
• Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online: In these environments, Recoverable Items retention is 14 days by default, although administrators can configure it to be as long as 30 days. The cleanup of Deleted Items depends on organizational policies. The recovery period starts when a message enters Recoverable Items, including through Shift+Delete.

Hence why there are no simple rules – like “you have 14 days to recover deleted Outlook emails” – that users can reliably follow. It’s critical to understand the specific configuration variables at play before deciding which recovery method to pursue.
Outlook Email Recovery Methods, Explained

Now, let’s take a detailed look at each approach to recovering deleted Outlook emails.

Recover Deleted Emails from Deleted Items Folder

When you delete an email from Outlook (not using Shift+Delete). Outlook will place that email in a folder called Deleted Items. Any email in Deleted Items can be "Undeleted" by simply moving the email back to the Inbox.

Simply navigate to the mailbox where the email you deleted was stored and click Deleted Items. Once there, highlight the email(s) you wish to undelete and Move them back to your Inbox (this is also referred to as Restore on some versions of Outlook).

You can also recover an entire folder, including in classic Outlook, if it is still in Deleted Items. Expand Deleted Items and move the folder back to its original location. If the folder was permanently deleted, you may still be able to recover its individual messages.

Recover Emails from Recoverable Items

For Outlook.com and Exchange accounts, messages removed from Deleted Items may remain available in the hidden Recoverable Items folder. Other email accounts connected to Outlook follow their provider’s recovery rules. Emails move automatically to this folder after being removed from Deleted Items. Emails that users “permanently” delete using the Shift+Delete hotkey function also go into Recoverable Items.

In Exchange Online, deleted item retention is 14 days by default and can be increased to 30 days by an administrator. In Outlook.com, messages removed from Deleted Items are recoverable for 30 days. If a message is no longer available through user recovery, a Microsoft 365 administrator may still be able to retrieve it, depending on retention settings and applicable holds. An existing backup provides another possible recovery option.

The process for restoring deleted emails from Recoverable Items varies a bit depending on which Outlook version you use:

• In Outlook on the web and new Outlook for Windows): Open Deleted Items, choose the option “Recover items deleted from this folder,” select the messages you want to restore, and click Restore. Outlook will restore the messages to their original folder, or to the Inbox if the original folder no longer exists.
• On Classic Outlook for Windows: Open Deleted Items, then navigate as follows: Home → Recover Deleted Items From Server. Select the messages to recover, click Restore Selected Items and select OK. This will move the messages back to the Deleted Items folder, and from there, you can move them to Inbox or another folder of your choosing.

Sometimes, a recovery option is not available in Outlook. Here’s a look at potential reasons why, along with ways to resolve or work around them.

If the recovery option is unavailable in your Outlook app, try your account’s webmail interface in a desktop browser. Check whether your account supports recovery beyond Deleted Items. For a Microsoft 365 work or school account, contact your administrator if you still cannot recover the message.

Restore Deleted Outlook Emails from an Existing Backup

In cases where you can’t undelete messages from the Deleted Items or Recoverable Items folders (either because you lack permission to do so, or the messages have been permanently removed from Outlook), it may be possible to restore them from a backup. This approach only works, of course, if you took steps beforehand to back up your Outlook emails.

The recovery process depends on which type of backup you have available.

Restore from a PST Backup

Personal Storage Table (PST) is a type of backup file that Outlook users can create to back up messages to local storage. If you have a PST backup file on your device, follow these steps in classic Outlook for Windows to recover messages from it:

1. In Outlook, select File → Open & Export → Open Outlook Data File.
2. Open the PST containing the saved messages.
3. Locate the email or emails you want to restore.
4. Copy the messages into the destination mailbox, then verify the result.

For more information, see Microsoft’s documentation on using PST files in Outlook.

Restore from Microsoft 365 Backup

Microsoft 365 Backup can be added on to your current environment to backup your files on Outlook and other Microsoft Cloud applications. If you wish to restore emails with Microsoft 365 Backup, your organization must have backed up the Exchange Online Mailbox and have a restore point that contains those emails.

Restoring emails through Microsoft 365 Backup requires the involvement of IT staff, who can use the Microsoft 365 admin center to recover data.

Restore from a Third-Party Backup

Restoring deleted Outlook emails from a third-party backup is an option for individuals or organizations that protect Outlook data using backup software from vendors other than Microsoft. If third-party backups are in place, they may offer a means of recovering messages even if the data is no longer retained by Microsoft’s native backup solutions.

That said, even third-party backup platforms don’t typically retain data forever, and a backup file that contains the deleted message or messages needs to remain available in order for this recovery method to be viable.

The exact process for restoring emails from a third-party backup varies depending on the backup platform you use. As an example, here are the core steps when using MSP360 Backup for Microsoft 365:

1. Select the user whose emails need to be recovered, then open Mail.
2. Search for backed-up messages associated with the user.
3. Select the messages to recover and choose the appropriate restore action.
4. Monitor the restore process and verify the recovered messages and attachments.

For complete details, refer to the MSP360 Outlook backup and recovery documentation.

MSP360 offers a SaaS backup solution that restores selected messages to the Restore folder, selected folders to their original location, and an entire mailbox by recreating its folder structure. Data can be restored to the original account or another account, which can be useful when the original account is compromised, or the user has left the organization.

What to Do If You Can’t Recover  Deleted Emails in Outlook

What if you try to recover deleted emails but can’t find it in the Deleted Items folder, or when using the Restore option to undelete it from Recoverable items? While it’s possible in that case that the email simply no longer exists and can’t be restored, it may still be recoverable.

Here are the potential recovery options you can explore in this case.

Check Whether the Email Was Actually Deleted

It’s possible that the email wasn’t deleted at all but is simply unavailable due to one of the following factors:

• You are logged into the wrong account.
• The email was moved to a folder like Archive or Junk Email.
• You have inbox rules in place that have hidden or auto-archived the email.

If the email wasn’t deleted but was merely moved, simply move it back to your inbox or other folder of choice to recover it.

Ask an Admin to Recover the Email

If you use a Microsoft 365 work or school account, an administrator may be able to recover messages that are no longer available through user recovery. This depends on whether the messages remain retained under deleted item retention settings or applicable holds.

An administrator can check the available messages in the Exchange admin center by opening Recipients -> Mailboxes, selecting your mailbox, and choosing Recover deleted items.

Another potential way in which admins can sometimes recover deleted emails is by using Microsoft Purview eDiscovery, a cloud-based platform designed to preserve data for compliance and legal hold purposes. If a deleted email is part of a body of data that has been protected within eDiscovery, an admin can potentially create a copy of it to restore the message. Note, however, that recovering deleted data is not the primary purpose of eDiscovery. Think of this as a solution of last resort if a lost email is critically important and no other recovery method is possible.

What If You Still Can’t Recover the Email?

If none of the methods above on how to recover deleted emails in outlook enable successful recovery, it is likely the case that your email is permanently lost, unfortunately. There is not much you can do apart from asking the sender to resend the email to you, or, if the email had multiple recipients, asking one of them for a copy

You should also take steps to prevent the loss of Outlook data in the future by ensuring that you have a comprehensive Outlook backup plan in place, so that you’ll no longer have to worry about losing important messages.