What happens when a Gmail email is deleted?

Recover deleted Gmail emails from the Trash folder

Recover permanently deleted emails from the Admin Console

Recover deleted emails from Gmail using ‘Outlook Auto-Archive’ feature

Recover permanently deleted emails from Gmail using Google Takeout

Recover Permanently Deleted Emails from Gmail Using Google Vault

Recover permanently deleted Gmail emails using third-party backup apps

Frequently Asked Questions about Restoring deleted emails from Gmail

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Gmail has limited recovery options for deleted emails, which can lead to the risk of permanent data loss:

Emails deleted within the last 30 days can be recovered from the Trash or "Deleted Items" folder.

Recovery options are limited to Google support requests or Admin Console restores within a specific timeframe.

Admins can recover deleted emails if a backup is already in place- using Google Vault or Google Takeout. But these tools come with their own limitations.

SysCloud provides automated cloud backup and recovery for Gmail, ensuring that emails can be restored quickly and securely, even after permanent deletion. This eliminates the risk of data loss and simplifies the recovery process.

With over  6 million business users, Gmail has grown to become Google’s most successful product yet and one of the most popular email clients globally.   

Widespread adoption of Gmail by business users for everyday communication also means an increase in data loss due to human error and cyber threats.  

This article explores the different ways in which Google Workspace administrators can recover deleted Gmail emails. 

Answer a few questions to learn how to recover your deleted emails from Gmail!
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If a user deletes an email in Gmail, it moves to the Trash folder and remains there for 30 days. During this time, the email can be easily retrieved from the Trash folder. However, if the user does not recover the email within 30 days, it will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored. 

 Follow these steps to recover deleted Gmail emails from the Trash folder:  

Step 2: On the left- hand panel, click More Trash.  

Step 3: Scroll through the list of deleted emails, select the required email(s) by clicking on the checkbox next to it and click on the “move to” option.

Step 4: Select the required label and the email will be restored to the selected folder.

Note: This method of recovering from the Trash or Deleted Items folder can be implemented only if the email(s) had been deleted in the last 30 days.

Limitations of restoring deleted Gmail emails from Trash

Gmail emails can only be recovered from the Trash within 30 days of deletion. After this period, they are permanently deleted and cannot be retrieved by non-admins.

If a user manually empties the Trash, the emails are permanently deleted and cannot be restored.

If the user deletes an email from the Gmail account, it will stay in the Trash for 30 days.

After 30 days, an individual user cannot recover those deleted emails, but an administrator can restore the emails from the Google Admin Console. Following are the steps to recover Gmail emails from Admin Console:

Step 1: Log in to the Admin console and navigate to Menu and then Directory and then Users.

Step 2: Hover over the username and click on More options and then Restore data.

Step 3: Select the date range from within the last 25 days and choose the “Gmail” option on the application drop-down menu to restore emails within that period.

Note: Administrator can only restore permanently deleted emails – removed from Gmail Trash – within the last 25 days.

Limitations of restoring Gmail emails using Google Admin Console:

Administrator can only restore permanently deleted emails – removed from Gmail Trash – within the last 25 days.

You cannot restore deleted messages from the spam folder, deleted email drafts, deleted labels, or nested label organization, or data from the user's trash from the Admin Console.

If you are using the Outlook desktop client, you can recover deleted emails using the “Auto -Archive” feature. 

Step 1: If you have already set an auto-archive policy for your emails in the Outlook desktop client, you can find the “Archive” label on the left-hand side pane. 

Step 2: Click on the label, select the required email(s), right-click on the email, select the “Move to” option, and select the label for restore. 

Step 3: The emails will be restored under the specified label.

Note: The deleted files will be available based on the retention settings in the archive. For instance, if you set the default retention to one year, the emails will be retained for one year from the date of creation – even if you delete them.

Limitations of restoring Gmail emails using Outlook Auto-Archive feature:

AutoArchive settings require manual setup for each folder, leading to potential inconsistencies and missed emails.

Archived items are moved to a separate PST file. Over time, these files can become large and prone to corruption. Additionally, managing multiple archive files can be cumbersome and may lead to difficulties in locating specific emails when needed.

AutoArchive runs at intervals specified by the user (e.g., every 14 days). If an email is deleted and purged from Gmail before the next AutoArchive cycle, it won't be captured in the archive.

AutoArchive is intended for mailbox management, not as a reliable backup method.

Google Takeout is a service provided by Google that allows users to export and download a copy of their data from various Google services. The data is typically exported in formats like ZIP or TGZ files, and you can choose specific services or data types to include in the export.

Note: If you choose Google Takeout as your backup option, you should download the archived data immediately as you have only seven days to download an archive before Google deletes it.

Follow these steps to recover permanently deleted Gmail emails using Google Takeout:

First, open the backup data downloaded earlier from Takeout.

Note: The data will be in the MBOX format by default. If you are using a desktop email client like Thunderbird, you can directly open the downloaded data and recover it to your Gmail.

If you are using Microsoft Outlook as your email client you can use a converter that converts MBOX files into PST files to view your downloaded document. Thunderbird is an email client that can be used to view and restore backed-up emails into your account. 

To recover deleted files using Thunderbird, you have to:

1. Install the software with all the necessary add-ons on your desktop, and

2. Restore the emails to the Gmail account in the MBOX format.

Step 1: Install Thunderbird desktop client using this link and launch the application.

Step 2: On the page, type in the email account to which you want to restore the data, select the IMAP radio button, and click on the “Done” button.

Note: IMAP should be enabled in the preferred email account to allow Thunderbird to sync the accounts for restoration. 

Step 3: Click on the menu and select the “Add-ons and Themes” option.

Step 4: In the next pop-up window, click on “Find more add-ons” at the bottom of the page.

Step 5: Type in “ImportExport tool” in the search tab on the next screen and click on “+ Add to -Thunderbird” option to install the ImportExportTools add-on.

Step 6: Click on the “Restart Now” button to install the add-on.

Step 1: Launch Thunderbird after the restart.

Step 2: Right-click “Export Local folders” in the left panel and select “ImportExportTools” → “Import MBOX file.”

Step 3: Click on “Import MBOX file,” choose the first radio button “Import directly one or more MBOX files” and click on “OK” to select your MBOX file from the destination.

Step 4: The selected file(s) will be directly added to the Thunderbird local folder.

Step 6: Right-click on the selected emails and click on the “Move to” option.

Step 7: Select your destination email address and select “inbox” or any other label.

Limitations of using Google Takeout to recover deleted Gmail emails:

Google Takeout is not a backup solution. The users must download their data manually. If internet access is lost, the download progress is interrupted and cannot be resumed. You will have to begin all over again!

Takeout doesn’t offer options to export specific timeframes or email categories, leading to unnecessary data export.

When importing MBOX files into other email clients, the original Gmail label structure may not be preserved, complicating email organization and retrieval.

You might end up with incomplete downloads while exporting amount of data.

Visit Google Vault and sign in using your Google Workspace account.

If you are unable to access Vault, kindly contact your Google Workspace administrator to enable Vault access for your account.

If you are using Google Workspace Business or Enterprise plans, you will have access to Google Vault to archive your data.

Google Vault cannot be used to directly restore the backed-up Gmail data. Therefore, restoring is usually done with the help of third-party applications like the Google Workspace Migration Tool. Before restoration, the files have to be exported from the Google Vault using the following steps.

 How to recover permanently deleted emails from using Google Vault

Step 1: Log in to Google Vault using your admin credentials. Click on the “Matters” pane.

Step 2: Create a new matter and name it. (A description is optional). Click on “Create.”

Step 3: Click on the “Search” module on the left pane → Choose “Drive” as the type of application and provide the email address of the user who has lost the file.

 You can also filter the files based on date range and advanced terms.

 Step 4: Click on the “Search” button to list all the files with the specified search conditions.

Step 5: Click on the “Export” option to export all the files.

Step 6: Click on “Download” after completing the export process.

You can use the Google Workspace migration tool to restore the exported and downloaded emails using Google Vault to your email account.

Limitations of Google Vault:
Google Vault is a retention solution that is intended to preserve critical business data for legal and litigation purposes. It does not qualify as a backup solution as data can only be exported, and not easily restored to the Google account. Moreover, it does not include capabilities such as single-click restore, automated backup, cross-user email restore, etc., that are essential in a cloud backup tool.

Note: To search for emails in Google Vault, you should have already created a ‘Matter’ which is generally created for categorizing your data.

 A third-party cloud backup application like SysCloud is an effective and reliable option to effortlessly restore deleted Google Drive files. SysCloud provides completely automated cloud to cloud backup and recovery using Amazon Web Services (AWS). Organizations can now back up and recover data for unlimited domains using SysCloud.

Restore permanently deleted data: Recover Drive files even if the user account is permanently deleted.

Customized restore: Directly recover a single file, a complete folder, or your entire Drive back to its actual destination.

Point-in-time restore: Restore a previous version of a file from a specific point in time with all its sharing settings and folder structure intact.

Self-user restore: Provide self-service Google Drive restore for end users, resulting in faster data recovery and reduced load on IT administrators.

Cross-user restore: Restore files to another user’s account.

Usage reports: Audit all activities performed within the application and generate reports.

To know how to back up Gmail emails using SysCloud, read this article.

Q. Can Gmail emails be recovered after being deleted?

Yes. You can restore deleted emails from Gmail. The solutions can vary based on whether you have a backup solution for your email account or not. 

Q. How do I recover permanently deleted emails?

Even if the email is deleted from the Trash folder, we have many other options to recover the email- Google Vault,  Google Admin Console, or third-party backup applications like SysCloud can help recover your email with a few clicks.

Q. How can you recover permanently deleted emails when you don’t have a backup?

We can recover permanently deleted files using one of the following ways:

a) Request Google for recovering deleted files

b) Recover from Google Workspace Admin console. Read more about these recovery options here

Q. Is it better to have a third-party backup application in case of accidental deletion of emails from Gmail?

Yes. With third-party back applications like SysCloud, you can always recover and restore any lost data hassle-free. Because backup is automated, the chances of backup being not available for restore are eliminated. 

Q. Within how many days of deletion can we restore email from Trash and Google Admin Console?

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How to Recover Deleted Emails from Gmail for Business

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Learn how admins can recover deleted emails from Gmail from the Google admin console, Takeout, Vault, and Trash, and using third-party cloud backup tools.

An in-depth article on how admins can recover deleted emails from Gmail from the Google admin console, Takeout, Vault, and Trash, and using third-party cloud backup tools.

How to Recover Deleted Emails from Gmail for Business

Recovering deleted emails in Gmail

What happens when a Gmail email is deleted?

Recover deleted Gmail emails from the Trash folder

Where is the Trash folder in Gmail?

How to recover Gmail emails when they are permanently deleted from Trash- when you do not have a backup?

Recover permanently deleted emails from the Admin Console

How to recover permanently deleted emails in Gmail – when you have a backup

Recover deleted emails from Gmail using ‘Outlook Auto-Archive’ feature

Recover permanently deleted emails from Gmail using Google Takeout

Recover Permanently Deleted Emails from Gmail Using Google Vault

Recover permanently deleted Gmail emails using third-party backup apps

Frequently asked questions about restoring deleted emails from Gmail