In this article
  • Introduction
  • How can you recover deleted Outlook emails in Microsoft 365?
  • How to recover deleted Outlook emails if you don’t have a backup?
  • How to recover deleted Outlook emails if you have a backup?

How to Recover Deleted Outlook Emails in Office 365? (With Screenshots)

25 Jan 2022
|
10 min read
|
Annu Palathingal
twitterlinkedin
Blog Articles

Introduction

Outlook is one of the most popular email services with over 400 million active users. With so many businesses relying on Outlook, data loss due to user error is inevitable.

This article provides an in-depth guide for admins and users looking to recover permanently deleted Microsoft 365 Outlook emails.

How can you recover deleted Outlook emails in Microsoft 365?

Recovering deleted emails in Outlook depends on two factors:

  • 1. If you have a backup

  • 2. If you don’t have a backup

Take a look at this flow chart to find the most suitable way to recover your deleted Outlook emails.

Outlook recovery

How to recover deleted Outlook emails if you don’t have a backup?

If you don’t have a backup of your deleted Outlook emails, you can recover them from one of the following options:

  • Recover deleted Outlook emails from the Deleted Items folder.

  • Recover deleted Outlook emails from the Deleted Items folder.

Recovering deleted Outlook emails from Deleted Items folder

Recently deleted Outlook emails can be recovered from the “Deleted Items” folder. Deleted emails and email folders are stored in the “Deleted Items” folder for 30 days. After 30 days, the emails will be permanently deleted from this folder.

Follow these steps to recover deleted Outlook emails from Deleted Items folder:

  • Step 1: Log in to your Outlook account.

  • Step 2: Navigate to the “Deleted Items” folder on the left pane.

  • Step 3: Select the email that you want to restore.

  • Step 4: Click on “Recover” on the menu bar.

deleted items restore

Now the deleted email is recovered back to the inbox.

Note: Step 4 can also be carried out by right-clicking the desired email and selecting the “Restore” option.

How to recover deleted Outlook email folder?

Recovering a deleted email folder is very similar to recovering deleted emails from the “Deleted Items” folder.
The deleted folder will appear as a subfolder in the “Deleted Items” folder.

  • Step 1: Navigate to the left pane to the “Deleted Items” folder.

  • Step 2: Click on the drop-down menu next to the folder.

This will show all the folders that were deleted

  • Step 3: Right-click on the folder you want to recover and select the “move” option.

  • Step 4: Select a folder to which you want to restore or create a subfolder in an existing folder.

  • Step 5: Click on “Move”.

Recovering permanently deleted files from Recoverable Items folder

If an email is permanently deleted from the “Deleted Items” folder, it can be restored from the “Recoverable Items” folder. This second stage recycle bin retains permanently deleted emails in Outlook for 30 days from the day of deletion. 

Follow these steps to restore an email that was deleted from the Deleted Items folder: 

  • Step 1: Navigate to the “Deleted Items” folder on the left pane of the screen.

  • Step 2: Click on the link “Recover items recently deleted from this folder” – for Outlook desktop – or Click on the button “Recover the deleted items” at the bottom of the screen – for Outlook online.

Recoverable items

This will take you to the Recoverable Items folder.

Note: The “Recoverable Items” folder cannot be directly accessed. It can only be accessed through the “Deleted Items” folder.

  • Step 3: Select the email to be recovered, and click on the button “Restore”.

restore recoverable

This will restore the email back to its original folder.

How to recover deleted Outlook emails if you have a backup?

Users can recover deleted Outlook emails long after losing them provided there is a backup of the emails.
Deleted emails can be recovered from:

  • 1. Archive folder

  • 2. eDiscovery tool

  • 3. Third-party backup tools like SysCloud

Recover deleted Outlook emails from the Archive folder

The Outlook desktop client has an “AutoArchive” feature that will retain the emails depending on the retention settings that was given. The deleted emails will then be available in the “Archive” folder even if it was deleted from the mailbox. 

Click here to read our in-depth article about archiving Outlook emails as a data retention solution. 

Follow these steps to recover deleted emails from the Outlook Archive folder: 

  • Step 1: Open your Outlook desktop client and navigate to the “Archive” option on the left pane.

  • Step 2: Right-click on the desired email and select the “Move to” option from the drop-down menu and select the option “New folder”.

Archive recovery
  • Step 3: Choose a folder to which you want to restore the email and click “Ok”.

The emails will be restored to the specified folder.

Recover permanently deleted Outlook emails using eDiscovery

The eDiscovery tool is used to identify and collect electronically stored data that is to be produced as evidence during litigation or other government investigations. 
Using eDiscovery, the administrator can search for the held Outlook data even after user deletions or modifications. 
The native eDiscovery feature of Microsoft 365 helps in identifying and preserving the data, but it does not serve as a backup solution. It is only meant for archiving and retrieving business data. 

How to search for data using eDiscovery?

  • Step 1: Login to Microsoft 365 and navigate to the Compliance center. Click “Content Search” from the menu bar on the left-hand side of the screen.

  • Step 2: Click “Search from the top menu bar. Click “+New Search.”

  • Step 3: Type a name and description (optional) for the new search. Click “Next.”

  • Step 4: Choose the location to search for content at and click “Next”.

  • Step 5: Add conditions for the search if needed. This could include specific keyword(s) and add conditions to search for the keyword. Click “Next.”

  • Step 6: Review the search and click “Submit”. Once the content search run is complete, administrators can take further action like “Edit search,” “Rerun search,” etc. They can also export the search results as a .csv or a compressed .zip file by clicking “Export results.”

Caution: Users cannot restore emails using the eDiscovery module. Deleted or lost emails can only be exported.

Click here to read our in-depth article on eDiscovery to know more.

Recover deleted Outlook emails using third-party tools

Third-party backup solutions like SysCloud offer an easier and reliable way to back up and restore your data effortlessly. 

SysCloud is a third-party tool that offers a fully automated cloud-to-cloud backup and restore service. It uses the top trusted cloud storage solutions like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform to store the backed-up data. 

Using SysCloud, IT administrators can back up and restore data in just a few clicks. 

Follow these steps to restore your data using SysCloud. 

  • Step 1: Open the SysCloud application.

  • Step 2: Navigate to the “Backup” option on the menu bar and select “Archive & Restore” option from the drop-down menu.

archives and restore
  • Step 3: Click on the user(s) whose data needs to be restored.

  • Step 4: Select the email(s) to be restored.

  • Step 5: Click on the button “Restore” and choose the option “Selected Items” – to restore selected emails – or “Select All” option – to restore all emails.

recover SharePoint
  • Step 6: Verify the email address and click on the “Restore” button to restore the email(s) back to the specified inbox.

Restore confirmation
In this article
  • Introduction
  • How can you recover deleted Outlook emails in Microsoft 365?
  • How to recover deleted Outlook emails if you don’t have a backup?
  • How to recover deleted Outlook emails if you have a backup?
twitterlinkedin