Self-Help Article (External)
Intended Audience: Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and retirees
Purpose
This article explains how to recover deleted emails in both the desktop and web client. While highlighting important retention limits and conditions to ensure users understand when and how deleted emails can be successfully recovered.
Requirements
- Proper login credentials (user name and password) for the email account where the emails were deleted.
- Desktop Client
- Installed Outlook Desktop Client.
- Emails must still exist in either:
- Deleted Items folder (recoverable anytime before permanent deletion).
- Permanent deletion occurs when you:
- Manually empty the Deleted Items folder, OR
- Delete the email from Deleted Items individually, OR
- The server retention policy automatically purges Deleted Items after 30 days.
- Recoverable Items folder (only within 30 days of permanent deletion from Deleted Items).
- Web Client
- Supported web browser (latest versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari).
- Access to your mailbox through the webmail interface (Outlook Web Access or Office 365 portal).
- Emails must still exist in either:
- Deleted Items folder (recoverable anytime before permanent deletion).
- Permanent deletion occurs when you:
- Manually empty the Deleted Items folder, OR
- Delete the email from Deleted Items individually, OR
- The server retention policy automatically purges Deleted Items after 30 days.
- Recoverable Items folder (only within 30 days of permanent deletion from Deleted Items).
Step-by-Step Procedures
Desktop Client - Recover Emails from Deleted Items
- Go to the “Deleted Items” folder in your mailbox.
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Click the item you want to restore or select multiple items by holding “Ctrl” and clicking on the items.
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After making the selections, click the “Move” button on the ribbon, and select “Other Folder…”
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Scroll up to find your “Inbox.” Select it and click “OK.”
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These items will now be moved to your Inbox.
Desktop Client - Recover Emails from the Recoverable Items Folder (Within 30 days of permanent deletion only)
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Go to the “Deleted Items” folder in your mailbox.
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Click the “Recover items recently removed from this folder” button.
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Click the item you want to restore or select multiple items by holding “Ctrl” and clicking on the items. To restore all items, click “Select All.”
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After making the selections, click the “Restore Selected Items” option and click “Ok.”
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These items will now be restored to your mailbox.
Web Client - Recover Emails from Deleted Items
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Go to the “Deleted Items” folder in your mailbox.
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Click the item you want to restore or select multiple items by clicking the circle on the left side of the emails.
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After making the selections, click the “Restore” button located at the top of the screen.
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These items will now be restored to your mailbox.
Web Client - Recover Emails from the Recoverable Items Folder (Within 30 days of permanent deletion only)
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Go to the “Deleted Items” folder in your mailbox.
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Click the “Recover items deleted from this folder” button.
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Click the item you want to restore or select multiple items by clicking the circle on the left side of the emails.
-
After making the selections, click the “Restore” button located at the top of the screen.
-
These items will now be restored to your mailbox.