Are you facing a situation where your Outlook emails have disappeared? Don't worry, there are ways to fix the problem and get all your mail back intact, where it should be.
Usually, when Outlook emails have disappeared, it could be a configuration issue in settings, account inactivity, email rules configured in Outlook, and emails being moved to a folder deleted, your account may be hacked and the mail deleted, or the Thread Conversation feature is activated.
In this case, we recommend that you check how to recover your Outlook password and take all necessary security measures. However, it's important to note that if you upgrade to Outlook.com, the upgrade only takes place from the user interface to the new interface, so email messages should remain in your inbox.
Sometimes changes from Microsoft can also make emails go away, like in 2016 when Microsoft switched from POP/IMAP to the Exchange platform, so all @Hotmail, @outlook, @live, and/or @msn users got an email update.
The result is that all emails on the POP platform before the change were not migrated to the Exchange platform.
In such a case, the emails were stored on the computer or device (locally), and may not have been configured to remain on the server, making it difficult for Microsoft to migrate to the Exchange platform.
If you want to resolve Outlook emails disappearing issues, follow these steps.
1. Export old mail history
Open Outlook
Click File and select Open & Export
Click Import/Export
Select Export to a file
Select Outlook Data File (.pst)
Select email account
Make sure Include Subfolder is checked
Click Next
Click Browse
Select a location and name the file
Click Finish
2. Create a new Outlook profile
Click Start and select Control Panel
Click View By and select Large Icons
Click Mail
Click Add
Select Create new profile
Use the Outlook wizard to set up the new account using an email address and password.
3. Import old email
With the new account, you can import your old email. To do this:
Open the new Outlook account
Click File and select Open & Export
Click Import/Export
Select Import from another program or file
Click Next
Select Outlook Data File (.pst)
Click Next
Click Browse. Find your PST file in the location where you saved it (from solution 1)
Once complete, please wait until the history finishes syncing. When you get a message that says All folders are up to date, then it's complete.
4. Use the lost/deleted email recovery feature
This tool can restore lost emails, but there is no option to select the date range of emails to restore, so you will get as many emails as the system can restore regardless of dates.
Again, there is no guarantee that all emails will be recovered. If you accidentally delete email messages from Outlook, you can recover them if they're in the Deleted Items or Junk folder, or even after you empty the Deleted folder (but in some cases it does). We suggest that you try to recover your deleted email in outlook before giving them up, especially if there is important information in them.
How to recover messages when Outlook emails have disappeared:
In Outlook.com (classic)
In the left pane, select the Deleted Items folder or the Junk Mail folder.
Do one of the following: Deleted Items folder: Select the message you want to recover and select Recover.
Spam folder: Select the message you want to recover and select Not Junk.
If you can't find an item in the Deleted Items folder, check the Recoverable Items folder
In the left pane of the Outlook.com window, select the Deleted Items folder.
At the top of the message list, select Recover Deleted Items.
Select the items you want to recover and select Recover.
Select OK.
To prevent Outlook.com from emptying your Deleted Items folder when you sign out, do the following:
Select Settings at the top
Select View full settings.
Select Message Handling.
Under When I sign out, uncheck the box next to Empty deleted items folder
Things to watch out for in Outlook Deleted Items:
You can recover deleted items from Deleted Items folder in 30 days
After 14 days, emails are automatically removed from the Spam folder and cannot be recovered
If you don't see the messages you want to recover, they are probably permanently deleted. Deleted messages from secondary accounts cannot be recovered either.
Keep your account active by logging in at least once every 365 days; otherwise, it will be deleted and cannot be recovered.
5. Clear All Filters/Display
Open Outlook
Click View
Click View Settings
On the Filter tab, check if any filters are applied.
If so, click Clear All
click
If the Outlook emails issue is gone, please reset the current view and check if all email appears by clicking View > View Settings > Reset Current View.
6. Use Advanced Search
Sign in to your Outlook account and go to Inbox
In the top left panel, click Search
Click Advanced Search. Fill in as many fields as you can.
Check the Has Attachments box if the emails come with attachments
Click Search
7. Change filter options
Filtering options can range from the date received to keywords, importance, size, sender/receiver, or read/unread status. To change view options, do the following:
On the ribbon, select View
In the Current View area, click View Settings.
Click Filter, and then review the following tabs to see if there are any selections that can filter specific messages: Tasks, More Options, and Advanced
8. Enable Do not let another program delete messages from the Outlook option
In your mailbox, click the Computer icon.
Select More mail settings.
Search Account Management
Select POP and delete downloaded messages.
Make sure Don't let another program delete Outlook messages.
Click Save. Also, you should make sure that Always leaving a copy of the message on the server option is selected if you do not want your email messages to be permanently deleted from your inbox after you download them to your mail program.
9. Have a regular backup plan
This can help you avoid losing your emails by backing up your important email data. Outlook data is not stored on your computer, nor is it backed up by Microsoft. If the data is important, you should back it up, especially if it resides in the cloud and is not under your control.
To back up your email data, set up your account in an email client. To do this:
Download Windows Essentials. It is a bundle with Windows Live Mail, Writer, Outlook Connector Pack, Microsoft OneDrive, and Family Safety.
Choose custom installation or install only Windows Live email (your choice)
Once installed and configured, sign in to your account
Wait for the program to download your emails
Once this is done, a copy will be on your hard drive synchronized with the Outlook server
If you need to save an additional copy, export your emails and account by pressing ALT+F and export to the desired location.
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