Email has become a very integral part of our daily communication for both personal and professional purposes. Microsoft Outlook, being one of the most widely used email platforms, offers several features like email management, calendar integration, contact organization, task tracking, etc. Despite being so advantageous, you may encounter sudden deletion of emails from your Outlook account.
Luckily, with the right Windows data recovery techniques, you can restore your deleted Outlook emails on your device. Here, in this article, we will explore various methods to help you know how to recover deleted Outlook emails on Windows 11 devices, ensuring you retrieve your lost emails effectively.
Why Do Emails Get Deleted On Outlook?
Before delving into recovery workaround to restore lost or deleted Outlook emails, it’s important to understand why such instances occur. There are several reasons why Outlook emails usually get deleted. Some of them are:
- User action: You may have accidentally deleted mail from Outlook or emptied the Deleted Items folder without realizing that important emails might get deleted.
- Automatic cleanup settings: If your Outlook is configured to automatically clean up or archive emails based on certain criteria, like age or size, it deletes older emails to free up space in the mailbox.
- Server issues: Technical issues or server errors can occasionally cause the deletion of emails from Outlook. These issues may occur during synchronization processes or when there is an issue with the email server.
- Malware or viruses: Malicious software or viruses can infect your computer and delete or corrupt emails stored in Outlook.
Quick Methods to Recover Deleted Emails on Outlook
Now that you are familiar with the reasons for the deletion of emails from Outlook on your device, it’s time to apply proper recovery methods to restore them. Outlook provides various features to manage and organize emails effectively. You can go through the below-given recovery methods one-by-one to restore your deleted emails from your Outlook account:
Method 01: Recover Deleted Emails from Deleted Items Folder
Outlook provides an in-built Deleted Items folder which stores all your deleted emails for 30 days before they get permanently deleted from your account. Before you apply any other Windows data recovery method to recover your deleted Outlook emails, check the ‘Deleted Items’ folder. Go through the below-given steps to learn how to recover deleted Outlook emails on Windows 11 using this method:
- Launch the Outlook app or visit the Outlook page in any web browser on your Windows system.
- Now, locate the “Deleted Items” folder where all your deleted emails are present.
- Select the emails you want to restore and click Recover to save them to their original location.
Method 02: Recover Deleted Emails Through the Recoverable Items Folder
If your deleted email on Outlook account is not present in the Deleted Items folder, then you can try restoring it via the ‘Recoverable Items‘ folder. All you have to do is:
Firstly, open your Outlook account and click the ‘Deleted Items’ folder from the left pane.
Now, click on the ‘Recover item deleted from this folder’ link from the right navigation pane.
Check the box next to the “Recoverable Items” option and select all the Recoverable Items. To recover specific emails, select each one individually and click “Restore”.
Method 03: Recover Deleted Emails Using AutoArchive Feature
Outlook allows you to create backups of important emails, so you can restore them when issues like accidental or intentional deletion of mail occur. The Office 365 version of Outlook includes the AutoArchive feature, which when enabled, periodically archives the contents of your inbox or folders.
Here’s how to recover deleted Outlook emails on Windows 11 using Outlook’s AutoArchive Feature:
Launch Microsoft Outlook and go to the File tab.
Select Options and then click Advanced from the left pane.
Now, click on the “AutoArchive Settings” option located under the “AutoArchive” section.
Check if the “Run AutoArchive every X days” option is enabled and set a frequency as per your requirement.
Lastly, click OK to save the changes.
Method 04: Use Windows Data Recovery Software
Last but not least in this list of quick and easy workarounds to restore deleted Outlook emails is via a Windows data recovery software. There are several data recovery tools available which support the recovery of lost emails in a few simple clicks. Stellar Data Recovery Standard is an all-in-one data recovery software which supports recovery of your Outlook emails lost or deleted on Windows 11 devices due to many reasons, including accidental deletion, formatting, partition loss, virus attacks, etc.
The Stellar Data Recovery Standard tool supports recovering both PST and OST files by completely scanning your device. The software is 100% safe and secure and offers high recovery rate without overwriting the original data.
Go through the below steps to know how to recover deleted Outlook emails on Windows 11 using this professional Windows data recovery software:
Step 1: Install the Stellar Data Recovery Standard tool on your Windows 11 device and launch it. From the Select What to Recover window, choose Emails and click Next.
Step 2: Now, select the folder/location where you deleted Outlook offline items were earlier stored and click Scan. (Usually, the Outlook data files are stored in C: drive). After that, wait till the scanning process is completed.
Step 3: Once the scanning process is done, preview the recoverable files and choose the Outlook files you need to recover. Click Recover to save selected files at the desired location.
Tips to Prevent Deletion of Outlook Emails on Windows 11
To avoid accidental deletion of Outlook emails on Windows 11 devices, consider implementing the following tips:
Enable Confirmation Prompt: Configure Outlook settings to prompt for confirmation before permanently deleting emails.
Regularly Backup Emails: Make a habit of creating backups of your Outlook data, including emails, contacts, and calendar events.
Archive Emails: Set up automatic archiving in Outlook to move older emails to an archive folder instead of deleting them.
Implement Retention Policies: Set up email retention policy on your account to configure how long emails should be retained before deletion.
Install Antivirus Software: Install and regularly update antivirus software on Windows 11 devices to prevent malware or viruses from infecting Outlook and causing the deletion or corruption of emails.
Conclusion
Issues like accidental deletion of important emails from Outlook accounts can be distressing, but with the above-mentioned Windows data recovery methods, you can recover them efficiently. In this guide, we’ve outlined several methods to help you learn how to recover deleted Outlook emails on Windows 11, ranging from simple built-in features to third-party data recovery software, like Stellar Data Recovery Standard. By following these steps and considering the mentioned preventive tips, you can minimize the risk of permanent data loss and ensure that your crucial emails are safely restored.
