2,350 Tutorials

How to recover deleted messages from Hotmail or Outlook.com

We show you how to get back emails you have deleted by accident

How to recover an email deleted from Hotmail

Here's how to find an email you accidentally deleted from Hotmail or Outlook.com.

Accidentally deleting an important email can be distressing. Thankfully most email systems will place deleted messages in a "Deleted" folder, much like the recycle bin on a desktop PC. However, once purged from the Deleted folder, these messages are much harder to retrieve. Depending on the email system you use, the Deleted folder may be purged automatically at regular intervals – however all is not necessarily lost.

Thankfully, if you're using Hotmail or Outlook.com you can sometimes recover accidentally deleted messages, even if they no longer appear in your "Deleted" folder.

To do this, look for the "recover deleted messages" option which will appear once you enter the "Deleted" folder.

Recover deleted messages

Clicking on this will bring back as many deleted messages as possible and return them to the "Deleted" folder. From here you can move them to the folder of your choice.

If your important message isn't retrieved by this method then there's no more that can be done online.

Recover deleted messages

If you're using a desktop email application such as Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird you can try data recovery software such as Piriform's Recuva which is a free data recovery program with specific support for retrieving lost emails. If you're using Thunderbird, you may also like to try the steps outlined here: How to recover deleted emails.

See all How to articles. Get free tech support in the Helproom Forum.

Visit Windows 7 Advisor and Windows 8 Advisor for more Windows advice. Or email our Helproom Editor for bespoke advice.

Send to a friend

Email this article to a friend or colleague:


PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.

IDG UK Sites

Nexus 4 selling out and Nexus 5 spotted in bar

IDG UK Sites

15 October Apple event: iPad 5, iPad mini 2, Haswell-powered iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro coming?

IDG UK Sites

Windows 8 smartwatch: what you need to know about the Surface smartwatc

IDG UK Sites

Reasons to be Creative organiser reflects on why the best talks are about passion

* *