Email Recovery

How to Recover Deleted Business Emails in Microsoft 365

Maira Mehtab Sep 21, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user needs to restore business emails that were accidentally deleted one to two weeks ago.

Product: Microsoft 365 / Exchange Online
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Accidental deletion of important business emails requiring restoration before the server's retention policy permanently purges them.
Observed behavior: The emails are missing from the primary mailbox but might still exist in the Deleted Items or Recoverable Items directory depending on the organization's retention policies.

Before you start

Verify whether you have user-level access to the Outlook client to check the Recoverable Items folder, or if you need to contact your IT administrator to run Exchange admin recovery tools.

Solution 1

Recover from the Deleted Items Folder in Outlook

The quickest user-level method if the emails were soft-deleted and are still within the standard retention period.

When you delete an email in Outlook, it first goes to the Deleted Items folder. If it was emptied recently, it moves to the Recoverable Items folder, which usually holds items for 14 days by default.

Check Deleted Items

Open Outlook and navigate to the 'Deleted Items' folder in your folder pane to see if the messages are still there.

Restore to Inbox

If you find the emails, right-click the messages and select 'Move' > 'Other Folder' > 'Inbox'.

Access Recoverable Items

If the emails are missing from Deleted Items, click on the 'Recover items deleted from this folder' link located at the top of the Deleted Items folder window.

Recover the Emails

Select the emails you wish to restore from the prompt and click 'Restore Selected Items', then click 'OK'.

Solution 2Recommended

Use Exchange Admin Center or PowerShell (Admin Required)

Highly effective for recovering hard-deleted emails from 1-2 weeks ago using administrator privileges.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long do deleted emails stay in the Recoverable Items folder?

By default, Microsoft 365 keeps items in the Recoverable Items folder for 14 days. However, Exchange administrators can increase this retention period up to 30 days.

Can I recover emails if they were hard-deleted?

Yes, if the emails were hard-deleted (using Shift+Delete), they bypass the Deleted Items folder and go directly to Recoverable Items. You can recover them using the 'Recover items deleted from this folder' option or by having your IT admin run a PowerShell recovery.

Why were only some of my deleted emails recovered?

Some emails might fall outside the specific retention policy window, or the mailbox quota for recoverable items might have been reached, causing the oldest deleted items to be purged permanently before the recovery was attempted.

Migration & Recovery