How to Find Deleted Email
Nearly everyone has accidentally deleted an email message. However, once you empty the trash folder in your email client, the messages aren't immediately erased from your hard drive. Instead, they are marked for permanent deletion at a later time after the email program is shut down. Depending on how long ago the message was deleted, it can still be possible to retrieve the deleted emails by using a recovery tool.
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Instructions
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Leave your email client open if you just recently deleted the message from the trash folder.
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Go to one of the links in the Resource section of this article to download an email recovery program, such as Recover My Email, Repair PST or Email Recovery.
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Click "Open Email Data File" or the equivalent option for the program you downloaded. Use the navigation bar at the left side of the screen to find the folder where your email program is located.
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Click the email file that ends with the ".pst" extension. Click "OK." Wait for the program to finish searching through your email program for deleted messages.
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Scroll through the list of recovered messages and find the email you want to restore. Click the title of the email and then click "Save as PST" to restore the message to your inbox.
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Repeat the process with any other deleted emails you want to recover.
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Tips & Warnings
If you don't know the title of the email, you can arrange the recovered files by sender or date instead.
The exact options you click to restore your deleted emails will vary between different recovery utilities. Click the "Help" option and read through the help files for specific instructions on your program.
Before running the recovery tool, you may want to create a backup copy of your email programs PST file in case there is a problem with the recovery process. Go to the folder that creates the PST file. Right-click the file and choose "copy" and then paste the copy to another folder or the computer's desktop.
Emails that are stored online through a Web-based email client, such as Yahoo or Gmail, are lost once you delete them from the trash folder. An email recovery tool will only restore emails saved with programs like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird.
Most email recovery utilities provide a trial period that lets you recover a few emails and then stops working. You will either need to buy the full version at that point or download another trial program if you still have messages to restore.
