How to Recover Deleted Emails From PST Files

Deleted emails can be recovered from a personal storage (.pst) file.

Deleted Items in Microsoft Outlook is a mailbox folder where you can keep emails you no longer wish to view in your Inbox. Emails in the Deleted Items folder remain online until you permanently delete them. Permanently deleting email from the Deleted Items folder helps minimize your mailbox storage size. Before you permanently delete emails, you can move them to a personal storage file (.pst) and store them on your computer. You can recover deleted emails from a personal storage file by opening the data file and adding it to your Outlook folder list.

Things You'll Need

• File name of your personal storage file (.pst)
• Computer folder save location of your personal storage file (.pst)

Instructions

1. Log on to Microsoft Office Outlook.

2. Click "File" in the top menu bar, select "Open" from the list of options, then click "Outlook Data File."

3. Locate and click the personal storage (.pst) file where you moved your deleted email. If the personal storage file is not shown in the computer folder that Outlook displays by default, navigate to the computer folder you chose as the save location, then click the personal storage file.

4. Click "OK."

5. Locate the personal storage file in the "Folder List." Outlook calls the file "Personal Folders" or "Archive Folders" by default. If you renamed the folder when you created the personal storage (.pst) file, Outlook will show the folder with the name you selected.

References

• Microsoft Corporation: Create and use .pst data files in different versions of Outlook