How to Recover Deleted Mail in a Personal Folder

If you have deleted email and later need to get it back, there a couple of methods you can use to restore the email.

Deleted emails that were stored in a personal folder in an email program are normally moved from the personal folder to a "deleted items" folder on the email server. Deleted emails are still available for viewing on the host site email server unless the "deleted items" folder has been emptied. Deleted email will usually remain available for viewing or for moving back to a personal folder for a few weeks. In Microsoft Exchange accounts, even if you have clicked "empty" on the "deleted items" folder and purged it from the database, deleted email can potentially still be recovered .

Instructions

Restoring Deleted Items in Online Mail Accounts

1. Open your email program and click on the "Deleted" folder.

2. Select the deleted mail that you want to restore by clicking the box to the left of each deleted email to be restored.

3. Click the link "Move To" and select the folder where you wish the deleted mail to be restored. Alternately, move an individual deleted email from the "Deleted" folder by clicking and dragging the email to the "Inbox" or to the personal folder where you wish to restore it, if your email program allows for such a step.

Restoring Deleted Items in Microsoft Exchange Accounts

1. Close the Outlook program and all other programs that are running on your computer.

2. Click on the Windows logo in the lower left corner of your desktop and type "regedit" in the seach bar. Open the registry editor. Alternately, navigate to the windows/system directory on the hard drive and double click the file "Regedit.exe."

3. Navigate through the following folders: My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Options.

4. Click on "DWORD Value" in the "Edit" menu and type "DUMPSTERALWAYSON."

5. Change the "DWORD" value to "1".

6. Restart Microsoft Outlook. Select the "Tools" menu, then choose "Recover Deleted Items." Repeat this step for each Outlook folder for which you wish to recover deleted items.

Tips & Warnings

• Review all mail before deleting it. Print a copy of important email and store it in a safe place.

• Registry editor should be used only by advanced PC users. Changes to the registry alter the computer system settings, which will change the information used by your computer. Make changes to the system registry at your own risk.

References

• Microsoft Office Support : Recover Deleted Items From Any Folder

Resources

• Tech Pro Net: How to Recover Deleted Emails