How to Recover Deleted Emails in Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo Mail

A message, a folder or even all your mails may have disappeared accidently? To fix this confusing issue, here we explain how to recover deleted emails in Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo! Mail.

First, let’s clear: Are deleted mails really deleted?

When you delete a file in many email programs, it usually is moved to a recycle bin, so you can find the deleted email file there until the recycle bin is emptied. When you empty the recycle bin, the deleted email file will be actually deleted.

So, are deleted mails really deleted? The answer is maybe. The key is that if the email program has a “compact” function for its email storage. Like a file system, messages that are deleted usually are simply marked without freeing up the space immediately. That is to say, the deleted messages are possible to retrieve or recover, unless new messages have overwritten them.

HOW TO RECOVER DELETED EMAILS IN GMAIL?

As a Gmail user, if you have deleted a message by clicking Delete Forever in Spam or Trash, that means you really have deleted the message permanently and is impossible to recover the deleted message by Gmail itself.

However, if you click Delete to move the message to Trash and have not deleted it permanently, you are possible to recover the deleted email within 30 days following the steps below:

Recover deleted emails in Gmail Step 1. Sign in to Gmail account.

Recover deleted emails in Gmail Step 2. Click Trash on the left side of any Gmail page.

To activate Trash along the left side of your Gmail page, go to Settings > Labels tab, and then click Show link next to the Trash label.

Recover deleted emails in Gmail Step 3. Find the message you want to move to Inbox, and check the box next to the sender’s name.

Recover deleted emails in Gmail Step 4. Click “Move to Inbox”. Your deleted email will go back to Inbox immediately.

HOW TO RECOVER DELETED EMAILS IN OUTLOOK?

After you deleted a email message in Outlook and even after you emptied your “Deleted items” in Outlook, the following will let you undelete or recover the deleted messages easily (Valid for both Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007):

Recover deleted emails in Outlook Step 1. Select your “Deleted Items” in “Folder List”.

Recover deleted emails in Outlook Step 2. In the “Tools” menu, choose “Recover Deleted Items…”

Recover deleted emails in Outlook Step 3. Choose the mail you want to recover and it will be back to the original folder.

Note: only mails less than 7 days old are kept in this location, if older your message was deleted forever and impossible to be recovered by Outlook program.

HOW TO RECOVER DELETED MAILS IN YAHOO！MAIL?

If the deleted mail is still in Trash folder of Yahoo! Mail, do the following to undelete it: Go to Trash folder > find the deleted mail message > click Move in the Yahoo! Mail toolbar > select the folder for example Inbox to recover the message or you can drag and drop the deleted mail message in Trash folder to any other folder.

If the deleted mail has disappeared in your Yahoo! Mail within 24 hours after you have emptied the Trash folder, you can also recover the deleted mails by:

Recover deleted emails in Yahoo! Mail Step 1. Download all the messages you received yesterday and today at your Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Mail Classic account, or export them to a different email address automatically or manually.

Recover deleted emails in Yahoo! Mail Step 2. Fill out the Yahoo! Mail Restore Help Form or the Yahoo! Mail Classic Mail Restore Help Form to ask Yahoo! Mail to return your Yahoo! Mail account to the state before you have deleted the message.