How do I retrieve old emails?

When an email is sent or received, the message remains in your inbox until you delete it.  If you want to keep that message forever but don't need it anymore, just click Delete Forever at the top right corner of the screen (or press Shift + Del) when viewing the message on the web interface, or swipe left on Android devices or tap More Options at the bottom of the iPhone's Messages app.

What happens if you accidentally delete something important by accident? You may have lost everything. Fortunately, this isn’t always true – you might still be able to retrieve some or all of those messages. In fact, many people who try to search their inboxes often end up frustrated because they didn’t know what they were looking for.

There are three main ways to go about recovering deleted emails. The first one is using third party tools like Data Rescue Pro which will scan your hard drive for any traces of information that was stored on your computer. This method has the benefit of being quick, but also comes with its own set of problems as well - not every program is compatible with various operating systems. Some programs even require you to pay for them.

The second option involves searching through your browser history. If you remember where you saved certain files before deleting them, you should be able to recover the file using a free online tool such as Google Drive or OneDrive. However, this process doesn’t work so easily either because we tend to save our most sensitive data in private folders rather than saving them publicly.

Lastly, you could restore the last backup made on your device by going into settings > general > date & time and selecting “restore previous backups”. But this won’t help you much if you haven’t backed up recently.

In case you’ve accidentally deleted an entire conversation thread, then you’re out of luck unless someone else saves it somewhere. There’s no real way around this.

However, if you simply want to see deleted conversations without downloading the whole folder again, here are the best options available today.

How do you find old emails?

You can use several methods to find old emails. For example, if you’re using Microsoft 365 Business Mail, you can access your archived messages via Office Online. On Windows 10, open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Archive. Then open the Archive folder and select All Items.

On Mac OS X, head over to System Preferences " Time Machine. Select Backups and select View Backup History. Scroll down till you reach the desired month and year and click Show Previous Versions. Click Restore Now to bring back the older versions of the selected mailbox.

If you're not sure whether you've used these features already, check out our guide to finding old emails in Outlook. And if you prefer reading about other services instead, check out our list of apps that let you browse your archive.

Can old emails be recovered?

Yes. As mentioned above, there are plenty of software solutions that allow you to recover deleted emails from your inbox. These include products such as RecoverDeletedData, Recuva, FileUndelete and more. Most of these tools cost money, but there are freeware alternatives too.

To download the trial version of one of these software packages, visit their website and scroll down to the Downloads section. You'll usually get a link to a ZIP file containing the installer itself. Extract it and run the executable file. After installing the application, follow the steps below to start scanning for deleted items.

First, launch the application, enter your credentials whenever prompted and accept the license agreement. Next, choose the type of account you wish to look for information related to, select Search and hit Start Scanning. When asked for confirmation, click Yes. Once completed, you'll receive a report detailing the number of items found and the amount of space they occupied on your storage device.

For instance, if you had 500 MB worth of photos and videos in your photo library, you'd expect to see a similar figure for your email archives. It depends on the size of each individual item though.

Depending on the complexity of your system, a recovery solution would take anywhere between 20 minutes to two hours. A faster alternative is to perform a deep scan of your PC/Mac and locate all the relevant documents yourself. This takes longer, but you'll be able to identify all the pertinent content while keeping only the ones you actually want.

As long as you have a recent copy of the original document, you can upload it to cloud storage service such as Dropbox or OneDrive and share it with others. Alternatively, you can send copies to friends who have the same problem as yours.

How can I recover deleted emails from Gmail after 5 years?

Unfortunately, there's no foolproof way to recover deleted emails from Gmail beyond the 3 methods listed below. However, you can still come close by performing a few simple things. Here's what you need to know:

Searching your browsing history won't help, since Gmail stores all activity within five years. So if you want to retrieve an old email, you'll need to keep track of your past activities.

Googling terms related to your subject matter is another good strategy. Try typing 'old emails' in quotes followed by different keywords such as 'gmail', 'outlook', 'email', etc. Also try adding variations of the word 'deleted'. This way, you'll avoid getting results that belong to another person altogether.

Google allows users to create multiple accounts based on single identities. By creating separate usernames and passwords for each profile, you should be able to recover specific emails without having to worry about losing anything else.

You can also use a dedicated email archiving tool such as Archiver or Zimbra Desktop. Both offer a wide range of advanced functionalities including support for IMAP, POP3 and SMTP protocols. They can sync directly with popular mail clients such as Thunderbird, Apple Mail and Outlook 2016+.

But if you're looking for a simpler solution, you can use a basic text editor such as Notepad++, Sublime Text or Atom Editor to manually move the contents of your Trash folder to a new location.

Is there a way of retrieving old emails?

It certainly seems impossible to recover old emails once they've been deleted. Unless someone else keeps them safe, there's nothing you can do about it. But, fortunately, there are several ways to mitigate the risk of losing important messages.

Firstly, it's wise to think ahead. Before sending an email, ask yourself: Do I really need to write this now? Can I wait a week or two? Would it be better to draft it in advance? Sometimes, waiting makes sense (for example, if you're writing about a current event).

Secondly, consider moving your emails to a remote server. While doing this, ensure that the recipient(s) knows where to find the messages. Finally, if possible, store your correspondence offline.

If you're running low on disk space, you can compress attachments by reducing their quality. Or you can opt for a paid subscription to unlimited cloud storage services such as iCloud or Google Drive.

Finally, if you have a physical memory card, you can transfer all your personal pictures to it. That way you won't lose valuable memories due to accidental deletion.

Don't forget that you can always download your emails from Gmail to read them later. Just click on the Download button next to the Compose menu in Gmail, and choose Email Attachments.

Alternatively, you can switch your default e-mail client to Eudora Classic or Lotus Notes. To do this, visit Settings " General " Default Client and pick one of the supported applications.

Afterwards, you'll have to sign in with your existing e-mail address, and then configure the necessary parameters. Your new e-mail client will automatically fetch your previously downloaded mails from Gmail.

Once done, you can safely remove the Gmail icon from your toolbar. Don't forget to change your password immediately afterwards.

Your email inbox can be a cluttered mess of stuff that’s hard to get through. It's full of things like receipts, spam, newsletters, and the occasional important message—but what about those emails that have just vanished into thin air? You might think they're gone forever, but we've got your back. Here is everything you need to know about recovering deleted emails from Gmail or Outlook.

The good news is that there are ways to restore those lost mails. Most importantly, if you use an online service provider such as Microsoft 365 (formerly Office365), Apple iCloud, Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, or OneDrive then you probably haven't completely erased them yet. The bad news is also that these services don't always keep records of old emails for long periods of time, so you may not even remember where you put them when you delete them. So here are some tips to help you out if this happens.

Can old emails disappear?

Yes, absolutely. Email accounts aren't immune to human error either. If someone deletes an email accidentally, or has their computer hacked by malware, they could inadvertently wipe all traces of something away without realizing it. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Fortunately, most modern mail providers now offer a way to "undo" certain actions, which means you can go back and reclaim any files you accidentally overwrote.

This process varies depending on the email account you used, but the general idea will remain the same. We'll look at each platform separately below, starting with Gmail first.

How do I view emails older than 12 months?

If you want to see every single email sent to your inbox since January 1st 2020, then simply click on the date range dropdown menu next to the Today button and select Last year. This will show you all emails received during 2019. To change the date range, move the slider right until you reach the month and year you want to check, then hit Go.

To view messages older than one week, enter 7-day instead of last year. To see messages up to two weeks ago, choose 14-days, etc. For example, if you only want to see messages sent yesterday, enter 4-days instead of last year. Note that this feature isn't available for Yahoo Mail users due to its age.

How do I search for emails older than 12 months in Gmail?

In Gmail, head over to Settings & Privacy & Forwarding & POP3/IMAP and enable Undo Send under Manage Undo Sends. Once enabled, whenever you send an email using Gmail, you should receive a notification letting you know whether or not the message was actually resent successfully.

If you did indeed lose an email recently, then this option will allow you to re-send it, thus avoiding losing it altogether. In order to access Undo Sends again, scroll down to Offline Messages and open the box next to View Sent Items. You won't see anything new in the list because it hasn't been processed, but once you close and reopen Online Accounts, you'll be able to see everything you previously undeleted.

You can also try deleting unwanted emails manually via the Trash icon inside the compose window. Click Select All, followed by Delete and confirm deletion. However, this method may result in duplicate copies of emails being automatically created, so you may end up having to delete multiple items before Gmail stops sending them to your inbox.

How do I search for emails older than 12 months in Outlook?

Outlook offers two options for viewing old emails in bulk. First, go to File & Options and click Advanced Tools. Under Recover Deleted Files, you can set Outlook to scan your entire drive on a schedule, or manually trigger a backup job. Both methods should return a large number of previous messages.

Alternatively, you can create custom views based on dates or people. These work exactly the same way as the ones above, except you must add specific criteria to your query. Start by clicking New Custom View... in the top left corner of the screen. From here, you can pick a data source, a start date, and an end date. Use the Date field to specify the date range you wish to explore, and the People field to filter results by sender name. Finally, add additional filters to narrow down the scope of the search. You can read more about creating custom views here.

Once you finish adding criteria, hit OK and save the file. Open the new view, click Save As, and give it a suitable name. Now, when you navigate to Outlook Views & More & My Views, locate the newly saved view and double-click it to launch. Your customized view should appear in the main pane.

How do I search for emails older than 12 months in iOS?

While searching for deleted emails on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch is possible, it requires jailbreaking your device. If you'd rather avoid doing this, you can still pull off a similar trick by setting up a separate mailbox folder dedicated solely to archiving old messages. Then, whenever you delete an item from your primary inbox, copy it to the archive folder. This way, you can quickly browse through all your past communications.

Remember though, this method only works if you're running iOS 13.2 or later, as well as using a supported third party app or browser extension. If you're looking for other alternatives, then check out our guide to finding lost photos on Android and Apple devices.

1. Recover Deleted Emails From Google

If you want to find out why an email has been deleted in the first place, head over to Settings and click on "View history". This will give you access to all the emails that have ever made their way onto your account.

In order to view the last 90 days worth of emails, select “Last 60 days” under the dropdown menu at the top right corner.

Scroll down until you see your past emails (or choose “All archives” if you only want to look at specific accounts).

At this point, you should be able to see when each individual email was sent – whether it came straight from your computer, or another device such as your phone. If you want to restore them one by one, simply go ahead and double-click on any of the dates listed beneath the subject line. For example, let’s say that an email was sent out 6 hours ago. Double-clicking on it would reveal the contents of said email.

This process works similarly for emails that were backed up to your cloud storage service too. Just remember that there may still be some sensitive information attached to these files, so take care not to open anything without permission before doing so. Also note that it won't work if the person who sent you the file hasn't given you explicit permission to download it.

Need help restoring your lost emails? Check out our guide on how to save all your precious documents online safely!

If your inbox is full of all the new messages that have come into your account since you last checked, then there's a good chance you've already read them. But if not -- or if you're just curious about what was going down when you weren't looking -- here's everything you need to know about recovering deleted emails.

First up, we'll show you exactly how to restore lost emails from Gmail accounts (both personal and work) as well as Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Windows 10. We'll also take a look at some of the best tips and tricks to help you avoid losing any more emails in the future.

Note: If you want to learn about how to recover permanently deleted emails from iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, Macs, and other devices, check out our guide below.

Do old emails ever get deleted?

Yes, but only in exceptional circumstances. For example, if someone deletes their entire mailbox without warning, this could be considered permanent deletion. However, most people will still see their old emails until they change their settings – which is usually within 24 hours. So unless you haven’t logged in to your Gmail account for over two weeks, it should be safe to assume that no one has been deleting your emails by mistake.

However, even if you log back into your Google account immediately, it doesn’t mean those emails won’t disappear again later. This happens because Gmail stores older versions of every message sent through its servers, so if you don’t use the “Archive” button (which lets you keep certain emails), then these can reappear at any time.

In fact, if you were to go back further than three months, then chances are high that you would still see all of your old emails. And while many services such as Yahoo Mail offer a similar feature where you can search through previous mailboxes, Gmail does it better thanks to its Archive function.

So now let’s move onto how long old emails stay in the cloud.

How long are old emails kept?

Gmail keeps copies of your emails for 90 days before archiving them away forever, however, this isn’t always true across different platforms. On iOS for instance, Gmail archives all emails after 60 days, whereas Apple’s iCloud service retains content for 28 days.

On Android, meanwhile, Gmail retains old emails for around 180 days. The length of retention varies depending on whether you choose to store your data locally or remotely too. When stored locally, Gmail deletes your files once you clear your browser history or turn off sync, but this is not the case if your device syncs regularly. In addition, when using Google Drive, Gmail saves your emails indefinitely due to the way it works.

Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Windows 10 retains all messages for 30 days before archiving them, although you can extend this period by choosing to archive individual email folders instead. You can also manually manage your own storage space through the Settings page, though you might want to think twice before doing this as it prevents you from accessing your archived mails.

If you're using Office 365 ProPlus, then you'll receive unlimited online storage for your emails, meaning you shouldn't worry about running out anytime soon.

Is an email ever permanently deleted?

Technically speaking, yes. There are a few exceptions to the rule, like Google Photos, which allows users to upload photos and videos to the cloud, but once you remove something from either platform, it’s gone forever.

But if you’re talking about your actual email inbox, then the answer is likely no. Unless you set up multiple email addresses, you’ll never lose access to your original email address. Even if you end up switching jobs or moving to another country, you can easily switch between accounts and continue receiving emails as normal.

This means that if you accidentally forward an important email to yourself rather than sending it straight to the intended recipient, then you can simply retype the wrong information and send it right back again. Or maybe you decide to create a separate folder for each person who sends you emails – and you can quickly label incoming correspondence accordingly.

You can also prevent accidental forwarding altogether by disabling the ability to reply to emails directly from your inbox. Instead, you’d need to click Reply to Message via Email first, thus making sure that nobody else receives your replies.

Alternatively, you can block specific contacts from sending you emails entirely by adding them to your Contacts list. Then, whenever you receive an unknown email, you can safely ignore it.

Lastly, if you really want to be 100 percent sure that you’ve recovered all your emails, consider setting up a secondary email address. This way, you can transfer anything that hasn’t yet arrived in your main inbox into your second account, which you can then trash or delete outright. It’s worth noting that this option may impact performance, especially if you’re working with large attachments.

Do emails delete After years?

It depends. While Gmail generally keeps backups of your emails for 90 days, Google says that "you can request that Gmail permanently delete your backup copy" by following these steps.

To begin with, head to the Advanced menu in the top left corner of your Gmail interface and select More options under General tab. Next, scroll down and click Manage next to Delete All Folders From My Account. Finally, confirm your decision by clicking Yes and wait for Gmail to finish removing your old emails.

Meanwhile, if you’re storing your emails on your PC, you can also ask Google to remove your old e-mails by opening File Explorer, selecting Search bar, typing %appdata%/local/google/gmail/, and pressing Enter. Clicking Show hidden items will reveal several folders containing your messages, including Archives. Right-click each folder individually and select Move Folder Here followed by Remove.

Finally, if you’re worried about missing out on important emails, you can also enable Priority Inbox. To do this, head to Tools & Options > Mail, uncheck Hide junk, and ensure that Labels shows Upcoming, Flagged, Drafts, Spam, and Important are selected. Once done, you should find that Gmail displays a preview version of your inbox alongside your regular inbox, letting you spot urgent messages faster.

Of course, these tips apply equally well to other cloud-based email providers like Dropbox and OneDrive. In addition, if you’re interested in learning how to save old pictures from Instagram and Facebook, check out our article on how to recover images from social networks.