Recover Deleted Emails from Outlook PST File Easily

Emails act as the central lifeline system of any organization. Its storage and management is not as easy as we see. Deleting unwanted emails can help in email management and optimum storage. But what if important emails get deleted? It sounds scary! But don’t worry, here in this post I will discuss the ways to recover deleted emails from Outlook PST file. Let’s get started!

Microsoft Outlook is a popular email application. It can efficiently manage emails along with contacts, calendars, tasks, journals, and notes. Either accidental deletion or any technical glitch can cause data loss. Microsoft Outlook itself provides the option to recover deleted emails from Outlook with certain limitations. Don’t worry, I will discuss all in detail in the section below.

Outlook stores entire emails data into .pst file format. While deleted emails from Outlook it get deleted from mailbox i.e. PST file.

This blog deals with the different methods that a user can follow and recover deleted emails from Outlook easily.

Reasons to Recover Deleted Emails Outlook

1. Your Important emails can be accidentally deleted during regular mailbox cleaning or any human error.
2. It might be required for your ongoing projects in order to maintain business communication.
3. It is highly recommended to recover deleted emails from Outlook to form regulatory compliance and internal audits.
4. It ensures that your important emails are not permanently deleted and helps in maintaining historical records and keeping checks on a regular basis.

Recover Deleted Emails From Outlook PST File – Manual Methods

These methods provide built-in Outlook features and tools, as well as operating system capabilities, to retrieve lost emails. Whether you’ve accidentally deleted important messages or need to recover permanently deleted emails outlook. These manual approaches provide practical solutions. Let’s explore each method step-by-step to ensure you can efficiently recover your valuable email data.

#1. How to Recover Deleted Emails in Outlook Using Deleted Items Folder

The easiest option to recover deleted emails from Outlook PST file is to look into the Deleted Items Folder or Trash Folder and simply retrieve all required files from there. Below are the steps to accomplish the task using the same.

Steps to Recover Using the Deleted Items Folder:

Note: the steps may be slightly different in different Outlook versions. Deleted Items Folder stores the deleted mails only for 30 days. Once the 30 days count is over the emails are permanently deleted. In case of permanent deletion, do not follow this method.

1. Launch Outlook and Go to the Deleted Item Folder.
2. Search for the Deleted Items, which need to be recovered.
3. Select all necessary email files and Right-click and choose the Move option. Then select Other Folder.
4. This will retrieve and transfer all the deleted emails and items to Other Folder.

Note: It is possible to retrieve deleted emails in Outlook including emails, calendar, contacts, tasks and others from the Deleted Items folder. However, it becomes really difficult if the data gets deleted from this folder also. In this case, it is advised to try other methods discussed below.

#2. Recover Deleted Emails From Outlook PST File Using Inbuilt Recoverable Items Folder

When data items get deleted permanently or a deleted message is not in Deleted Items Folder, a user can try this method. For a certain period of time Outlook keeps even permanently deleted emails, contacts, calendars into a hidden folder called Recoverable Items.

When data goes in Recoverable Folder

• Pressing Shift +Delete key together from the keyboard to remove the selected items.
• Removing or deleting the items from the Deleted Items Folder.

Whenever any item is retrieved from the Recoverable Items Folder, it automatically goes to the Deleted Items Folder. After then your items can be easily searched and recovered by moving them from Deleted Item folder to Other Folder.

Tip: Not all Outlook accounts, support Deleted Items Folder.

Steps to Recover Permanently Deleted Mails:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook and Go to the Home Menu.
2. Click the option Recover Deleted Items From Server.
3. Select the items that you want to recover and click on OK.
4. Check Deleted Items Folder, you will find all recovered emails in it. Simply select the emails and move it to Other Folder.

All done, successfully recovered deleted emails from Outlook PST file. It you are unable to find your lost emails, then move to next method.

#3. Recover Deleted Emails From Outlook PST File Using ScanPST.exe (Inbox Repair Tool)

1. Find the ScanPST.exe tool on your computer (usually located in the Outlook installation directory).
2. Now, Double-click ScanPST.exe to launch it on your system.
3. Click on Browse and then select the PST file which you want to repair.
4. Hit the Start button to scan the PST file.
5. click Repair to fix the PST file if any error happens to recover deleted emails in outlook.

#4. Recover Deleted Emails Outlook Using Restore and Backup

1. Find a recent backup of your PST file.
2. Open your Outlook and go to File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File.
3. Then, Browse to the location of your backup PST file and open it
4. Now, Drag and drop your emails from the backup PST to your main mailbox or use the Import/Export wizard to import the data.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q) Can we recover deleted emails from outlook PST file?

Ans. Open the Recycle Bin in Windows. Look for the PST file you want to recover. Right-click on it and choose Restore.

Q) How to recover emails from a corrupt PST file?

Ans. Follow the steps given below to retrieve emails from altered PST file:

1. Exit Outlook and browse to one of the following file locations.
2. Open SCANPST.exe
3. Select Browse to select the Outlook Data File (.pst) which you want to scan.
4. Choose Start to begin the scan.
5. If the scan finds errors, choose Repair to start the process to fix them.