Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular email service providers with more than 400 million active users worldwide. With such a large number of users and exchanged messages, human errors and cyberattacks that lead to data loss are bound to happen. Luckily, you can recover deleted emails in Office 365 and guarantee workflows continue uninterrupted. Show
Read on to learn how to restore deleted emails in Outlook using Microsoft’s built-in tools. This post also explains how a third-party backup solution helps overcome the limitations of native recovery features.
Before we start NAKIVO Backup & Replication offers complete protection for Office 365 and allows you to recover permanently deleted emails in Outlook. Download the white paper Microsoft Office 365 Backup Best Practices to learn how you can protect your cloud environment. Email Security Best PracticesWhile it is possible to recover deleted emails in Outlook, you should try your best to prevent data loss in the first place. There are several security measures that you can implement to reduce the chance of breaches and user errors that lead to lost or corrupted data. These include:
How to Recover Deleted Emails in Office 365 Using Native Microsoft ToolsThe built-in Microsoft tools allow you to recover deleted emails in Outlook when an item is lost. However, they do not provide comprehensive backup capabilities. In other words, the native features are limited and have different disadvantages, which could lead to data loss. The Recycle BinWhen you delete an email in Outlook, it is sent to the Deleted Items folder where it is kept for 30 days. After this period expires, the email is removed from this folder. Log in to Outlook.com then follow the steps below to recover a deleted email from the Deleted Items folder:
Note: You can also recover deleted emails in Outlook by right-clicking a specific message, selecting Move, then choosing your preferred destination (inbox or another folder). If you can’t find the email you are looking for in the Deleted Items folder, then it has probably been moved to the Recoverable Items folder where it is kept for another 30 days. This happens when:
To restore an email from the Recoverable Items folder, go to Outlook.com then do the following:
The Archive folderThe AutoArchive feature found in the Outlook desktop client can be configured to automatically retain and export email messages based on specific retention settings. In other words, deleted emails can be found in the Archive folder after they are removed from the inbox. eDiscoveryIn Microsoft 365, eDiscovery allows you to search for specific content found in mailboxes and sites. You can place a hold on the identified information and export your search results to use them as evidence in legal proceedings. System administrators use the In-Place Hold capability of eDiscovery to search for, collect and export previously retained Outlook data even if it was deleted or modified. Keep in mind that you cannot recover deleted emails in Office 365 using eDiscovery since it is not a backup solution and can only be used for archiving purposes. Email forwardingYou can enable email forwarding in the web interface of Microsoft Office 365 or by configuring the rules in the Outlook desktop client. After you create a secondary email address, set all incoming messages in the primary email to be automatically forwarded to the second account. This way, if a message is accidentally deleted from the first address, you can still find a copy in the other account. Email exportThe Outlook desktop client allows you to export/import email messages to/from a PST file. This feature can be used to transfer emails from one computer to another. When you export your emails, they are not deleted from the email client. However, a copy of your messages is exported to the PST file. How to Recover Deleted Emails in Office 365 Using NAKIVO’s Backup SolutionModern backup solutions like NAKIVO Backup & Replication provide robust data protection for Office 365 environments and allow you to recover permanently deleted emails in Outlook. More importantly, using a dedicated backup solution helps you overcome the limitations of the native Microsoft recovery tools and ensures that your data is protected and easily recoverable in case of accidental deletion or a cyberattack. In order to back up Office 365 emails, first, you need to configure your environment by adding a Microsoft 365 account to the inventory of NAKIVO Backup & Replication and creating a SaaS backup repository. Once done, you can perform as many backup jobs as you need. Adding a Microsoft 365 account to InventoryBefore you start this process, check if your infrastructure meets the Microsoft 365 requirements. If it does, you can add your Microsoft 365 account to the inventory:
Click Next to proceed.
Once done, click Next.
Click Finish to complete adding the item to the inventory in case you want to manually grant the required permissions. Note: Refer to Obtaining Microsoft 365 Credentials to learn where you can find credentials and how you can grant permissions in the Azure Portal.
Note: Make sure that the Global Administrator role is assigned to the account in the Microsoft 365 admin center to complete the authentication process. Creating a backup repositoryAll backed up Microsoft 365 data including Outlook emails are stored in a dedicated SaaS repository. The wizard to create a SaaS repository is divided into three steps:
Once done, click Next. Note: You can deploy a Transporter on a remote machine, create a directory on that machine and use it to create a backup repository. This approach provides you with more flexibility and allows you to store Microsoft 365 data backups on remote machines.
Click Finish to create the backup repository. Creating a Microsoft 365 backup jobNow that your Microsoft 365 account has been added to the inventory of NAKIVO Backup & Replication, and you created a backup repository, you can run backup jobs that will allow you to recover deleted emails in Outlook in the future in case of data loss. Start the backup job by opening the Dashboard in the solution’s web interface and clicking Create, then Microsoft 365 backup job. The backup job wizard for Microsoft 365 consists of the five steps detailed below:
Click Next to confirm the selection and move to the next page.
Click Finish or Finish & Run to complete the job creation wizard. Recovering Deleted Emails in Office 365 from NAKIVO BackupsTo recover permanently deleted emails in Outlook, click Recover then Microsoft 365 in the web interface of NAKIVO’s solution. The Object recovery wizard that opens consists of four main steps:
Click Next to continue.
Click Next to proceed.
Once done, click Next.
Click Recover to start the recovery process and track the progress in the Activities tab. Once recovery is complete, log in to the Outlook account to view the messages you just recovered. ConclusionMicrosoft offers several native features that help you recover deleted emails in Office 365. However, these features are limited and can result in data loss in case of a user error or a breach. Third-party backup solutions like NAKIVO Backup & Replication are necessary to ensure data recoverability and eliminate a single point of failure. You can use NAKIVO’s solution to protect your Microsoft 365 data and successfully back up and restore Outlook mailboxes. The solution also supports backup and recovery for OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online. Download the Free Edition to check out all the advanced functionalities that guarantee optimal data protection. Can you recover deleted emails from Microsoft Outlook?In the left pane, select the Deleted Items folder. At the top of the message list, select Recover items deleted from this folder. Select the items you want to recover, and select Restore.
Can I retrieve permanently deleted emails?For up to 30 days after deleting, users can recover their own messages from the Trash by following the steps in Recover deleted Gmail messages. After 30 days, messages are permanently deleted from the Trash, and can't be restored from the Trash by users or administrators.
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