How do I delete items in a Recoverable file if I don't have a recoverable file? Just want them deleted.

Question

Gale Barnett 0

How do I delete a Recoverable items file in Outlook when I don't have a Recoverable file and I only want to delete the items?

Gale Barnett 0 Reputation points

2025-12-20T15:28:44.57+00:00

Unacceptable response. Problem not solved nor delete instructions included. Will have to phone a human. :-(
Anonymous

2025-12-20T18:27:02.4133333+00:00

On Outlook for Mac, you cannot manually delete the Recoverable Items folder itself. Only the server (Exchange/Microsoft 365) can purge it. And in the New Outlook for Mac, the Recoverable Items folder is not visible, which is why it looks like you “don’t have one.”

The best way is to use outlook on the web.

Go to https://outlook.com or your Microsoft 365 webmail.

You should navigate to the sidebar

Hit Deleted Items.

It should open all your deleted items.

At the top, click Recover items deleted from this folder.

You should see this on the top with a checklist next to all the emails.

Hover over the items. When you see the checkbox, click it.

If you want to select all of them, check the box next to recoverable items on the top of this screenshot - it will select all items.

The bar should now appear like this. Hit empty folder.

Confirm it by hitting the OK button.

This bypasses the Mac app entirely and deletes items directly from the server.

If you like the web version more than the app version, you can install this as a PWA.

I hope this helps you.

Your answer

Gale Barnett 0 Reputation points

2025-12-20T15:28:44.57+00:00

Unacceptable response. Problem not solved nor delete instructions included. Will have to phone a human. :-(
Anonymous

2025-12-20T18:27:02.4133333+00:00

On Outlook for Mac, you cannot manually delete the Recoverable Items folder itself. Only the server (Exchange/Microsoft 365) can purge it. And in the New Outlook for Mac, the Recoverable Items folder is not visible, which is why it looks like you “don’t have one.”

The best way is to use outlook on the web.

Go to https://outlook.com or your Microsoft 365 webmail.

You should navigate to the sidebar

Hit Deleted Items.

It should open all your deleted items.

At the top, click Recover items deleted from this folder.

You should see this on the top with a checklist next to all the emails.

Hover over the items. When you see the checkbox, click it.

If you want to select all of them, check the box next to recoverable items on the top of this screenshot - it will select all items.

The bar should now appear like this. Hit empty folder.

Confirm it by hitting the OK button.

This bypasses the Mac app entirely and deletes items directly from the server.

If you like the web version more than the app version, you can install this as a PWA.

I hope this helps you.