Recover deleted emails

Question

Recover deleted emails

Andy 0

Hello,
I had unauthorised access to my hotmail email account today and the perpetrator deleted all my emails from inbox mailbox. I cannot find them in the Deleted folder to restore, please assist.

There are NO recover items in the deleted items folder either, so those walkthrough are not useful.

I need someone to restore manually from the MS service the deleted emails.

I tried to speak to virtual agent but doesnt cannot assist. I need to speak to a real person.

Thank you in advance.

John Jefferson Doyon 88,075 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-04-06T17:12:38.06+00:00

Hi, I'm John!

I understand this is not the answer you're hoping for, but if the emails don’t appear under “Recover items deleted from this folder,” it means they’ve been permanently removed from the mailbox and unfortunately can’t be recovered.

To prevent this from happening again, I recommend turning on two-step verification and reviewing your recent activity page to make sure your account is fully secure. "How to help keep your Microsoft account secure" https://support.microsoft.com/account-billing/how-to-help-keep-your-microsoft-account-secure-628538c2-7006-33bb-5ef4-c917657362b9

Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

1 answer

Your answer

John Jefferson Doyon 88,075 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-04-06T17:12:38.06+00:00

Hi, I'm John!

I understand this is not the answer you're hoping for, but if the emails don’t appear under “Recover items deleted from this folder,” it means they’ve been permanently removed from the mailbox and unfortunately can’t be recovered.

To prevent this from happening again, I recommend turning on two-step verification and reviewing your recent activity page to make sure your account is fully secure. "How to help keep your Microsoft account secure" https://support.microsoft.com/account-billing/how-to-help-keep-your-microsoft-account-secure-628538c2-7006-33bb-5ef4-c917657362b9

Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Answer 1

If messages are not in Deleted Items and the Recoverable Items folder is empty, Outlook.com cannot restore them from the user side and there is no manual restore option that support can run for a consumer Outlook.com/Hotmail mailbox.

Two things can still be checked:

Verify Recoverable Items correctly
- Sign in to Outlook on the web using a PC or Mac (mobile browsers cannot access Recoverable Items).
- In the left pane, select Deleted Items.
- At the top of the message list, select Recover items deleted from this folder.
- If any items appear, select the ones to restore and choose Restore. They will go back to their original folders when possible (otherwise to Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, or Tasks as appropriate).
Contact Outlook.com support
- In Outlook.com, select Help on the menu bar and enter the issue (for example, “All emails deleted, Recoverable Items empty”).
- If self-help does not resolve it, scroll down to Still need help? and choose Yes to reach Outlook.com support.
- If sign-in is not possible, use the dedicated link for sign-in issues from the article.

If nothing appears in Recoverable Items and support cannot see any recoverable content, the emails have likely been permanently removed and cannot be recovered.

References: