ALL emails in my inbox have disappeared, including pinned messages

Question

ALL emails in my inbox have disappeared, including pinned messages

Sharon Neal 20

Hi,

Please help, ALL my messages in my inbox are not there, including all my pinned emails.

I've checked the deleted files, filters are on ALL, there are no rules created, I've even reset my password incase there has been someone trying to use my account.

I've also looked on Outlook web and this shows the same view as the ap, no emails in my inbox.

Please help as there is important information I need to retrieve.

Many thanks

[Moderator Note: Personal Info Removed]

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Answer 1

Chloe-V 12,710 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Sharon Neal

Please note that our forum is a public platform, and we will modify your question to hide your personal information in the description. Kindly ensure that you hide any personal or organizational information the next time you post an error or other details to protect personal data.

I’m sorry to hear that all your Inbox messages, including important pinned emails, have suddenly disappeared.

Since the same issue appears in both the Outlook app and Outlook on the web, please use a computer to open Outlook on the web, then go to Deleted Items and select Recover items deleted from this folder at the top of the message list. If the missing emails appear, select them and choose Restore.

Please also search for a known email using the sender’s address or subject and set the search scope to All folders. Check the Archive, Junk Email, and Other folders as well, in case the messages were moved unexpectedly.

I hope you’re able to recover the missing messages soon. Please let me know what you find in Recover items deleted from this folder.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes". If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Sharon Neal 20 Reputation points

2026-08-17T08:27:35.0233333+00:00

YES! The RESTORE worked. I cannot thank you enough for the reply.
I don't know where those emails were hiding as nothing else seemed to be able to find them but grateful this has done the trick.

Out of curiosity, do you have any idea why this happened? Do you think my emails got hacked? Thanks
Chloe-V 12,710 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-17T23:44:48.4133333+00:00

Hi Sharon Neal

I’m glad the Restore option worked. This does not necessarily mean your account was hacked, as messages may have been deleted accidentally or by a connected app.

Since you have changed your password, please also review your recent sign-in activity and check Outlook’s Rules and Forwarding settings for anything unfamiliar.