LOST EMAILS AFTER A DAY OF RECEIVING THEM

Andymal 0 Reputation points
2026-09-16T07:37:45.1566667+00:00

I have a problem. I use an Apple macbook air, and receive and view my emails in my Apple mail through an optusnet..com address.

From time to time I lose vital emails that disappear minutes or a few days post receiving them and reading them. If I want to revisit them, they are no where. Not in trash, spam, archives-absolutely gone. I scroll my phone I pad laptop even the optusnet webmail on internet. All gone. I have emails either side of the one sent but not that important one, so what gives? it is frustrating, but there must be a reason with all the intelligent folks out there. So can anyone help me here please? thanks for your considerations.

Outlook | MacOS | New Outlook for Mac | For home
0 comments

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Chloe-V 13,030 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-16T12:07:15.46+00:00

    Hi @Andymal

    I understand how frustrating and concerning this must be, especially when important emails disappear shortly after you receive and read them.

    Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators, contributors including external Microsoft employees cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas only.

    Since the missing messages are no longer visible in OptusNet Webmail, this is unlikely to be only an Apple Mail or Outlook display issue. The messages may have been removed from the OptusNet mail server by another connected device, a mail rule, or an account configured using POP instead of IMAP.

    Please check the following:

    • On every Mac, iPhone, iPad, or other device connected to this OptusNet account, confirm whether the account is configured as IMAP or POP. POP may download messages locally and remove them from the server, while IMAP keeps them synchronized across devices.
    • On your Mac, open Apple Mail > Settings > Rules and temporarily disable any rules that move or delete messages.
    • Go to Apple Mail > Settings > Accounts > Mailbox Behaviors and review the settings for deleted, junk, and archived messages.
    • Temporarily disable mail synchronization for this account on all devices except one. Monitor a few test messages in OptusNet Webmail, then reconnect each device individually to identify whether one of them is removing the messages.

    If messages continue disappearing directly from OptusNet Webmail, please contact Optus Email Help and Support, as they would need to check the mailbox and server-side settings.

    Also, although the question is categorized under New Outlook for Mac, the description indicates that you are using Apple Mail with an OptusNet email address.

    Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks.

    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.  

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.