Are Deleted Emails Permanently Gone

Where do deleted emails go? When you delete an email, it isn't gone forever. Depending on how your email service is configured, deleted emails may be archived, backed up, or still accessible.

Usually, the recently deleted emails stay in the Trash folder for 30 days. After this time, they will be permanently gone. If you're concerned about email privacy and want to ensure that deleted emails are gone, you could do this. In the beginning, check with your email service to see how it handles deleted emails. Some services allow you to configure settings, so that deleted emails are permanently purged from the system. 

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However, some people need to recover deleted emails because they may have removed them by mistake, or they may have deleted them and then realized there was important information in them. In this case, if the emails are still in the Trash, you can easily drag them out and restore them. But how do you recover permanently deleted messages after 30 days? We'll show you how to do just that. 

Recover Deleted Emails in Gmail

Most people rely heavily on Gmail to communicate with friends, family, and colleagues. So it's no surprise that losing access to your emails can be a significant inconvenience. Fortunately, recovering permanently deleted emails from Gmail is possible, though the process is not always straightforward. 

When you delete an email from your Gmail inbox, it's moved to a Trash folder, which will stay for 30 days before being permanently deleted. So you have a 30-day window to recover it from the Trash folder. After that, it's gone for good. 

You'll need to use Google's Mail to recover a permanently deleted email from the Gmail Restore tool. This tool allows you to recover emails deleted more than 30 days ago by searching for specific keywords or date ranges. 

Gmail recovery tool

Step 1. To use the Mail Restore tool, log in to your Gmail account and click on the Tools menu at the top of the page.

Step 2. From there, select "Mail Restore" and follow the instructions on the screen.

It's important to note that the Mail Restore tool doesn't always work; even when it does, it can only recover a limited amount of data. So if you're looking to recover an important email, it's always best to act quickly.  

For more tips about recovering permanently deleted emails from Gmail, or if you need help with the process, read the complete tutorial.

Know more:
You may always see this user query: how can I recover my Gmail password without my phone number, email, and phone? Or how can I recover my Google account without a verification code? If you have forgotten your Gmail password or account, there is no need to panic. We provide you with complete help on your Gmail account and password recovery.

Restore Deleted Emails in Outlook 2013/2016/2019/365

There are a few different ways that you can go about recovering deleted or permanently deleted emails in Outlook. Depending on the severity of the deletion, you may be able to use Outlook's built-in recovery tools, or you may need to take some more drastic measures. Either way, it is possible to recover your lost emails with little effort.

If you have deleted an email (or emails), then there is a good chance that you will be able to recover them using Outlook's "Recover Deleted Items" feature. But, if you have permanently deleted an email (or emails), you will need to take a more effective method to recover your lost emails. 

One option is to contact your email provider and see whether they can restore your deleted emails from their backup system or not. However, this method is usually only possible if you have recently deleted the emails, as older backups are typically purged regularly.

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Another way is to try and recover your deleted emails using data recovery software. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can scan and find Outlook emails that have been permanently deleted from your hard drive.

Follow the outlined method in the topic article to restore lost emails in Outlook.

Learn more:

How to recover permanently deleted emails in Outlook 2016/2013.

Recover Deleted Yahoo Emails from Years Ago

When you accidentally deleted or permanently removed an email from your Yahoo account, you have a chance to get it back. Here's how:

First, check your Deleted Items folder.  If you haven't emptied it recently, there's a chance that your deleted email may still be in there. Next, click on the "Trash" icon in your Yahoo mailbox to access your Trash folder.

recover deleted emails from Yahoo

If the email isn't in your Trash folder, it may have been permanently deleted. In this case, you'll need to use Yahoo's Mail Recover tool. This tool will allow you to search for specific emails that have been deleted within the last seven days. To access the Mail Recover tool, go to https://login.yahoo.com and click on the "Forgot your password?" link. Complete the on-screen steps, and the email will be moved back into your inbox.

[Further reading] How to retrieve deleted Yahoo emails on desktop and iPhone. 

Restore Permanently Deleted Emails from Hotmail

Hotmail keeps a copy of all deleted emails for a certain period, so if you act quickly enough, you may be able to retrieve the email.

Check the date on which the email was deleted. If it was deleted within the last 14 days, you should see it in the Hotmail's Trash folder. Log into your Hotmail account and go to the Trash folder to restore the lost messages. 

recover deleted emails in Hotmail

What if the email was deleted more than 14 days ago? It's gone forever. However, you can still try to recover it by clicking on the "Recover deleted items" link at the bottom of the page. A list of all permanently deleted items will appear if things go well. 

Recover Permanently Deleted Emails from AOL

AOL email is a free web-based email service. It allows users to access their email from any computer with an internet connection with multiple features such as spell check, address book, and junk mail filtering. 

When you delete an email from your inbox, it will likely be in your Trash folder. You can simply move it back. But if the email is not in your Trash folder, it may be in your AOL Backup Folder. The AOL Backup Folder is a hidden folder that contains all of the emails that have been deleted from your inbox within the last seven days.  

If neither of those places has your deleted emails, your last chance is to recover from AOL's servers. Go to view detailed steps for recovering deleted AOL emails.

The Bottom Line

In summary, whether you want to recover deleted emails from Yahoo, Outlook, or Hotmail, you can follow these three procedures. First, check if the deleted emails are in the Trash folder; if not, use professional email recovery software to restore permanently deleted emails. The last resort is contacting an email service provider to restore emails.

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Email Recovery FAQs

Read the following questions and answers to get more info about email recovery. 

How to recover deleted emails on iPhone?

A few ways are available to recover deleted emails on your iPhone. If you have recently deleted the email, you may be able to find it in the Trash folder. If it has been more than 30 days since you deleted the email, you can try using an email recovery tool.

How do I recover permanently deleted emails from iCloud?

If you have permanently deleted an email from your iCloud account, there is no way to recover it. However, you may be able to find a copy of the email in another mail account that you have synced with iCloud.

How to recover deleted emails from Gmail after 2 years?

In most cases, deleted emails from Gmail can be recovered if they are within the Trash folder. However, if you deleted the email more than 60 days ago, it is unlikely that you will be able to recover it. You can try using an email recovery tool, but there is no guarantee that you will be successful.

How to retrieve deleted emails from Gmail on Android?

Like restoring deleted emails from Gmail on the desktop, the Trash folder is the first place to view deleted emails. Next, use Google's Email Recovery tool, which will help you recover deleted messages if they were deleted within the last 24 hours. Finally, you can contact customer support for assistance.

How can I recover my email without a password and phone number?

If you have lost access to your Gmail account and don't have your password or phone number associated with it, there is, unfortunately, no way to recover your email. Instead, you will need to create a new account. We suggest you take some time to create a strong password and add recovery information to your account so that you don't run into this issue again.

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Updated by Cedric

Cedric Grantham is a senior editor and data recovery specialist of EaseUS. He mainly writes articles and how-to tips about data recovery on PC and Mac. He has handled 10,000+ data recovery cases and is good at data recovery of NTFS, FAT (FAT32 and ExFAT) file systems, and RAID structure reorganization.

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