Custom mail folders empty

Question

Custom mail folders empty

Mansour El Achkar 0

Hello,

I am experiencing a serious issue with my Exchange mailbox and would appreciate your assistance as soon as possible.

Today, I discovered that all of my custom mail folders (Banks, Bills, Work, HFX, Lotto, J&B, TF, and others) became empty at the same time. The folder structure is still present, but the emails that were stored in those folders have disappeared.

I have already verified the following:

The folders still exist.
The emails are missing in both Outlook for Mac and Outlook on the web.
Only a small number of messages remain in Trash and Junk.
The missing emails do not appear to have been moved to another visible folder.

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1 answer

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Answer 1

Alina Le 5,495 Independent Advisor

Hello Mansour El Achkar

Since the emails are missing from multiple folders and the issue is visible in both Outlook for Mac and Outlook on the web, we recommend working with your Microsoft 365 / Exchange administrator to perform the checks below.

1/ Check Whether the Emails Were Archived or Can Be Recovered

In Outlook on the web, open Deleted Items and select Recover items deleted from this folder to check for recoverable emails. [citation]

If the emails are not found there, check your Archive folder or any archive mailbox that appears in the folder list to see whether the messages were moved there.

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2/ Review Mailbox Rules

Rules may have automatically moved or deleted messages.

Open Outlook on the web.
Select "Settings" > "Mail" > "Rules".
Review any rules that move, archive, or delete messages.

3/ Review Mailbox Audit Logs (Admin)

This helps identify whether messages were moved, deleted, etc and by whom.

In the Exchange Admin Center - EAC, go to "Mail flow" > "Message trace"
Search mailbox audit logs for the period when the emails disappeared.
Look for actions such as: Move, MoveToDeletedItems, SoftDelete, HardDelete

Use mailbox audit logs in Microsoft 365

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4/ Check Recoverable Items (Admin)

Even if Deleted Items is empty, the messages may still exist in Exchange recovery folders.

In the EAC, navigate to "Recipients" > "Mailboxes". (Exchange admin center)
Select the mailbox for which you want to recover deleted messages.
Under "Others" > "Recover deleted items", select the link "Recover deleted items".
Use the filters available to locate the messages you want to recover, and then select "Apply filter".
Select the messages you want to recover, and then click "Recover deleted items".

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If you still need my help, please let me know.

Have a nice day!

Mansour El Achkar 0 Reputation points

2026-09-24T13:00:03.16+00:00

Thank you Alina for your kind assistance, however the following steps did not resolve the issue.

Have a wonderful evening!
Alina Le 5,495 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-24T13:06:15.6933333+00:00

Hi

Thank you for your update.

Might I confirm if you have tried the step 3 & 4 with the support of your admin?

Please let me know if I can do anything more for you.
Mansour El Achkar 0 Reputation points

2026-09-24T14:10:59.5566667+00:00

Hi Alina,

Your follow up is highly appreciated!

I was not able to do step 3 & 4 due to the following message (Switch to an account that has permission

Your account doesn't have permission to view or manage this page

Login is not supported for consumer users without business presence.)

Thank you!
Alina Le 5,495 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-24T19:48:02.99+00:00

Hi

Thank you for the update.

You have mentioned:

"Login is not supported for consumer users without business presence"

suggests that the account currently signed in may not be a Microsoft 365 administrator account. It may also indicate that the affected mailbox is a personal Microsoft account rather than a Microsoft 365 work or school account.

Could you please confirm the email domain of the affected account (for example, @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, or a custom organizational domain)?

If the affected mailbox is a personal Microsoft account (such as Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, or Live.com), access to the Exchange Admin Center and its administrative tools is not available. In that case, it would be best to contact Microsoft Consumer Support through the following page for assistance specific to personal accounts:

Contact Us

Hope my information is helpful for you.

If you need any further assistance while using Office 365 apps, please feel free to reach out to this forum again.

Thank you!
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