Missing emails from yesterday's outage

Check the account directly in its email provider’s webmail first—Outlook.com only if the address is hosted by Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live, or MSN—to determine whether the messages are missing from the mailbox or only from classic Outlook.

Microsoft currently reports its consumer services as operational, but the public information does not confirm that messages sent during the November 12 outage were lost, restored, or still queued; it also does not establish how many other users have this issue.^1^

1. Search the server mailbox

Sign in to the provider’s webmail and:

1. Search for a known sender, subject, or phrase from an expected message.
2. Set the search scope to All folders.
3. Check Junk Email, Deleted Items, Archive, and—if enabled—Focused Inbox’s Other tab.
4. Clear any message-list filter by selecting Filter > All.
5. Review inbox or sweep rules that might move incoming mail.

For an Outlook.com mailbox, Microsoft documents these locations and recovery options.^2^

2. If the messages exist in webmail but not in classic Outlook

This points to the local Outlook profile or synchronization rather than missing server mail.

Before changing the profile, open File > Account Settings > Account Settings > Email and identify the account type:

• Microsoft Exchange, Outlook.com, or IMAP: remove and re-add the account to rebuild synchronization.
  1. In File > Account Settings > Account Settings > Email, select the account and choose Remove.
  2. Select New, enter the address, and complete sign-in.
  3. Restart Outlook and allow it time to synchronize.
• POP: do not remove the account until local mail is backed up. POP messages may exist only in a local .pst file or on another computer, phone, or mail program that downloaded them. Check those devices first. In Outlook, also use File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File to inspect any existing archive or backup .pst files. This browser-versus-client diagnostic and the POP/PST precautions are described in a closely matching Outlook case.^3^

3. If the messages are also absent from webmail

For an Outlook.com-hosted mailbox:

1. Open Deleted Items.
2. Select Recover items deleted from this folder.
3. Restore any matching messages.
4. Check Settings > Mail > Rules and Settings > Mail > Forwarding and IMAP for unexpected routing or POP access.

Outlook.com messages removed from Deleted Items can be recoverable for 30 days; perform recovery from a computer rather than the mobile app.^2^

If the messages are nowhere in the server mailbox, ask one or two senders to check whether they received a non-delivery report and, if necessary, resend the messages.

4. Escalate to the mailbox provider

• Outlook.com/Hotmail/Live/MSN: in Outlook.com, select Help, enter the issue, scroll to Still need help?, and select Yes. Include the missing time range, sender addresses, subjects, and approximate send times. Microsoft’s current known-issues page does not publish an outage-specific recovery notice for these messages.^4^
• Gmail, Yahoo, ISP, or another provider: contact that provider; Outlook is only the mail client.
• Work or school mailbox: contact the Microsoft 365 administrator so they can investigate mail flow and available server-side recovery.

References

1. Microsoft service health status
2. Email is missing from your Outlook.com inbox | Microsoft Support
3. Emails in my inbox prior to Sunday 11th October have disappeared. - Microsoft Q&A
4. Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com