Outlook sending emails to deleted files folder

Question

Outlook sending emails to deleted files folder

Laura Barnson 0

Outlook is sending my incoming emails to my deleted items folder. I checked for any new rules that were established in the settings section, but nothing has been changed. How do I fix this?

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1 answer

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Answer 1

EmilyS726 278.3K Independent Advisor

Go to https://www.outlook.com and sign in.

Click the gear icon in the top right corner to open Settings.

Under Mail, review the following areas:

Rules

If any rules are listed that you did not create, delete them. If you do not use rules at all, you can delete all of them.

Conditional formatting

If anything is set up there that you did not create, delete it.

Forwarding and IMAP

If you see any entries or settings you did not create, remove them. Turn off POP and IMAP if you do not use them.

==============

If nothing is there,

If you use Classic Outlook on any Windows device, do this on those devices

Close Outlook completely.

Press Win + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog.

Type outlook /cleanrules and press Enter to clear and reset client-side rule stores

==========

Then try again, send a test email to yourself and see if it is working.

EmilyS726 278.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-04T00:43:49.32+00:00

Laura, was that "didn't resolve" vote for me or for the AI answer?

Let me know if it ran into any difficulty performing the instructions or if you managed to do it but emails still go to the deleted folder. If it is the latter, does it happen to all emails, or only certain senders?
Laura Barnson 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T00:49:18.3666667+00:00

It was for both. Both answers didn't resolve the issue. It seems very random which emails go to the deleted items folder.
EmilyS726 278.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-04T00:51:46.3933333+00:00

If it is random, then it is not all emails, then, some emails do arrive, right?

Have you managed to try both suggestions above, especially the second one? Can you confirm, when you send yourself an email, does it go to the deleted item?

Can you tell me, do you use your mobile phone to check emails sometimes?
Laura Barnson 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T19:59:27.2066667+00:00

Yes, some emails arrive & some are dumped into the deleted items folder. I sent a test email & I did get that email. I do use my phone to check what's in my inbox, but I rarely compose or reply to any emails from my phone.
Laura Barnson 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T20:00:08.8666667+00:00

Yes, some emails arrive & some are dumped into the deleted items folder. I sent a test email & I did get that email. I do use my phone to check what's in my inbox, but I rarely compose or reply to any emails from my phone.
EmilyS726 278.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-04T20:07:48.68+00:00

So after you did exactly what I asked you to do yesterday you still have newly arrived emails going to deleted folder? Can you confirm this is the case?

on your phone can you go to the phones contact app. This is not the contact or people option in outlook app but the phones very own contact app. Check its settings related to blocked contacts. Do you see anything there?
Laura Barnson 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T20:43:54.11+00:00

Yes, that is correct. Checked my phone & I don't see any blocked contacts in the settings.
EmilyS726 278.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-04T20:53:41.02+00:00

This is very unusual. I suspect that your account might have been compromised.

Go to https://account.microsoft.com/security and sign in.

Go to Manage how I sign in, scroll down, and click Sign out everywhere.

This is intended to disconnect any active sessions that may still have access to your Microsoft account.

IMPORTANT: This process can take up to 24 hours to fully take effect. This means someone or some API session still connected to your account may not be disconnected immediately.

Can you report back tomorrow after waiting 24 hours and let me know how it goes?
Laura Barnson 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T20:56:17.5466667+00:00

OK, I'll do this & report back to you after 24 hours. Thanks for all your assistance!
EmilyS726 278.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-04T20:59:50.4733333+00:00

You are welcome.
Laura Barnson 0 Reputation points

2026-11-05T22:12:47.4733333+00:00

Hi! Outlook is still sending emails to the deleted items folder.
EmilyS726 278.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-05T22:22:43.46+00:00

Hmm.

Let's review a few more rare scenarios

Go to this article:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/ignore-all-email-messages-in-a-conversation

follow the section titled "Stop ignoring a conversation" and see if that helps.

=======

Go to www.outlook.com > Settings > Mails > Sweep > anything set up there?
Laura Barnson 0 Reputation points

2026-11-05T22:47:44.91+00:00

I don't have an "ignore" option in my version of Outlook. I see that it's in the delete drop down box, but the option is not available to choose.
Laura Barnson 0 Reputation points

2026-11-05T22:49:52.3066667+00:00

No rules in the "sweep" section. I have a feeling I'm going to have to uninstall Outlook & re-install to fix this issue & that is going to be a HUGE pain in my butt to re-create my contacts list. LE SIGH!
EmilyS726 278.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-05T23:37:37.22+00:00

Did you check the ignore conversion settings according to the link I sent you? Not sure if reinstalling will help.

Are these emails deleted on the web too or just in the app?

Also just to make sure, you did run the hidden rule removal command right?
Laura Barnson 0 Reputation points

2026-11-06T00:03:11.15+00:00

Yes, I did. Nothing in the sweep section. I don't have any emails in the outlook web app. I run my gmail through Outlook. Emails are not getting grabbed into the deleted items folder in my actual gmail inbox & checked all the settings & nothing has changed. Yes, I ran the hidden rule hidden command & it gave me an error message: Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. The command line argument is not valid. Verify the switch you are using.
EmilyS726 278.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-06T00:15:54.0933333+00:00

Oh my goodness. I didn’t realize this whole time it’s not about your outlook.com address. I didn’t realize it’s your Gmail.

Also did you run the command in command prompt. If so that’s why it’s not working.

In my instruction I asked that you run it by launching Windows +R. Let me reshare the instructions again.

Close Outlook completely.

Press Win + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog.

Type outlook /cleanrules and press Enter to clear and reset client-side rule stores
EmilyS726 278.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-07T00:39:07.87+00:00

@Laura Barnson

Not sure if you got my last message. Did you get the chance to remove the hidden rules in the correct way? Did that help?