How to recover deleted emails from archive folder

Question

How to recover deleted emails from archive folder

Marie Patterson 20

All my archived emails disappeared last weekend and I am unable to recover them. I selected the deleted email folder and proceeded with the "recover" option. I could access all recently deleted emails (last 30 days) except for the archived emails. None of those showed up. Suggestions?

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Answer 1

Chloe-V 13,450 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Marie Patterson

I’m sorry to hear that your archived emails have disappeared.

To narrow this down, could you please confirm:

Are you using a personal Outlook.com/Hotmail account or a Microsoft 365 work/school account?
Which Outlook version are you using: Outlook on the web, new Outlook, classic Outlook, Mac, or mobile?
By “Archive,” do you mean the built-in Archive folder, an Online Archive mailbox, or a local .pst archive file?
Are the emails also missing when you check Outlook on the web?

Once you share these details, I can provide the appropriate recovery steps.

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.

Chloe-V 13,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-30T23:26:02.88+00:00

Hi @Marie Patterson

Is there any update from you?

If yes, please feel free to let us know.
Marie Patterson 20 Reputation points

2026-10-03T20:27:13.2933333+00:00

Hi Chloe.

Was not sure how to answer some of your questions, but I will do my.

I am using a personal Outlook/Hotmail account.

I am using Outlook on the web.

I using an online archive mailbox.

Yes, the emails are also missing when I check Outlook on the web.

Thank you for your time
Chloe-V 13,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-03T23:32:30.9133333+00:00
Hi @Marie Patterson

Thank you for confirming these details.

For a personal Outlook.com/Hotmail account, the Archive shown in Outlook on the web is normally the built-in Archive folder rather than a separate Online Archive mailbox.

Since the messages are missing from Outlook on the web and do not appear under Deleted Items > Recover items deleted from this folder, please try these additional checks:

Use the search bar and search for a known sender, subject, or keyword. Make sure the search scope is set to All folders.

Open the Archive folder, select Filter, and choose All.

Go to Settings > Mail > Rules and check whether any rule may have moved or deleted the messages.

Also check Deleted Items, Junk Email, and any folders or subfolders listed in the left pane.

Microsoft’s recovery guidance confirms that deleted messages can only be restored through Deleted Items or the Recoverable Items area while they are still retained there. Recover and restore deleted items in Outlook

If the archived messages cannot be found through search or in any of these locations, this may require an account-level review by Outlook.com Support because forum contributors cannot access mailbox records or restore server-side data.