Searches across ‘Current Mailbox’ ‘All Mailboxes’ or even ‘All Outlook Items’ will not include deleted items, despite the name. You can use the search feature at the top of the Deleted Items list, just like any other folder.ĭeleted Items are NOT normally included in Outlook searches. We leave the newer deleted items (say the last month or two), just in case. Every 6 months or more (in an idle moment) go to Deleted Items, sort by date then select and delete the older items. We prefer to clear Deleted Items manually. This choice removes everything from the Deleted Items folder. There is an ‘Empty Folder’ option under the right-click menu for the Deleted Items folder. These days Outlook (and computers) can handle a lot more and there’s no need to clear out the Deleted Items folder. Microsoft added this choice to quickly remove ‘trash’ from Outlook to reduce complaints about the program. This option came from the days when Outlook could not handle large volumes of items (mostly emails). Under Options | Advanced | Outlook start and exit then make sure that ‘Empty Deleted Items folders when exiting Outlook’ is NOT checked. Outlook has an awful and dangerous option that we strongly urge you NOT to use. This is worth keeping in mind because even some Microsoft labels and documentation talk about ‘messages’ and ignore the wider scope of Deleted Items. Deleted emails, contacts, appointments, tasks and notes all are moved to the Deleted Items folder. Unlike the Windows Recycle Bin that will automatically purge older files.Īny deleted Outlook item is really moved to the Deleted Items folder. Items will stay in the Deleted Items folder forever. That’s similar to Windows where deleting a file really moves it to the Recycle Bin (or the Trash folder on a Mac). What ‘Delete’ really means.ĭelete in Outlook really means ‘Move to Deleted Items folder’.

Usually we notice soon after deletion but occasionally you need to go back weeks or months.

That’s a good thing because sometimes we accidently delete an item we need. In fact Outlook can have multiple safety nets to let you recover accidentally deleted files. Nope, Outlook has a safety net, just like Windows does for files. You might think that when you delete something in Outlook, it’s gone.

Recover deleted items in outlook