Recover Deleted Items

Both Outlook and Outlook Web App (OWA) give you the ability to restore deleted items for 14 days after deletion.

When you delete an item it gets put in the Deleted Items folder in your mailbox.  The Deleted Items folder is the first stage of the items being actually deleted.

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught Students

When an item gets put into your Deleted Items folder, it remains there for 30 days before it is automatically purged.  Once purged, you still have the ability to retrieve the message for a further 14 days using OWA’s “Recover Deleted Items” function.

To retrieve these messages in OWA:
  • Right-Click on the Deleted Items folder
  • Select Recover Deleted Items
  • A new window will appear where you can select items to recover or permanently purge.

Staff and Postgraduate Research Students

When an item gets put into your Deleted Items folder, it remains there until you manually empty the folder.  Once purged, you still have the ability to retrieve the message for a further 14 days using OWA or Outlook’s Recover Deleted Items function.

To retrieve these messages in OWA:
  • Right-Click on the Deleted Items folder
  • Select Recover Deleted Items
  • A new window will appear where you can select items to recover or permanently purge.
To retrieve these messages in Outlook:

Navigate to the folder where the item was deleted from (this will typically be your Deleted Items folder, however if you have hard-deleted (shift-delete) then this may be the original location.

  • Outlook 2007     -              Select Tools – Recover Deleted Items
  • Outlook 2010     -              Select Folder – Recover Deleted Items
  • A new window will appear where you can select items to recover or permanently purge.