How to recover deleted emails from a Microsoft 365 mailbox using retention policies and Litigation Hold

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to recover deleted emails from a Microsoft 365 mailbox using retention policies and Litigation Hold. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

Accidentally deleting an email can be stressful, especially if the item has already been removed from the Deleted Items folder. Microsoft 365 provides built-in retention features that allow you to recover permanently deleted messages before they are purged from the system. This guide explains how to recover deleted emails using retention policies and Litigation Hold.

Quick Fix Steps

1. Sign in to Outlook on the web at outlook.office.com.
2. Navigate to the Deleted Items folder.
3. Select the email you wish to restore.
4. Click Recover items deleted from this folder.
5. Select the message and click Recover.

Detailed Instructions

Recovering items from the Recoverable Items folder

If an email is no longer in your Deleted Items folder, it may still be held in the hidden Recoverable Items folder. Follow these steps to retrieve it:

1. Open your web browser and go to outlook.office.com.
2. Sign in using your Microsoft 365 email address and password.
3. In the left-hand folder pane, right-click Deleted Items.
4. Select Recover items deleted from this folder.
5. A new window will appear listing recoverable items. Use the search bar or scroll to locate the deleted email.
6. Select the checkbox next to the email you want to restore.
7. Click Recover at the top of the window.
8. The email will be restored to its original folder, typically the Inbox.

Items in the Recoverable Items folder are typically kept for 14 days by default, though your organisation may have extended this period through retention policies.

Using retention policies and Litigation Hold

Retention policies and Litigation Hold are administrative features that preserve mailbox data for compliance and legal purposes. If these are enabled for your mailbox, deleted items may be recoverable even after the standard recovery window has passed. These features must be configured by your IT administrator and cannot be enabled by end-users.

1. Contact your IT administrator or MSP to confirm if a retention policy or Litigation Hold is applied to your mailbox.
2. Provide the administrator with the approximate date range and subject line of the deleted email.
3. The administrator can use the Microsoft Purview compliance portal or Exchange admin centre to search for and recover the item.
4. Once recovered, the email will be restored to your mailbox or exported for review.

Retention policies and Litigation Hold must be enabled before the email is deleted. These features cannot recover items that were permanently purged before a policy was applied.

Troubleshooting

Email does not appear in Recoverable Items

• Check if the item has exceeded the retention period. Once purged from Recoverable Items, it cannot be recovered through standard user tools.
• Confirm that you are signed in to the correct mailbox. Shared or delegate mailboxes may have separate recovery folders.
• If a retention policy or Litigation Hold is in place, contact your administrator to perform a compliance search.

Recover button is greyed out

• Ensure you have selected at least one email in the Recoverable Items list.
• Your organisation may have disabled single-item recovery. Contact your IT support team for assistance.

If you are unable to locate a deleted email using these steps, your organisation may have additional backup or archiving solutions in place. Contact your IT support team for further assistance.

If you still need help recovering a deleted email, please contact your IT support team or open a support ticket.

Still Having Issues?