Solved Desperately Need Help - Outlook - Lost all Outlook mail settings and emails

dburne · Oct 25, 2023

Hey gang,

Apparently, I am an idiot.
Somehow this afternoon I managed to lose all my Outlook emails. I had a bunch of emails, also a bunch of folders that had very important emails stored in them with some critical information. I have zero idea on how I managed to do this. I tried a system restore I had from early this morning, and it did not recover it. And now of course I have no more restore points left from previously.

Crazy thing is it retained my custom send/receive settings, I have two groups 1 and 2 set up for my two email accounts.
I really need all this info back. Is there anything at this point I can do to get it back? I am very desperate at this point.
I would really appreciate any and all help!!

Thanks,

Edit: This is the thread where I got send/receive groups set up:

Outlook Send/Receive taking way too long

Not criticising your suggestion, but I have found the issue with that is if sending and receiving mail takes a couple of minutes (3 in my wifes case, sometimes longer due to the amount of correspondence for her business or my server being crappy) and the check time is shorter than the process...

www.elevenforum.com

dburne · Oct 25, 2023

Seems I have a Macrium Disc Image from yesterday the 24th. If you think better for me just to try that I will certainly give it a shot just let me know. Not going to try anything until I hear from someone. I scared.

Thanks,

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

So you can still see your email addresses listed? (Screenshot)

If you’re using IMAP, everything should be on your mail server.
If you’re using POP3, that’s a different story.

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

If you’ve deleted everything from your mail server, Macrium isn’t going to help. (Just yet, if at all) But no, don’t load the image, a system restore probably wasn’t the best idea either at this point/yet

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

I know System Restore/In-Place-Upgrades/Reinstalls etc often seem to be the answer in here for everything from a missing icon on a desktop to how to make spaghetti & meatballs but sometimes it’s best you jump onto the forum and try and address the exact issue first.

I’m not anywhere I can really be of much use ATM. Could you start by posting the following screenshots:

Screenshot of Outlook, what you see when you first open it before you do anything in Outlook
Screenshot of (Click on) File/info/account settings/account settings/ …then what pops up.

File/info/account settings/account settings/

What pops up

I am not exactly sure when I will be home, so maybe someone will get to you before i am. I don’t use Outlook 365 (I have Outlook 2021) But there is every chance they’re similar enough.

johnlgalt · Oct 25, 2023

Also, with an IMAP, if you delete stuff, there is usually a trash can somewhere that you can restore from, so if you can use a web interface for your email, then you can see if you deleted them permanently or temporarily.

That being said, even with IMAP, the local store (PST file) should still have the emails, and if you load the backup, then manually make a copy of the PST, even if it starts synchronizing once you open Outlook, the backup is now there and you can see what happened. So the system image can be helpful to restore, but check the web interface first.

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

IMAP doesn't use PST. He would have to create one and drag folders into it, offline, after an image restore.

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

Dont let Macrium make another backup today (unless it’s incremental) disable send and receive in outlook.

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

Macrium will be usless if you accidently deleted your IMAP folders before the backup. If anything, there may be emails on the server (if you haven’t got automatically empty recycle bin settings activated), but that’s where I jump off and a call to your ISP will be your best hope. (If the folders aren’t in your deleted folder in Outlook)

Edwin · Oct 25, 2023

First of all..., is it an Outlook email address, a Gmail or Yahoo......

either way, I would log onto the Web version and start hauling stuff out!

Rollback_Jockey · Oct 25, 2023

dburne said:
Hey gang,

Apparently, I am an idiot.
Somehow this afternoon I managed to lose all my Outlook emails. I had a bunch of emails, also a bunch of folders that had very important emails stored in them with some critical information. I have zero idea on how I managed to do this. I tried a system restore I had from early this morning, and it did not recover it. And now of course I have no more restore points left from previously.

Crazy thing is it retained my custom send/receive settings, I have two groups 1 and 2 set up for my two email accounts.
I really need all this info back. Is there anything at this point I can do to get it back? I am very desperate at this point.
I would really appreciate any and all help!!

Thanks,

Edit: This is the thread where I got send/receive groups set up:

Outlook Send/Receive taking way too long

Not criticising your suggestion, but I have found the issue with that is if sending and receiving mail takes a couple of minutes (3 in my wifes case, sometimes longer due to the amount of correspondence for her business or my server being crappy) and the check time is shorter than the process...

www.elevenforum.com

Check in the Recycle bin

dburne · Oct 25, 2023

antspants said:
I know System Restore/In-Place-Upgrades/Reinstalls etc often seem to be the answer in here for everything from a missing icon on a desktop to how to make spaghetti & meatballs but sometimes it’s best you jump onto the forum and try and address the exact issue first.

I’m not anywhere I can really be of much use ATM. Could you start by posting the following screenshots:

Screenshot of Outlook, what you see when you first open it before you do anything in Outlook
Screenshot of (Click on) File/info/account settings/account settings/ …then what pops up.

File/info/account settings/account settings/
View attachment 75372

What pops up
View attachment 75373

I am not exactly sure when I will be home, so maybe someone will get to you before i am. I don’t use Outlook 365 (I have Outlook 2021) But there is every chance they’re similar enough.

Outlook will only send/receive when I tell it to. Unfortunately I am sure I did that already since this happened though.

I am getting the same screen rather than two different ones when I check where directed.

dburne · Oct 25, 2023

I gotta turn in for the evening, thanks so much for all the feedback so far, will be back in the AM
Maybe my mind will be a little sharper.

So I can not browse the image for the PST file?
Trust me I will not be touching a thing unless you fine folks direct me to do so. No way.

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

dburne said:
Outlook will only send/receive when I tell it to. Unfortunately I am sure I did that already since this happened though.

I am getting the same screen rather than two different ones when I check where directed.

Yes, the image I posted was a generic one from offline.

Can you log into your hotmail account online at outlook.com please, and tell us what you see.

OK champ, see you when you wake. And lets not have this whole calling yourself an idiot thing again….

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

dburne said:
So I can not browse the image for the PST file?
Trust me I will not be touching a thing unless you fine folks direct me to do so. No way.

IMAP mail settings use OST files
POP3 mail settings use PST

From memory, you use IMAP?

dacrone · Oct 25, 2023

Most web servers let you restore previously deleted items, even after deleted from the trash via the web interface. Caveat is time.. I know for a fact yahoo gives you 24hr to request deleted retrieval. I believe Comcast is the same. Go to the web interface > trash and click the hyperlink there to recover deleted items.

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

yes, but he will need to contact his ISP. At least for one of them. The hotmail address I can’t comment on.

dacrone · Oct 25, 2023

ISP for Comcast? Nah. I’ve done it on multiple occasions. As long as it’s in the allotted amount of time, it’s able to be done by the user.

antspants · Oct 25, 2023

dacrone said:
ISP for Comcast? Nah. I’ve done it on multiple occasions. As long as it’s in the allotted amount of time, it’s able to be done by the user.

ISP’s in the USA and Australia seem to differ a lot. I have no idea about the States, I am now assuming Comcast is a large provider?