How to Recover Deleted Emails in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and Apple Mail

Deleting the wrong message is easy; getting it back depends on how quickly you act. In most mail apps you can recover deleted emails by opening the Trash or Deleted Items folder, selecting the message and moving it back to your inbox. Each provider keeps deleted mail for a fixed period, though. Gmail and iCloud hold it for 30 days, Yahoo Mail empties Trash after 7 days, and Outlook adds a second safety net called Recoverable Items. Below are the steps each provider publishes, checked on 26 October 2026, with the time limits that decide whether a message can still come back.

How long each provider keeps deleted email

Check this table first. If the window has passed, the steps further down will not find the message.

Two things shorten these windows: emptying Trash by hand, and settings that erase deleted mail automatically. Both are covered in the provider sections.

Recover deleted emails in Gmail

Google’s Gmail help page on deleting messages says a deleted message moves to Trash, where you can find it and move it back for up to 30 days. After 30 days it is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. One exception matters: a deleted draft cannot be recovered from Trash at all.

Gmail on a computer

1. Sign in to Gmail on the web.
2. On the left, click More, then Trash.
3. Check the box on the left of each message you want back.
4. At the top, click Move to.
5. In the “Move to” menu, choose where the messages should go, such as Inbox.

Gmail on Android

1. Start the Gmail app on your device.
2. Tap Menu in the top left corner and choose Trash.
3. Touch and hold each message you want to move.
4. At the top right, tap More, then Move to.
5. Choose the destination folder.

Gmail on iPhone and iPad

1. Start the Gmail app on your device.
2. Tap Menu in the top left corner and choose Trash.
3. Touch and hold each message you want to move.
4. At the top right, tap More, then Move.
5. In the “Move” menu, pick where the messages should go.

If a message is not in Trash, it may never have been deleted. Because Gmail search skips Spam and Trash unless told otherwise, searching in:anywhere followed by a sender or subject checks every folder at once. Avoid the “Empty Trash now” option while you are still looking: it removes everything in Trash permanently.

Recover deleted emails in Outlook

Microsoft’s Outlook recovery guide splits the process into two stages. First you look in the Deleted Items folder (or Junk Email). If the message has been removed from there, you look in the Recoverable Items folder, which holds items deleted from Deleted Items, items lost when that folder was emptied, and items removed with Shift+Delete.

New Outlook for Windows

From Deleted Items or Junk Email:

1. Select the Deleted Items or Junk Email folder. If the folder list is hidden, select the Show Navigation Pane button.
2. Hover over each item you want and select the checkbox next to it.
3. On the Home tab of the ribbon, select Move.
4. Pick a folder from the list, or choose Select a different folder to browse the full list.

You can also drag messages to another folder, or right-click and select Restore.

From Recoverable Items:

1. Select the Deleted Items folder.
2. At the top of the message list, next to Recover items deleted from this folder, select Recover.
3. Hover over each item and select its checkbox, or select the checkbox beside Recoverable Items to pick everything.
4. Select Restore from the Home ribbon.
5. When you are done, select Go back to deleted items.

Classic Outlook for Windows

From Deleted Items or Junk Email: select the folder, right-click (or select and hold) the item, choose Move, and pick a destination. Move is also on the Home tab of the ribbon.

From Recoverable Items:

1. Make sure you are online and connected to the mail server.
2. In your email folder list, select Deleted Items.
3. On the Home tab, select Recover Deleted Items From Server.
4. Select the items you need, select Restore Selected Items, then select OK.

Recovered items land in the Deleted Items folder, so move them out afterwards. Microsoft adds two warnings. If your folder list shows Trash instead of Deleted Items, or the Recover Deleted Items command is missing, your account type does not support this second-stage recovery. And on work or school accounts, an administrator policy decides how long Recoverable Items keeps mail. Microsoft’s example is a policy that clears Deleted Items after 30 days plus another that allows recovery for up to 14 more days. When that period ends, your administrator may still be able to help.

Outlook.com and Outlook on the web

Microsoft states that email is deleted from Deleted Items automatically after 30 days, and that items removed from Deleted Items can be recovered for 30 days.

1. In the left pane, select Deleted Items (or Junk Email).
2. Hover over the messages you want and select their checkboxes.
3. On the Home tab, select Move and choose a folder.

If the message is no longer in Deleted Items:

1. Select the Deleted Items folder.
2. At the top of the message list, next to Recover items deleted from this folder, select Recover.
3. Select the items and select Restore.

Restored items return to their original folders when possible; messages whose folder no longer exists go to your inbox. Microsoft notes that Recoverable Items cannot be opened from a mobile browser, so use a PC or Mac for this step.

Junk email retention: the recovery guide says Junk Email keeps mail for 30 days on Outlook.com and Outlook on the web, while Microsoft’s Outlook.com storage page says Junk items are deleted after 10 days. Because the two pages disagree, check Junk Email as soon as you notice a missing message. To rescue one, select it, then on the ribbon select Report, then Not junk.

Stop Outlook emptying Deleted Items when you sign out: select Settings at the top of Outlook on the web, then Message handling, and under When signing out clear the checkbox next to Empty my deleted items folder.

Recover deleted emails in Yahoo Mail

Yahoo’s help page on Trash and Spam clean-up says both folders empty automatically and that you cannot change the setting: Trash is deleted after 7 days and Spam after 30 days.

Yahoo Mail on a desktop browser

1. Sign in to Yahoo Mail on the web.
2. Click the More icon on the left, below your mail folders, and select Trash.
3. Select the message you want back.
4. Click the Restore to Inbox icon.

Yahoo Mail app

1. Tap your profile icon.
2. Swipe down and tap the Trash folder.
3. Select the email.
4. Tap the Move icon and select Inbox.

When Trash is already empty: a Yahoo restore request

Yahoo offers a restore request for mail lost or deleted in the last 7 days, counted from when it was lost rather than when it arrived. Its help page lists the conditions:

• A request cannot be canceled and is not always successful.
• Spam and Draft folders are not restored.
• Mail from Trash, Sent, Archive and custom folders is restored to the inbox.
• Messages such as marketing mailing list offers cannot be restored.

After a restore, check Trash again and move anything there into another folder so it is not removed a second time.

Recover deleted emails in Apple Mail and iCloud

Apple Mail is an app that can hold several accounts, so the rules depend on the provider behind each one.

iPhone and iPad

According to Apple’s iPhone Mail guide:

1. Open the Mail app.
2. Tap back until you see Mailboxes.
3. Tap Trash, then tap the message you want to recover.
4. Tap the move button, then choose another mailbox.

To see deleted mail from every account in one place, go to Mailboxes, tap Edit and select All Trash. To control how long deleted mail stays, open Settings, tap Apps, then Mail, then Mail Accounts. For iCloud tap iCloud, then Mailbox Behaviors; for another account tap the account, Account Settings, then Advanced. Tap Remove and choose an interval. Apple notes that some services override this choice: iCloud does not keep deleted messages longer than 30 days, even if you select Never.

Mail on Mac

1. Open Mail and click a Trash mailbox in the sidebar.
2. Drag the message to another mailbox, or select it and choose Message > Move to > the mailbox you want.

If no Trash mailbox appears, check the setting behind it: choose Mail > Settings, click Accounts, select the account, then click Mailbox Behaviors. When the Trash Mailbox pop-up menu is set to None, deleted messages are removed instead of kept. The “Erase deleted messages” menu in the same place decides when Trash is cleared. Choosing Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items empties it immediately, so avoid that while recovering.

iCloud.com

Apple’s iCloud guide says a deleted email stays in iCloud Mail Trash for 30 days before it is permanently erased, and that deleting on iCloud.com removes the message on every device with iCloud Mail turned on. Another app may delete iCloud mail sooner, depending on its settings, and emptying Trash on iCloud.com cannot be undone.

Checklist before you give up on a message

• Search every folder, including Spam, Junk and Archive, not just the inbox.
• Look in Trash or Deleted Items on the web version of the account, not only in an app.
• On Outlook, try Recoverable Items from a PC or Mac.
• On Yahoo, submit a restore request while the 7-day window is open.
• On a work or school account, ask your administrator before the retention period ends.
• Ask the sender to forward the message again.
• Pause any “erase” or “empty on sign out” settings until you are done.

If what you lost was a contact rather than a message, you can often rebuild it from public sources. See ways to look someone’s address up again for that, and the article on finding contact details on company sites helps with business contacts.

FAQ

Make the next deletion less risky

The pattern is the same everywhere: act within the window, check the web version first, and switch off settings that erase mail early. Archiving instead of deleting is a simple habit that avoids most of these problems. If you are also cleaning up an outreach list after losing messages, the article on putting a prospect list together walks through rebuilding one, and Email Finder Online’s pricing page lists its plans.