Recovering Deleted File
How do I recover a folder that was deleted on accident?
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Lia V 6,800 Reputation points • Microsoft External Staff • Moderator
Hi James,
I am following up on the support thread that has been discussed and wanted to check whether you need any further assistance from my side.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out at any time. I would be happy to assist further as needed.
Thank you again for your collaboration throughout the troubleshooting process.
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2 answers
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Hi James,
Good day and thank you for your clear description of the issue regarding the accidentally deleted folder in classic Outlook.
To help you recover it, here are a few steps you may wish to try:
1/ Check the Deleted Items folder
- Open Outlook and expand the Deleted Items in the left pane.
- If you see your folder under Deleted Items folder, right‑click the folder and select Move Folder to move it to another folder.
2/ Recover from Recover Deleted Items
If you do not see the folder under Deleted Items:
- Select the Deleted Items folder
- On the top menu, click Recover items recently removed from this folder
- Look for the folder's contents in the list > Restore Selected Items > Ok
- The restored items will be returned to the Deleted Items folder. From there, you may wish to create a new folder with the same name as the original one and move the recovered messages into it.
3/ Contact your IT admin (for work or school accounts)
If your account is managed by an organization, your IT administrator may have additional recovery options that are not visible in Outlook.
For example, they may be able to attempt recovery from the Recoverable Items folder at the server level, provided the items are still within the deleted item retention period. For reference: Recover deleted messages in a user's mailbox in Exchange Online | Microsoft Learn.
In case you do not know who is your IT admin, kindly refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support.
I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions or need further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
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AI answer
In classic Outlook for Windows, a deleted folder can only be recovered if it is still in the Deleted Items folder.
- In classic Outlook, go to the mail folder list.
- Expand Deleted Items.
- Look for the deleted folder under Deleted Items.
- Select and hold (or right‑click and drag) the folder and move it back to the desired location in the folder list.
If the folder was permanently deleted (for example, emptied from Deleted Items or removed with Shift+Delete), the folder itself cannot be recovered. In that case, try to recover the individual messages that were in the folder:
- Select the Deleted Items folder.
- On the Home tab, choose Recover Deleted Items From Server.
- In the Recover Deleted Items window, select the messages to restore.
- Select Restore Selected Items, then OK.
- The restored items will appear in Deleted Items; move them to a new folder as needed.
If the Deleted Items folder or Recover Deleted Items From Server command is not available, or the items are not listed there, contact the email/system administrator for further recovery options.
References:
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