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Lost emails


mike13

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I had probably 200 emails in my SENT folder. They are now gone. All the other folders seem OK, just the emails in the SENT folder.  I called my internet provider and they said if my emails are gone from my computer, they are also gone from their server. I have my mail setup as IMAP. I am using Microsoft Outlook 2019, and Windows 10.  I check the usual place, no luck.  Any suggestions ??

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Outside of a software hiccup, there are two things that come to mind.

1. the ISP deleted the items on the server for whatever reason.

2. You had connected to this same email account using another client that was configured as POP3. By client, it can mean something like an email app on your phone, or perhaps even the webmail interface.

Since the response you got from your ISP seems generic (although you did not provide an exact quote) I would imagine they did not actually verify the folder contents on the mail server. Having previous experience at ISP, I do know this is possible, but also that ISP did eventually phase this ability out for edge reps. In an IMAP situation, the response would be that what you see on your end is what is on the server.

That can be confirmed however, by connecting to your mail account using another client set up as IMAP. Something like Thunderbird or another client that supports IMAP. Then you can verify that the folder is empty on the server, or perhaps it isn't actually empty but there is a problem with Outlook.

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Thanks Tripredacus for the reply. Do not know what happened, all I know is that the emails are gone. I guess I did something by accident. Anyway, this is my plan.  A few months ago I replaced the hard drive in my computer with a solid state drive. When I get the time, I will remove the SSD drive and reinstall the old HDD.  I bet I will see lots of those emails on that drive. But before I start the computer, I will unplug the computer so that it does not connect to the ISP server, and if it synchronizes, I might loose them again. Not sure how that works. After I have the old HDD installed I will open up Outlook 2019. Then I will EXPORT those emails to a flash drive. Then I will remove the old HDD from the computer and reinstall the SSD. Then I will IMPORT those emails on the flash drive to the SSD. If all goes good, I should then see probably 95 % of the emails I lost. The only thing I do not know is, will my  ISP  make their  server agree with my computer that now should have probably 180 emails, or will it make my computer agree with their sever that has maybe 10 emails at this point. I guess I should call, before I go through all that trouble. if I am going to loose them again why bother. 

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UPDATE.  I just tried what I was going to do (above) when I had time. Shutdown the computer. Pulled the power cord. Removed the ethernet cable, and then I removed the SSD from the computer. Installed the old HDD. Plugged in the power cord, started the computer. Opened Outlook 2019. then I saw 243 emails in the SENT folder. So I am now happy. I insert a flash drive getting ready to EXPORT those emails to the flash drive, and then they disappear, gone. What the hell happened.  

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Check for the Outlook.pst file (if you don't know were to find it search for it, I don't have MS Outlook installed anymore and I don't remember the exact path, however it is somewhere in the user's profile), is it still there? I used to have MS Outlook 2003, I believe MS Outlook 2019 still has the Outlook.pst file (if I am wrong please someone correct me).

Edited by HarryTri
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Hi HarryTri.  I found that  OUTLOOK.PST.  file.  However it only has the recent emails I sent the last two or three day. 

Edited by mike13
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