A common mistake many users who keep copies of their email in their POP3 mailbox make when setting up a new email account is forgetting to change the setting to leave mail on the server, so Outlook downloads and deletes it from the server.
If this happens to you, you can restore the deleted mail to the server only if you have IMAP access to your mailbox.
Using IMAP to restore mail to the server
When you email account supports IMAP, you can restore mail to the server in a few simple steps:
- Create a second email account in your profile using the IMAP account type.
- You'll now have two accounts in your profile for the same email account, with the IMAP account adding a second *.pst to the profile.
- Make sure you set the POP3 account to leave mail on the server in the account's More Settings. Advanced dialog.
- Drag the messages from the POP3 Inbox to the IMAP folder's Inbox.
- The messages will be synced with the mailbox on the server.
- When finished, remove the IMAP account from the profile. (unless you want to use it instead of POP3.)
Tip: You may want to start with about 100 messages at a time and wait a minute or so for the messages to sync up. If it works well, select a larger block of messages to move in the second batch.
Gmail: configure the account for IMAP in your GMAIL settings then setup the email account in Outlook. Gear icon, Mail settings, Forwarding and POP/IMAP link)
Yahoo: use imap-ssl.mail.yahoo.com for the IMAP server name. In Outlook 2007 and 2010 you need to create the account manually.
Hotmail: although Hotmail does not support IMAP, you can use the Outlook Hotmail Connector to upload mail to the server.
Note that both Gmail and Hotmail make it difficult for Outlook to delete mail from the server. If Outlook deleted downloaded email from either account, check your settings in the account online and configure it to archive mail downloaded using POP3.
If your mail server doesn't support IMAP
If your email account does not support IMAP, you can't easily restore mail to the server unless it can POP email from other servers. In this case, you could upload the mail to another server then POP it back to your original email account. If this is not possible and you need online access to the mail you downloaded, consider using Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo to store it online for you.
If your account can collect mail from POP accounts (like Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail do), you can upload the mail using IMAP then your account can collect it using POP3. Before using this method, verify your POP3 account can collect mail from the IMAP server - GMail and Hotmail require SSL for POP3 services and many accounts do not use SSL when "popping" accounts.
- Create an account that supports both POP3 and IMAP.
- Use the instructions above to put the mail online.
- Go to your mail account's web access and configure the account to collect POP mail from the new account.
- Once the messages are back online in your mailbox, delete the POP account from the online configuration and the IMAP account from Outlook.
Restoring Exchange Server mail to the server
If this happens with an Exchange server account, set the Exchange account as the default delivery location and drag any mail that does not resync with the Exchange mailbox back to the mailbox.
Fazihuzzamaan Rasheed says
very interesting. saved my day. Thank you.
Richard says
Talk Talk upgraded my email service and lost all my 2000 emails prior to the upgrade on 20 Jan 2019. I've followed the advice here and now restored them by creating an IMAP account in Outlook 2003 and also a POP account, then copying an old pop backup into the inbox to transfer to the IMAP account inbox which had uploaded them to the Talk Talk server.
Since January Talk Talk have been unable to provide a solution and the advice on here has worked perfectly. I can't thank you enough. I'm an old guy so don't regard myself as good with IT, and it's such a relief to have found your advice. Thank you so much.
DAVID HOWARD says
I'm afraid I didn't understand most of that. Like many computer users I don't have a degree in IT.
Diane Poremsky says
You need to set the account up as an imap account and import mail because only imap accounts will sync up to the server.
sam says
really useful post, thanks all. I have tried to add a second account however ti says "account already added" There doesn't seem to be a way around this. Does anybody know how to add a second account if you get this error message?
Diane Poremsky says
Current versions of Outlook won't let you add an address twice. if you have the mail in a pst, you can use the pst without adding the account to outlook twice.
Ivan says
Problem: pc lost, express 2007 configured to delete messages from server (gmail)... How can I access those emails??? Thanks
Diane Poremsky says
If you don't have a pst or backup of the messages and they were deleted from gmail, they are gone for good. Sorry.
Lisabelle66 says
I am trying to create a second email account in my profile using the IMAP account type. I get an error message saying "This email address has already been added." I'm using Outlook. Is there any way around this?
Ali says
Hi Diane,
Hope you can help me.
I was trying to import my emails from outlook.com to my Gmail account. I forgot to do "leave mail on the server", and now I have the emails in gmail, but they are deleted in outlook.com. I figured this out half way and changed the setting, but the recent emails were already deleted in outlook.com. I would be thankful if you could help me to get them back to the outlook.com account.
I was reading your instruction, but I got confused. So you were instructing to "1.Create a second email account in your profile using the IMAP account", but how can I create an IMAP account in gmail. The IMAP is enabled in gmail. And also should I create a seperate IMAP account on outlook.com?
I do not want to move all the messages from gmail to outlook.com, just the ones which have been moved from outlook.com to gamil. So I am confused how to choose which ones should be moved to outlook.com?
I will be grateful if you could help me.
Thanks,
Ali
Diane Poremsky says
Sorry I missed this earlier - did you look in the deleted items folder or deleted items recovery? If they weren't there, you'd need to have both the outlook.com account (as Microsoft Exchange) and the gmail account (as imap) and copy messages between accounts.
Elizabeth Goldfarb says
Why do my emails not go through, getting returned
I see no good reason whatsoever.
Diane Poremsky says
The messages are bouncing? What does the return message say?
Vicki says
We just recently lost 2 years worth of emails and need to get one for sure back. Very important, needed for a court case. We have a webmail account. ISP says they were deleted because of POP3. How can I get them back or at the very least, this one email especially. There has to be a way. Thank you for your help.
Diane Poremsky says
You should have a copy of the message in the pst file that downloaded the message unless you deleted it from the pst and that deleted it from the server. Unfortunately, unless you find that message in a pst, it's gone because it's highly unlikely that the isp will have backups, especially from years ago.
Check for the pst on other computers you may have used the account on.
Jane says
Hi I do not know what POP or IMAP means... My work just sent me a link to join office 365 and when I did all my g mail e mails disappeared from all of my folders... Help!
Diane Poremsky says
join office 365 as in an office 365 mailbox? That means you are using Exchange server. Adding an Exchange account to a profile with a gmail account would not cause the folders to empty out. They will no longer be set as default though - so they might be lower on the folder list.
joyce says
Hi there I need help with this! -
my outgoing mail server got deleted from my email account & I have no idea how to fix/get it back. I have mac book pro
Diane Poremsky says
Is this the Hotmail account? It should be set up in mac as an exchange account, so no separate outgoing server.
Jennifer says
I have Office 2013 and use Outlook for my email. As of Monday late afternoon Outlook won't update my inbox. I got the message saying I needed to do the Inbox Repair Tool, which I did, but still no inbox updates. I checked account settings and mail seems to be going to an .ost file now. I also get an error message 0x80040600 when I hit send/receive, update folder. Not sure what to do at this point.
Diane Poremsky says
This is an outlook.com account? Is it working now? There was an outage that affected logging into outlook.com earlier in the week, but it should be working now.
If it's still not working, is the account in your profile as ActiveSync, Exchange, Pop, or IMAP?
Jennifer says
It is still not working. The inbox on my secretary's computer is not affected (we are not networked); she is continuing to receive emails. I can send emails, but there is nothing in the inbox since 5 PM on March 6th. I believe this is set up as a POP.
Diane Poremsky says
Check the account type in File, Account Settings. If you both use pop3, outlook needs to leave mail on the server.
ace says
I already follow the instruction, and succed for me.
thanks alot
John says
Hi Diane!! Hope you can help!
I am using Outlook 2013, as IMAP.
My problem is that emails are deleted from server and my laptop after 3 weeks.
Any assistance please?
Thank you in advance!!!
Diane Poremsky says
Assuming you don't have a POP account setup somewhere and that is deleting it, is there a setting on the imap server to delete mail as it ages? I know some will delete sent mail (in addition to clear junk and deleted).
Is it actually deleted from the server or just missing from outlook?
vikram kokane says
Thank u very much, it was really solved my problem.
Smitha151 says
Great article post.Really thank you! Fantastic.
sayed says
how to retrieve deleted email from juno email server
Diane Poremsky says
Once it's gone from the trash folder, it's gone unless you have a backup copy in an mail client on your computer.
ivanenko says
i must have klicked delit my email and i can not get to same place to corect the error
Diane Poremsky says
Is the mail in Outlook's Deleted items folder?
If you are using IMAP, change the view (on the View tab) to the imap view that does not hide deleted messages.
matthewL says
I too didn't click on the "leave a copy on the server". in November I realized that my emails were no longer on server so I put in a wrong password in outlook (for one specific email account, I'll call it my original bresnan.net account) so it would not take messages off the server anymore. I tried doing the outlook connector and opening up a outlook.com email and added the bresnan.net email to sync with it but it only pulled what was on the server, which was from november, but not from my computer. I had 2 other email accounts on 2007 outlook and I had all the email going into the same folder(3 total). Is it possible to separate the mail from the 3 different emails into different folders now or is it too late? I have created a second outlook account with IMAP settings and it seems to work, however it too only pulled emails from what was on the server since november. So my questions are, can I separate my one email account into a different folder? I tried changing the folder but the emails didn't go into the new folder? Is it possible or did I do something wrong? I would rather not pull emails from all 3 accounts in outlook, cause the other 2 are pretty much junk mail accounts! lol
any and all help is appreciated. I hope I made sense.
Diane Poremsky says
You should be able to separate the mail. Create a rule for 'though specified account' and select the account - the action will be to move the mail to a folder as long as you didn't remove the account from the profile after the mail was downloaded.
If you removed the account from outlook you can add the account field to the view and group by it then drag the mail to a folder.
JennyK says
I set up my Outlook with a POP3 account and the emails were deleted from the server with the default setting as well. I've set up an IMAP account in Outlook and copy/pasted the emails from the POP3 account to the IMAP account. I now have the IMAP fully updated and the server appears restored, but the POP3 account in my outlook is resyncing so I basically have duplicate emails in that folder. Can I stop that sync and remove the POP3 account from my Outlook or will this cause problems with the IMAP account?
Diane Poremsky says
You can remove the pop account from your profile and it won't cause problems - the two accounts act like to different account. Rr you can move the messages into a different folder using imap - pop3 only downloads from the inbox.
Is this Outlook 2016? See https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/updates/outlook-2016pop-problems-update/
JennyK says
Thank you! This is so helpful. The last issue I seem to be having is in Outlook on the IMAP account, the inbox looks like it is continuously syncing because it is "Synchronizing subscribed folders" for the account but it never seems to complete. Is this due to issues with Outlook 2016 as noted above or is there something else I can do to rectify this?
Diane Poremsky says
It's probably related to the problems above, although only the inbox is affected by that - POP3 doesn't look at other folders.
JennyK says
Thank you so much for all of your help!
Sumit says
Thanks for your information. I was facing the same issue and its sorted coz of your suggestion.
Really helpful!!
MMahil says
Hi, I set up my Windows Exchange Mail (using demon) on Outlook 2007 without selecting the 'leave on server' option. Have now set up an IMAP account also and am copying the emails to that inbox also. Should this add messages back onto the server?
Diane Poremsky says
As long as outlook is talking to the server, it will upload the mail using IMAP. (I'm not sure from your description if you are using a local imap server on the network or your mail providers isp - outlook will upload the mail to the server it talks to.)
Jared Mayer says
Thank the lord. this was extremely helpful! Much appreciated
Julie Standish says
I cannot thank you enough. While moving files to a new computer I reinstalled Outlook. The default setup in Outlook added my account and did not check the box to leave the emails on the server. I panicked when 20,000 emails were removed from my IPad and IPhone. Thank heaven I found your posting.
taurai says
this was really helpful, thanks! :)
Spencer Roane says
ps - meant to say "Earthlink provides none other than 587"
Spencer Roane says
Diane. I'm having another problem w/ Outlook 2010 that I'd really appreciate your help with. I'm using the POP3 format w/ Earthlink. Some msgs. are rejected immediately with this cryptic rejection msg. from "System Administrator" "550 5.7.1 t6J3YQSn031020 This message does not comply with required standards.". The rejection appears to take place before the msg. even leaves my computer. The problem is very erratic. Some msgs. are rejected, most aren't. Some that are rejected are replies in a thread of msgs. that weren't formerly rejected. I suspected the outgoing port, but Earthlink proves none other than 587. FWIW, I have Trend Micro Max Security installed, but they claim the rejection has nothing to do w/ their software. TIA! Spencer
Diane Poremsky says
Hmm. Thought I answered this before... must be dreaming. :) Do the messages that bounce with that message contain web links or phone numbers? If so, do the messages send if the links or numbers are removed? Some filter - probably Trend's spam scanner since it bounces so quickly, but it could be EarthLink rejecting it - is triggering on something in the message. Web addresses and telephone numbers are probably the most common triggers.
Spencer Roane says
Wow, great solution! Thanks much.
Spencer Roane says
ps - should have said "... if I permanently delete it from Outlook?"
Spencer Roane says
I'm using Outlook 2010 configured POP3, leaving msgs. on the Earthlink server for 14 days. Is there a way to retrieve a msg. from the server back into Outlook if I delete it from Outlook?
Diane Poremsky says
If less than 14 days, yes, and provided you don't have it set to delete from the server when deleted from outlook.
The easiest way is to add the account to outlook a second time and download the 14 days worth of mail to a new pst - this way you won't end up with duplicates. When you recover the message, delete the account and the pst it created.
hoaxloo says
thx for fast answer. students login as namesurname@posta.mu.edu.tr from https://posta.mu.edu.tr/ and page leads them to office365-outlook mail pages. i mean there s an exchange thing going on. i tried the settings below in gmail and hotmail
POP Server name: outlook.office365.com
Port: 995
IMAP Server name: outlook.office365.com
Port: 993
SMTP Server name: smtp.office365.com
Port: 587
but none of them can match the user name and password that i entered.
i can login from posta.mu.edu.tr but can not from https://login.live.com with same user name and password.
and also auto-account setup didn't work in gmail nor hotmail.
i want to explain students a way to connect their seldom-used-official-school accounts with an active hotmail of facebook etc. of their own.
any advice after all i add above to solve the issue. to make hundreds of young life including mine easier to connect and live?
thanks in advance.
Diane Poremsky says
Is two-factor authentication enabled for the accounts?
Are you using SSL (incoming) TLS for outgoing?
If the accounts are in Office 365 and POP3/IMAP is enabled, that should be the server name. Try logging into outlook.office365.com and checking in Options - https://outlook.office365.com/owa/?realm=office365.com#path=/options/popandimap.
h laurent says
hi how can i get non-gmail or live.com or hotmail mail pop-stmp server name and ports that they use by only knowing the mail address? for example in my university we use name-surname@posta.mu.edu.tr . how can anyone add the coming mails to this mail towards his/her gmail account without knowing what server the university use? is there any kind mail-servername-info-search-engine that i can use? thanks.
Diane Poremsky says
No, there isn't a search engine specifically for this although sometimes you can find it in search engines. If the account only supports POP3 or IMAP, set it up using auto-account setup in any mail client that supports auto-account setup then check the server settings when it's done.
rembrand says
Hi Diane,
I found about 20,000 of the emails...I just needed to scroll down a bit and they were shown in an archive folder, below my email inbox folder. Thanks for your help! Whew!
dicksontclam@gmail.com says
ok thanks! so what I need to do now is to follow the instruction of the blogpost, is that correct?
It's been very helpful Diane!
Diane Poremsky says
Correct.
dicksontclam@gmail.com says
Hi Dianne,
Thank you for the post.
I've just got the same issue here. Basically I tried to put my Uni email, which uses the Exchange system, and I forgot to tick the first box. I then realised I lost all the emails so I went back to Gmail and 'delete' my linked email account on the pop3 setting page. That's when I know shit happened. I googled the issues and saw your post. Now I've deleted my linked account, could I still recover my emails?
Please help!
Thanks
Dickson
Diane Poremsky says
If you have copies of the mail in the gmail folders or in a pst, yes, you can upload them to the server provided you can create either an imap or MAPI (Exchange) account in outlook. Exchange would be better - it syncs up much faster but imap will work if you can't connect as an exchange account.
dicksontclam@gmail.com says
i saw I've got a sub-file/folder of my uni email at my gmail. Is it the one u referring?
however, that file/folder only got emails till 26th Jan,
is there any other method that I can get my emails back?
Thanks
Diane Poremsky says
If outlook or gmail downloaded the messages you received since Jan and you didn't delete them from outlook or gmail, they should be somewhere - either in gmail or in a pst file in outlook.
rembrand says
Yes, I did that and the message within the mailbox (inbox) when reading the pst is "We didn't find anything to show here."
Diane Poremsky says
Do the folders show any message counts in the Status bar? Can you find messages using instant search?
rembrand says
I had commented a while ago on here, but had no luck in figuring out how to recover lost emails...but...I was lucky enough to possibly find them on another hard drive that was found this week.
The problem now is, after I installed Outlook on my laptop, when I drag the pst to the email inbox, it will not let me open the 3.8GB pst data file. The error message says:
"Cannot copy the items. The file you are attaching is bigger than the server allows. Try putting the file in a shared location and sending a link instead."
I'm not sure how to do that...any suggestions?
Also, when I go to 'New Items', click the drop down and then go to 'More Items' and then go to 'Outlook Data File'...and then select the pst file from my desktop, the message in the archive folder in Outlook says:
"We didn't find anything to show here."
Any help would be greatly appreciated! These are important email files.
rembrand says
This is an additional comment to my questions...
Pertaining to the second error message, there must be emails in the pst, being that it is nearly 4GBs of information...or is there a way that these could have been deleted and a file size remains somehow when the pst characteristics are shown?
Diane Poremsky says
The file size can remain large if mail is deleted (and deleted items folder is emptied), until such time as outlook compacts it. But I don't think that is your problem - it sounds like you didn't open the pst in outlook. The only way to open it is as part of a profile.
Diane Poremsky says
Did you open the pst file in Outlook? Go to File, Open, Outlook Data Files and browse to locate the pst. (The exact name of the "Open" menu varies in each version.)
This will open it in outlook so you can view the contents.
When you "go to 'New Items', click the drop down and then go to 'More Items'" it's looking for templates and custom forms, not a pst and dragging the pst to the inbox sends it by email. Outlook doesn't support double-click to open (like you can do with word and excel files).
jassi says
thnx so much dear...god bless u
Sid says
Hi. Please could you help me. I was helping my husband try and download his work email to my computer (Mac OSx). After setting up his account, as an exchange account, his emails deleted off his Outlook Web app when he logged in. I think I have all of them in my mac mailbox but is there a way we can get them back to his university account?
Sorry if I sound like a complete novice.
Diane Poremsky says
It sounds like it was set up as a pop3 account. Set it up as an IMAP account (the correct server names are in the account online) and copy the mail to the imap folders. But before you do this, log into the account using web mail and see if there is a folder named "pop". Some of the university accounts use outlook.com and it creates the pop folder, unless the user disabled it.
Emmanuel says
Can any one help me please!
I configured my outlook to receive mail via POP from my yahoo later decided to set-up another account via IMAP to receive email from the same yahoo in my outlook 2013 because I want to see my folders in yahoo. while the outlook IMAP was synchronizing with yahoo server, I moved a folder from yahoo outlook IMAP mail to Yahoo POP mail and then Back to yahoo IMAP again during which my net internet network failed. as soon as the network was connected, the synchronization resumed.
After all completion of synchronization, I could no longer locate the folder moved in both POP and IMAP mail.
Please kindly advice how to recover this folders again.
Thanks for all help.
Emmanuel
Diane Poremsky says
Ouch. If the folder was moved (not copied) and the move failed, the folder is likely lost. Check the deleted items folder (I don't expect you'll find it there but it's worth a shot). Sorry.
VEP says
Thank you! I backed up my Emails and Change settings to Imap account and it worked like a charm!! Finally! I should have done it a long time ago! I woudld have avoided having to come back to the office at 1am to resend an email that was in my out basket! after that I decided THAT'S IT! I have to crack this stupid Synch problem and after searching a lot in the internet your answer was the best, easy to understand and I was able to get it all Synched! Thank you again!
Daniel C says
can anyone help me. i accidentally deleted my emails off yahoo which caused them to get deleted off my iphone. but i have all the emails saved on my mac osx. is there a way to get these emails either back on my iphone or even better back to yahoo server. thanks
Diane Poremsky says
Sure. Is the account set up on the mac? If its set up as imap, disconnect from the internet before opening the mail client, otherwise it will sync and delete them too. You need to move the mail to an offline folder before going online. Sync, then copy the mail into the imap folders.
If its pop3, add the account as imap and copy the mail into the imap folders.
Which mail client do you use on the mac?
Dilan says
Hi Diane,
No sync error messages, however I did drag folders from HTMP to pop email address
Diane Poremsky says
if the folders are in the pop3 mail folders and you want them back on the server, set up the account as IMAP, make a copy of the POP3 pst file (for safe keeping) then drag the folder into the imap account folders.
dingding says
hi ms diane, can I ask help from you? if so please help me how to restore the deleted folder in outlook 2013. the deleted items today. I don't have an exchanged server. pls help me. thank you very much.
Diane Poremsky says
What type of email account do you have? Did you empty the deleted items folder? If not, go to the Folder list (Ctrl+6) and look for the folder under the deleted items folder.
If you emptied the deleted items folder or used Shift+Delete to delete it, the folder and contents are likely gone unless you have a backup. See https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/config/recover-deleted-messages-pst-files/ for one possible chance to remove the deleted items.
Dilan says
Hi,
I am using Outlook 2007, all went well except to two sub folders are missing emails
Diane Poremsky says
Did you move the subfolders separately? Any sync error messages?
Dilan says
Office 2007, I'm trying to retrieve emails from the server. I was using a trial outlook 365 and installed 2007 and lost emails
Diane Poremsky says
What type of email account is configured in Outlook? do you get any error messages?
DILAN says
Hi,
Im trying to create a IMAP account, but I'm getting this message - the .DLL file for the information service cannot be loaded?
Diane Poremsky says
What version of Outlook are you using? Running fixmapi.exe or just repairing your office installation should fix it.
intruder says
Thank you so much
Sandesh says
I am having an issue that when ever a new mail is synced to outlook or Gmail from the server its being server is deleting the mail how to control it if the mail is not synced the mail will stay in server until it get synced what to do
Diane Poremsky says
Are you using a POP3 or IMAP account? What version of Outlook? Outlook has an option to leave pop3 mail on the server after downloading it; gmail (in the settings online) has an option to ignore Outlook's delete request.
This would only happen with an IMAP account if you are moving the imap mail to a pst file.
Venky says
Thanks a billion.. Using IMAP method resolved by mistake.. Guys like you are god sent to help novice user like me.. Thanks again for your very useful informationi..
DJ says
Hi Diane. I uploaded a large number of emails to a new Outlook 2013 account on a new laptop computer. The emails were all deleted from the server and then when I went into Outlook with a new password a few days later, all of the emails that were downloaded into Outlook vanished in a span of about 5-10 seconds. It apparently re-synced and I lost the emails.
Is there any process, or software that you recommend, in which these emails can be retrieved from my computer?
Diane Poremsky says
Probably not... but let me make sure I have the facts straight. You are using IMAP and imported or moved a bunch of mail into Outlook, for them to sync up to the server. So the only place you had a copy was in Outlook as they synced. Then you changed your password and Outlook resynced,but because nothing synced up, the messages are gone.
If that is what happened, the ost file they were in was cleaned out, so no, there is no file to recover them from. Do you have them in a pst on another computer, backup drive, etc?
Sue says
Thank you so much for this - lifesaver !
theresa says
I need help. When i began using my new laptop i was using my g mail and yahoo emails. I kept getting this message to sign up for a Microsoft outlook account on my laptop. So I finally did. Now I cannot access my g mail and yahoo mail unless I go through the internet. They used to be automatically there when I turned my laptop on. I had a few draft emails in yahoo that i need to complete and they are not showing up in yahoo when I log on from the internet browser. Can anyone explain to me what happened and how to fix it. I really want to delete this Microsoft email, I don't even use it. Frustrated. =-(
Diane Poremsky says
Are you using the Windows Mail app or Outlook on your desktop? Signing up for Outlook.com account won't affect the other accounts - I would not configure Outlook.com to connect to the accounts.
Carlos says
Hi Mrs Diane Poremsky, I am working on Microsoft Outlook 2011 for MAC and I have two MacBooks in which I hold three email accounts, the one I am referring this particular time is a POP account that I wish it could be sync, but it doesn't, so the problem I experience is that sometimes one of the lap tops misses some emails which the other has. I would like to know if there is anything it can be done to correct this issue, your advise would be very much appreciated.
Diane Poremsky says
So mail in the POP3 account doesn't download to Outlook? Does the account support IMAP? That is usually the better option when you use multiple computers - sent items will sync up and the mailboxes will be identical on each computer.
Carlos says
Good morning Mrs Diane Poremsky, this is Carlos.
Initially I had a personal email account under POP which last Monday 23-02-2015 I created a new account under IMAP in order to sync with the second MacBook mentioned before, as your advised.
Yesterday 25-02-2015, I experienced not receiving emails in the IMAP account as it did not connect to the network, but in the other hand the POP account was connected and therefore received the emails.
-NOTE: the network at home is different from the one at work.
I would like to know if there is any method to recover all that information into Microsoft Outlook IMAP account.
Your help would be much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Carlos.
Diane Poremsky says
Add the account as IMAP to the profile that has the pop account. Remove the pop account from the profile (but leave the pst file in) or set the account so it does not check for mail and set it to leave mail on the server. Move the mail from the pop pst into the imap folders.
I recommend using imap both at home and work - it is a better experience when you use multiple computers.
Carlos says
Thanks Mrs Diane Poremsky,
I looked at the location where the PST files could be and I couldn't find any, so after searching on the web I found this article on QUORA under "Where does Mac Outlook 2011 store its data files" and I find the following:
James McIninch, well-rounded individual
4 upvotes by Abe Taha, Ronen Morecki, Alexandr Kamenetsky, and Shruti Swaroop.
The files are in "~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 Identities/Main Identity". Under that directory, e-mail is stored in "Data Records/Messages". Note that Outlook for Mac does not use PST and OST files. Each item is stored as a separate file, which makes indexing with Spotlight for searching much simpler.
Beforehand I knew the location of my Main Identity was, but I dug out further and I couldn't find any location where the PST files could've been. surely there must be a way to recover all those lost emails, before removing the POP account from the profile.
Your help is always appreciated.
Kind regards,
Carlos.
Diane Poremsky says
Correct, pst files are Windows Outlook only. Mac can import from a pst but not use them.
The email is in folders in the profile in Outlook 2011 - add an imap account to the profile and drag from the pop3 folders to the imap folders.
ange says
I added an existing pop3 (hotmail) account to my gmail profile and forgot to "leave the mail on the server". So now my hotmail inbox is empty. Can I use your method to restore my hotmail inbox?
Diane Poremsky says
You can restore the mail to the server - you'll need to set the Hotmail account up in outlook as an imap account then you can drag mail to the folder. Make sure the leave on server setting is enabled first. :)
John says
Thank you. Works perfectly for me. Just what I was looking for.
Fiona Templeton says
I enabled Pop3 but IMAP was still deleting messages off the server. Then I found in gmail settings the option to use "recent mode" which keeps them there. But now I have 2 sets of inboxes etc in Outlook. How do I streamline this?
All the info says IMAP keeps messages on server but it didn't for me.
Also, I want to do all this too for a Compuserve account. The "IMAP and POP Configuration Instructions" page in settings is blank. Any advice?
Fiona Templeton says
Also, I don't seem to be able to set up Pop3 for gmail, to try your suggestions as above.
Diane Poremsky says
What happens when you try? Did you enable POP3 in the setting at gmail.com?
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/fwdandpop
Fiona Templeton says
I set up an IMAP account in Outlook for my gmail, but there is no option to leave the messages on the server as there is in a Pop3 account, and it sucked all the messages from the server. I thought IMAP kept them synched. I need to be able to access these from other devices. Help!
Diane Poremsky says
IMAP will keep them synced - it doesn't have a Leave on server option because they are left on the server. Did you move the messages using a rule or drag them to a local pst? That will remove them from the server - but even so, the default setting to is archive, not delete from server.
Tom Jones says
I set up a pop account on outlook for my wife and forgot to turn on the keep on server setting for the webmail server twc roadrunner. I read this and set up the IMAP and did exactly as you said but all I can figure is time warner roadrunner webmail does not allow to put the emails back on their server. Anyone else tried this with roadrunner and had success(or not)?
Thanks
Diane Poremsky says
When you set up the IMAP account, did mail download to Outlook? What happened when you tried - any error messages? It should work - you'll need to make sure the pop settings are set to leave on server or it will redownload everything as you add them back.
Akintobi Akinbode Akinbiyi says
Thanks a lot, this really helped
magda says
Hi Diane , you have been of great help to me , i did and imported all my email to a new imps new profile , and when send and receive it make synchronise but mails didn't restore on my go daddy account server ! can you give any further steps to do , thanks magda
Diane Poremsky says
Is a POP account still removing them from the server? Are there any errors in the Sync errors folder?
Roger says
i had configured yahoo mails on outlook but mails have disappeared from web yahoo page how can i get the copy back on the server of my old mails. This is very urgent to me
Diane Poremsky says
You set it up as POP3 and outlook deleted them from the server. Set up an account as IMAP and move them from the pst to the imap folders. Make sure you change the settings in the POP account first, or it will download duplicates. That is in Account Settings, More Settings, Advanced tab.
IMAP settings are here: https://www.slipstick.com/addins/services/online-services-in-outlook/#yahoo
Steve says
Hello.....Loved your solution.....this seemed to work great for the inBOX, but what about other folders.....have a user that wants to migrate all of her Sent Folder too (some 5000 emails) and this does not seem to be workimg, none of the emails in the sent Folder are coming over,,, Puzzled?
Diane Poremsky says
It should work for any folder. Are there any sync errors? Did you try moving a few at a time or all 5000 at once? Try a few - see if they sync up. If so, try a larger group. I'd also make a copy of the pst file then move, instead of copying, the messages. (Make the copy of the pst just in case something goes wrong and they don't sync up.)
ABDUL SALAM says
Excellent, I got my all email restored to my hotmail inbox
Shaun says
Im having issues because I formatted my phone after the new android update. When I added my hotmail account back onto my phone, it defaulted to IMAP and I didnt notice that deleting the mail from my phone would also delete them from my actual hotmail account since they were no longer just a copy. When I follow your steps above and try to add a duplicate account but this time a POP3 account, my phone tells me I already have that account activated and I can't duplicate it :( How do I get my inbox back, it had flight itinerary, hotel confirmations, etc and nothing is showing up in my trash folder on either my phone or my computer.
Thanks
Diane Poremsky says
Unfortunately, if you deleted them from the phone and they are not in the phone's trash, they are gone for good. On the accounts on the phone, you'd need to remove the account and re-add it as a pop3 account.
Grace says
Hi i have a problem with my restoring my mail because they were in my company mail and we are using https://webmail.safeaircompany.com to access mail. I have tried to restore my inbox to no avail. i am also using outlook 2007 and pop3. how do i go about it? Your assistance is really appreciated.
Diane Poremsky says
If you need to put mail back on the server, you need to be able to use IMAP, as POP3 is one way - down. If you account allows you to use IMAP, create a new account in Outlook using the IMAP settings then move mail from the pop3 mailbox to imap. You'll want to disable the option to check for new mail in Outlook and make sure the pop account is leaving mail on the server.
Admirer says
I also would like to have your babies right now! THANK YOU
Diane Poremsky says
LOL You're off the hook. :)
Alex says
Hello, my web server does not support IMAP, so I'would like to restore the mails by using the IMAP server. But don't know how to create an Outlook account wich support BOTH POP3 and IMAP. And how should i configure my mail.md server for collecting mails from another POP3? Pls help. Alex
Diane Poremsky says
If your mail server doesn't support imap, it's tough to upload mail - if your email account can collect mail from other accounts, you need to create an account at google or outlook.com then set the pop3 account up to collect mail from the server but not all pop3 servers supports this.
Juanna says
Hi I found this but couldn't work it! how i lost my emails was i set up Mail App on my MacBook Air and forgot to unmark "remove copy from server" so all my emails were gone from the server...any idea how i can get them back on the server on MacBook Air and with Mail App? my account is not IMAP it is POP3...thank you
Diane Poremsky says
Does your account support IMAP? If not, you'll need to forward them to your email account - and that is really not a very workable solution.
Reving says
Thank you. The IMAP inbox is offline and I can't drag mail from POP3 into it! How do I connect the inbox? Thanks
Fariborz says
Thank you for your fantastic article. I lost all my yahoo inbox. configuring outlook 2007 what should I put for incoming and outgoing mails? imap-ssl.mail.yahoo.com use for both? Thank you in advance
Diane Poremsky says
You'll use smtp.yahoo.com for the outgoing server.
Jeegar says
Thank You very Much.You are awesome :-)
Charles Rukuni says
My outlook 2007 has been giving me problems. I was getting a message saying the outlook version you have may not be compatible with the outlook.... go to your windows control panel, click on the mail box, then show profiles and then add. I did that and created a new profile and then removed the old profile. The new outlooked opened without a hitch but all my old emails, contacts, calender are gone. is there any way of recovering them. They were not on my server because I was using pop3. I only learnt recently that I should use imap.
Diane Poremsky says
You should have a pst the the old account used. Go to Tools, Account Settings, Data Files tab and click Add. Is your old pst file there? If so, select it. You can set it as default on the data files tab and set the email account to deliver to it on the Email accounts tab.
Alex says
Thank you! Lifesaver :)
Tinashe says
thank thank thank thank thank thank you. God bless you Diane
Erik T. Irish says
ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! Thank you SO much for this! Made my customer VERY happy! =-)
sangoku123 says
You saved my life :) merci beaucoup
Sorin Baicu says
Thank you!!
Frank J. LaTray says
I have been trying to get outlook email . I have a new computer, i'm trying to set up my email which was outlook POP-3 .
Diane Poremsky says
See Create a new profile for the steps to set Outlook up on a new computer.
If you need to move outlook from one computer to another, see move outlook to a new computer.
Justin F says
Thank you so much. So simple, yet effective.
Its very silly that Outlook 'auto' setup, defaults to pop3 server types.
Thanks again
Diane Poremsky says
Oh, I don't know... Outlook 2013 defaults to IMAP if the server supports it, even if the account is not enabled for IMAP. It's annoying. I liked Outlook 2010's method - set up POP3 and keep mail on the server for 14 days better.
CL says
Thank you SO MUCH!
Sagar says
Thank you .. :)
I almost lost all my mails , very thankful to you and gud to kno we can recover mails from pop3...
Daniel says
Yes, in an open message is correct, the original details remain. Just when they are coming back to server, they appear with today`s date and time. Is a minor issue, but sometimes help that category.
Diane Poremsky says
Close the reading pane (so the message list uses one line) - which date field do you use? Right click on the date field name and choose Field chooser - select Date from the drop down and drag the date fields to the row of field (column) names. The sent date should do the best - it's usually within minutes of the received date but the difference can be hours or days. (Which is why we don't usually use it.)
Daniel says
Hi Mrs Dianne, Thank you for your advice, works!!!! just one detail, "the date" my mails are coming to yahoo server but the date appears as the present date, not as the original ...is there something I could do to recover this also?
Thank you anyways
Diane Poremsky says
I'll check into it - but generally, the date is read-only. Is it correct if you look at it in an open message?
shizzle bizzle says
You're awesome. I love you. I want you to have my babies. =D
On a serious note, this is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!