How to Recover Deleted Emails from Exchange Server?

While working on Exchange Server, you might need to delete old or unwanted emails to free up storage space in your mailbox. At times, emails become corrupted due to malware or a virus attack, making their deletion necessary to secure the Exchange Server. However, you can find yourself in a fix if, while deleting unnecessary emails, you go on to delete some crucial emails that you may need currently or in the future. Even if you are deleting unwanted emails, you may want them later on.

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Therefore, you must confirm the obsolete status of the Exchange emails from the concerned authorities before deleting them. But what will happen if you realize the importance of an email or emails only after deleting them? Can you recover them? If yes, how? Let’s talk about this topic in detail in this blog and also discuss the possibility of using ExchangeServer recovery software, such as Stellar Repair for Exchange, to tackle this situation.

Is It Possible to Recover Deleted Emails from an Exchange Server?

Yes, you can recover deleted emails by using various methods, such as by using:

New Outlook
Using the Exchange Admin Center (EAC)
Using the PowerShell command
In-Place eDiscovery in Exchange Server in EAC
An Exchange Server recovery software

Before proceeding with any of the recovery methods, you should be aware of the following pointers:

By default, a deleted item remains in the mailbox database for a retention period of 14 days
You can recover a deleted email if it is still within this retention period
If required, you may configure retention settings for your mailbox or mailbox database to increase the retention duration.

Let’s move ahead with the recovery procedures.

1. Recovering Deleted Emails Through New Outlook

Here are the necessary steps:

Open your Outlook mailbox
On the left panel, look for the Deleted Items folder
Choose the item you want to restore from the folder and select Restore

This method is applicable if the deleted emails are still visible in your Deleted Items folder. If you want to recover a deleted email or a complete folder that is no longer in the Deleted Items folder, you can recover it from the Recoverable Items store using the Recover items deleted from this folder option. Here are the steps:

Select the Deleted Items folder
Select the option, Recover items deleted from this folder.
Hover on the recoverable emails if you can see them and select them by ticking the checkboxes next to them.
From the home ribbon, click Restore

This is an easy recovery method. But if this does not work, you can try other methods.

2. Recovering Deleted Emails Through EAC

Make sure to have administrator permission for EAC before using this method to recover deleted emails from Exchange Server. Here are the steps:

Open EAC and sign in with your administrator credentials
Navigate to Recipients > Mailboxes
Choose the user mailbox from which you deleted emails and now want to recover
In the selected mailbox, click More (…)
Next, select Recover deleted items
A window showing all recoverable deleted messages will appear
Look for the emails you want to recover by using the requisite filter options ( such as subject, item type, or date range)
From the resulting deleted emails, look for emails you want to recover
Clicking Recover deleted items will restore the emails to the user’s Deleted Items folder

3. Recovering Deleted Emails Through PowerShell

Just like in the EAC recovery method, you need to have administrator permission to recover deleted emails through PowerShell as well. The steps are as follows:

1. Search for the Deleted Emails

Use the Get-RecoverableItems cmdlet to look for the deleted emails in the source mailbox.

Get-RecoverableItems -Identity emailuser@domain.com -SubjectContains “FY17 Accounting” -FilterItemType IPM.Note -FilterStartTime “2/1/2026 12:00:00 AM” -FilterEndTime “2/5/2026 11:59:59 PM”

This command will fetch deleted emails from the Recoverable Items folder for the specified date and time range.

2. Restore the Deleted Emails

You can restore the emails that match your subject, folder, or date criteria by using the below PowerShell command:

$mailboxes = Import-CSV “C:\My Documents\RestoreMessage.csv”; $mailboxes | foreach {Restore-RecoverableItems -Identity $_.SMTPAddress -SubjectContains “Project Z” -SourceFolder DeletedItems -FilterItemType IPM.Note}

This command will restore the deleted email message “Project Z” from the mailboxes specified in a CSV file in the given folder path.

4. Recovering Deleted Emails from Exchange Server With the Help of In-Place eDiscovery

This method is ideal if your organization has to follow the legal discovery requirements. It can help to carry out discovery searches for missing items in the mailboxes. The method permits you to search deleted emails and copy them to a discovery mailbox, from where you can restore them manually.

You should have the requisite permissions to gain access to all the email records stored in your Exchange Server organization.
Check if the Single Item Recovery or Retention Policies are enabled to enhance the recovery chances of hard-deleted items
Find out if the deleted emails are still within the retention period

Here are the steps:

Launch EAC and navigate to the Compliance / eDiscovery section
Create a new In-Place eDiscovery search and define the requisite search scope.
This will require you to select the mailboxes from which you want to recover deleted emails. Adding filters, such as keywords, date range, sender, or recipient, will help in fetching the intended result.
Run the search and check for the appearance of the desired deleted messages through the Preview Search Results
Next, confirm the size and count of the deleted items by using the Estimate search results
Use Copy search results to copy the targeted messages to a discovery mailbox.
Export the search results to a PST file by using the Export search results option
Use Outlook or Outlook Web Access (OWA)to open the discovery mailbox
Choose the recovered messages and manually restore them to the original mailbox or folders

5. Recovering Deleted Emails from Exchange Server Using Exchange Server Recovery Software

The aforementioned methods help in restoring the deleted emails effectively. But you must possess an in-depth technical knowledge to perform these procedures. Moreover, these methods may not guarantee complete recovery either. To overcome these situations, you can opt for Exchange Server recovery software.

Several third-party automated tools are effective in recovering deleted emails from Exchange Servers, and Stellar Repair for Exchange is one of them. It successfully repairs the damaged or deleted mailbox items and the contained emails, contacts, calendar entries, and attachments, and restores them in PST files. Here are some of its prominent features:

Repairs and restores deleted or corrupt EDB files
Exports recovered mailboxes and the contained emails to Office 365 or Live Exchange Server
Gives an enhanced preview of the recoverable items through its free trial version
Performs auto-mapping of the source and destination mailboxes
Supports Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013, and all previous versions
Repairs multiple mailboxes at once.

To buy Stellar Repair for Exchange, you can browse through the official Stellar Info web page and choose the Corporate, Technician, or Toolkit edition of the Exchange Server recovery software, based on your requirements.

Conclusion

Many reasons could prompt you to delete emails from your Exchange Server database. For instance, the emails may be old, obsolete, unwanted, or consume enough storage space. Deletion of damaged or corrupted emails due to a malware or virus attack is equally crucial. However, while deleting such emails, you might accidentally part ways with useful emails. You may want them at present or in the future.

Therefore, it is wise to confirm with the concerned authorities in your organization before deleting the so-called unwanted emails. Despite all the precautions, you could end up deleting the useful emails that you wish to recover later. The good news is that it is possible to recover the deleted emails by using several methods.

For instance, you can do it through Outlook, Exchange Admin Center (EAC), PowerShell commands, or In-Place eDiscovery. These methods help significantly in serving your cause, but most of them are slow due to the involved, lengthy processes. Often, they take more than the usual time and do not guarantee favorable outcomes. As is obvious, you must have a thorough technical expertise of the involved job before proceeding with the recovery.

To recuperate from all such situations, you can confide in the Exchange Server recovery software, such as Stellar Repair for Exchange. A widely used third-party Exchange recovery tool, it allows you to restore multiple emails and other mailbox contents at once. It comes loaded with features and is available in different editions based on your requirements. You may also try its free version that lets you preview recoverable Exchange mailbox items. Browse through the official Stellar Info website to buy your preferred edition of Stellar Repair for Exchange today.