Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Once messages are permanently deleted on HotMail they're gone. If you've lost important messages that were deleted on HotMail, or any webmail service, you need to rethink your approach to email.
I forgot to login to my HotMail account for a while, and today when I logged in it was suspended for lack of use. I re-opened it, but this means I've lost all my previous mails which included some really important ones.
Is there any way to get them back? In particular there was a folder which contained very important mails.
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No.
I know of no way to get your messages (or any contacts) back once they have been permanently deleted from HotMail. Whether it's you deleting them accidentally, or HotMail clearing the account for lack of use, permanent is permanent. The messages are gone.
Here's what I recommend you do ...
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This will sound harsh, but you need to learn from this lesson.
Stop using HotMail.
I'm serious. Stop using HotMail, or for that matter any web-based email service for anything that you would consider to be "important".
If your email and your contacts are truly important, if losing them would be a serious problem for you, as it apparently has, then invest in a 'real' POP3 email account from an email service provider or from your ISP. Then use a 'real' email program like Outlook, or Eudora, or Thunderbird or any of a number of other good email programs that run on your machine to manage your email.
Then make sure to back up. Regularly.
Take control, and more importantly, take responsibility, for the safety of your email. If it's really that important, then relying on a third party like HotMail to "do the right thing" or even just to always be there is simply asking for trouble.
Don't get me wrong - services like HotMail have their place - they're useful tools when used for the right jobs. I have Hotmail and Yahoo accounts myself. But they're not appropriate for anything you would consider to be important. I hear too many reports every day of people that have lost their email, their contacts, or even access to the account for me to put it any other way.
Now, there is currently one alternative that's what you might call the best of both worlds: Google's GMail. It's a free web-based mail service that includes POP3 and SMTP mail download and send. It's a fine service to use as long as you make sure to download to your own mail client, on your own machine, and then back up regularly. Leaving all your information on Google's server is convenient and fast and all that, but if it's the only place you leave it, then when (not if) there's ever a problem you're back were you started - you're still screwed.
If it seems like I'm coming down hard on free email services - I am. Or rather, I'm coming down hard on people that rely on them too heavily.
If it seems like a pet peeve of mine - it is. I've written on it before.
It's not some random opinion or a prejudice I walked in with. I've come to this conclusion by the sheer number of people who ask similar questions: they've lost important emails, contact lists, or more - simply because there was a problem with their free web based email account. And I get these reports every single day.
Folks, "free" just isn't worth it if what you're dealing with is important to you or to your business.
Email and contacts: own it, download it, and back it up.
Article C2762 - August 20, 2006 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
October 27, 2011 5:29 PM
I have emptied my " Deleted" folder on hotmail accidentaly and I GOT them all BACK! It is POSSIBLE by an option called " Rcover deleted messages" that is on bottom of screen in the folder " deleted" . I did it within an hour though. not sure how long they stay there.
December 26, 2011 3:49 AM
Deleted e-mail and I want to restore
February 7, 2012 1:58 PM
Thanks Leo for the article & strong recommendations, which I'll sure follow and make follow.
Hotmail lost all emails in my account =(, not contacts nor all old details. I wander in despair.
I wonder, and thought I'd just ask Leo:
What sort/depth of backup do you think Hotmail has? simply none? even for users that pay service?
You worked at Microsoft. What's behind Hotmail's so-called "auto-restore" in deleted email folder? What may their "solution center" moderators have as recovery options?
Why would motivate a hacker to delete all emails in an account?
Now what interest has a free provider in carelessly ruining internet-unsavvy / freewheeling users (fair enough) by not being at least a little safe & reliable? Why seeking to then be trashed after trashing accounts? Is Hotmail just floating above all that? Did they actually recovered people's accounts early 2011 after making the news?
Any good reason to delete an account at all? Why does Hotmail delete account contents after 270 days without user-specific notice to their alternate email? (whereas Gmail tells you 'why delete when you have so much space') Can't people get unexpectedly in hospital say for 9 months?
If it's a matter of memory space, why does Hotmail spam all their own users' accounts with auto-promo daily feed, where they could just provide links all around their pages?
Can we call a provider "free", when they make so much money on showing so many ads around emails?
Thanks again Leo,
stephane
March 21, 2012 11:05 AM
one day i tried to enter to my hotmail inbox after 8 months i got it back but choking thing will come later when i discover that all my mails are deleted i was so upset cause i had some important mails i tried to get them back but unfortunately i couldn't get, but i read that there is no possibility to get them back and i hope that MARINA tell me how could you get them? plz tell me :) thank you all
July 18, 2012 11:03 PM
My Hotmail acct. was completely wiped out today even though I was logged in just a few hours before. I'm not sure how to retrieve anything. I did try their deleted email retrieval , I'm here so you see that didn't work. Still waiting for an answer. Thank god I had nothing important on that site. From what I've read in the forums, this has been a problem since at least Jan. of this year, but don't panic everyone, you'll be happy to know they're "looking into the problem". 7 months? Really? You guys are awesome!
All sarcasm aside, I hope everyone can get their email and files restored. Good luck
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