Emale Help- Undoing an action

[swifty-one]

Hello, I did something so stupid 😭  I highlighted 5 emails to delete that was inside my "Archive Folder" also without thinking I highlighted "My Folder" which was also in my "Archive Folder" I hit Delete on my keyboard.... Inside "My Folder" was years worth of personal data and all my address's and contacts have gone too? Please help, how can I Undo this action and get all my saved emails back, there must have been at leased 10 years of personal stuff Lost?!!  😭

[albob]

".Can I use the System Restore in Windows 10?.."

I'm not sure, but wouldn't do any harm to try.. (you might lose any recent emails though - save them somewhere)

I have used 'EaseUS Data Recovery' software in the past (but not for emails...)

[用心棒]

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@albob wrote:

".Can I use the System Restore in Windows 10?.."

I'm not sure, but wouldn't do any harm to try.. (you might lose any recent emails though - save them somewhere)

I have used 'EaseUS Data Recovery' software in the past (but not for emails...)

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System Restore will not restore personal data files, read more here What is System Restore?

[asim18 · Accepted solution]

Do you still have incredimail on your computer?

If you do try opening incredimail. It might have saved your emails in a database on your computer.

But before trying this disconnect your computer from the internet, you don't want it to synchronize emails.

[albob]

I was going to suggest that you check what is in your 'Recycle Bin' - then I read this 

The Windows Mail store folder can only be located if you use POP3 with Windows Mail. POP3 is designed to save .eml files on your computer. If you use IMAP with Windows Mail, the mail isn't DOWNLOADED and stored as .eml files, so you can't back up email in this manner.

https://www.lifewire.com/identify-windows-mail-live-mail-or-outlook-express-store-folder-1172628

If that is correct a data recovery prog may not help  -- bad news (I would still try though, as these files are very important to you..)

[albob]

The suggestion from Asim is a good one !!

I have another one  - do a search of your PC for .pst files it might give you some results

".In computing, a personal storage table (PST) is a proprietary file format built by Microsoft to store copies of messages, calendar events, and other items within their software platforms, including Microsoft Exchange Client, Windows Messaging, and Microsoft Outlook..."

[用心棒]

On closer look at Windows 10 Mail it is now clear that recover will be impossible and not because IMAP account emails are not stored locally, they are as evident by their availability offline, but because by default an account's synchronisation is set to the last 3 months.

Hopefully asim18 earlier post will be more productive in recovery of your Archived emails.

[Sololobo]

The Windows Mail app does not use .pst files, that's a format used by MS Outlook.

References for the following: 
https://ladedu.com/where-windows-10-mail-does-store-emails/
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/windows-10-mail-email-file-location-store-folder-indexed-mis...

Windows Mail locates its files in
C:\Users\{username}\Appdata\Local\Packages\MicrosoftcommunicationsApps_8wekyb3d8ddwe\
LocalState\Files\SO\{n}\
(NOTE: You must show hidden files and folders.)

There should be one folder for each account and inside each account folder there should be up to three folders for emails.

EFMData: the email text saved as HTML data in *.dat format (HTML-only version of email bodies; they do not include any email header information (such as the sender or recipient, except for the email subject as the document title).
Attachments: attached files in their native format
Photos: images from emails saved as PNG files.

EMFData files can be opened in any browser, and possibly with MS Word or similar.
Attachments can be opened with a native program.
Photos can be opened with a native program.

Be aware:
These files may not be present if MS Mail was configured with IMAP access, only with POP.
MS Mail does not provide any sort of Backup/Restore procedure. However it is possible to backup individual email messages. Open the Mail app, select the email, and then SAVE IT AS to the preferred file location.

The lack of a proper backup and restore procedure within MS Mail makes if difficult, if not impossible, to migrate emails from one computer to another. If using MS Mail at all, ensure it's been set up for IMAP access where all emails are held on the server and not locally.

Unfortunately none of this helps the OP recover their deleted emails unless POP access was configured on the MS Mail app and the mentioned files are available on their local machine. If IMAP was configured on the client and synchronisation with the server has taken place, then they are gone, immaterial of what recovery software is tried.

[swifty-one]

Thank you asim18, 😁 That reminded me how I got in this mess in the first place ... I don't have Incredimail anymore, but what I do have is the last backup I made of Incredimail From 2010-2019 🙂 Having tried all the other ideas, (I thank you most kindly for) that don't work for me, or I have a corrupt windows mail?? OK here's the thing...When Incredimail went bust, the only email program I could import the backup to was Outlook, I don't remember why I ended up using Windows mail (that's a confusing bunch of crap..lol )

So, I have given up trying to find my emails in Windows Mail, Sorry guys that were a stupid thing I did (somehow deleting My Folder) It's far better just to lose emails from 2019 onwards (IncrediMail backup from2010-2019) than it is to find all my mail in My Folder from 2010-2021...As I can't remember what I did to import the Incredimail backup that is in one file .ibk to Outlook I need to do some searching again to find how to do that.... If someone wants to wack me with a bat please feel free to do so lol!  Thanks again so much for all the help you gave 🙂

Steve

[albob]

On a positive note your experience has made me make sure I have  backed up my emails etc..... !

It is a warning to us all regarding windows 10 email programme..

[asim18]

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@swifty-one wrote:

I don't have Incredimail anymore, but what I do have is the last backup I made of Incredimail From 2010-2019 🙂

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A partial backup is better than no backup. I would recommend making a couple of copies of the backup file before you manipulate the file in any way.

From a little googling you might, just might be able to find some more emails in the following folder but this depends if you continued using incredimail after the final backup:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\IM

(AppData is usually a hidden directory so to access it you need to type it in the address bar)