Several Microsoft Outlook users on different forums have reported encountering the “Outlook inbox emails disappeared” issue. Here are some user queries:
Query 1:
“An important email containing travel bookings I made for a colleague has literally disappeared from my inbox. I know I received it. I opened it on Friday to confirm the details. Now it’s gone. I’ve checked, the archive, junk, and deleted folders. It’s not there. Any suggestions?”
Query 2:
“Trying to go through my emails and I can see that I have 19 unread emails in my inbox. At first they are there, then after a few seconds the whole inbox glitches out, then is empty. If I click on another folder like my sent, or junk box, then switch back to my inbox, I can see all of my unread emails for a moment, then again everything disappears.“
Query 3:
“My emails from the inbox all disappeared suddenly this morning. How can I get them back?”
Query 4:
“Inbox emails have disappeared since yesterday; however, new emails are coming old ones have vanished.”
From the above queries, it seems that the “Outlook inbox emails disappeared” issue is quite commonly faced by Outlook users. If you’re one such user, then you’re at the right place as in this guide you’ll get to know how to fix this issue and recover your disappeared or missing emails from Outlook.
Causes of the Outlook Inbox Emails Disappeared Issue
The inbox emails in Outlook can disappear due to several reasons, such as:
- Incorrect POP or IMAP settings can lead to missing emails
- Syncing issues between mobile and desktop can cause unintended deletions or cause emails to temporarily not appear
- Incorrect filter settings, sorting settings, or rules
- Incorrect view settings
- Corrupt Outlook profile can result in missing emails
- You might be using an incorrect email account (if managing multiple accounts)
- Inactivity in your Outlook account can lead to missing emails
- Security applications, like Antivirus software or firewall, can interface with Outlook functionality
- Automatic archiving is enabled and older emails are moved to an archive folder
- Mail offline settings are set to shorter duration
Solutions to Fix Inbox Emails Disappeared Issue and Recover the Missing Emails in Outlook
Follow these solutions to fix the issue of Outlook emails disappearing from the Inbox and recover the missing/disappeared emails.
Solution 1 – Check the Deleted Items Folder in Outlook
First, check the Deleted Items folder for the missing or disappeared emails. It’s possible that you may have accidentally deleted the emails from the Inbox folder. If found in the Deleted Items, select the emails and move them to the desired folder.
If emails are not found in the Deleted Items folder, you can still recover them. Follow these steps:
- Under the Home menu, click Recover Deleted Items from Server.
- Select the mail items you want to restore and click OK. Make sure the Restore Selected Items option is selected.
- The restored mail items will appear in the Deleted Items folder. From there, you can move them to the Inbox folder.
Solution 2 – Review and Update Outlook Email Rules
Incorrect rules may move the incoming emails to another folder and affect how Outlook stores and displays the emails. Thus, check if any rule is causing the discrepancy.The steps are as follows:
- Open Outlook and go to Rules.
- Select Manage Rules and Alerts….
- Check if all the rules defined by you are correct.
- You can double-click on a rule to open further details and change various conditions to fix any incorrectly defined rule.
You can change, edit, or delete a rule if it is incorrect.
Solution 3 – Find and Restore Archived Emails in Outlook
When you archive emails, the emails are removed from the mailbox and stored in an archive folder/file. If you are looking for older emails that may have been archived, check your archive folder. If found, you can move them to your mailbox. For this, right-click on the emails, click Move > Other Folder, and choose the Inbox folder.
Solution 4 – Fix Profile Errors by Creating a New Outlook Profile
Replacing corrupt or damaged profile can also quickly resolve such issues in Outlook and may help you get back your emails stuck between the mailbox server and your Outlook client. Follow the steps below to create a new Outlook profile:
- Open Control Panel and close Outlook.
- Click Mail > Show Profiles… and then click the Add button.
- Type the new profile name and click OK.
- Configure your email account in this new profile.
- Once set up, Outlook will create a new PST file and start synchronizing the mail items from the mailbox server.
After the synchronization is finished, check your Inbox folder for emails. If disappeared emails are visible, you may remove your old profile. However, if this didn’t fix the issue and emails are still missing, do not remove your old profile as it will also delete the default PST file that may contain emails you are looking for.
Solution 5 – Remove Filters Hiding Emails in Outlook
You can also try resetting and clearing all the filters that might be preventing Outlook from displaying emails. The steps are as follows:
- In Outlook and go to View > View Settings.
- Click Clear All and click OK > OK.
- Once done, restart Outlook.
- Go to Send/Receive and click Update Folder.
- Also, click Send/Receive All Folders.
Then check your Inbox for disappeared emails.
Solution 6 – Adjust Offline Mail Settings
Outlook’s offline mail settings determine how much email data is stored locally. If the duration in “Keep Mail Offline” slider is set too short, for example 2 months, older emails may not appear in the Inbox. In such a case, you can check and increase the duration in Offline Mail settings. Here’s how to do so:
- In your Outlook application, click File, click the Account Settings dropdown, and select Account Settings…
- In Account Settings, click Change.
- In Change Account window, under Account Settings, under Offline Settings, increase the duration of “Keep Mail Offline for” to 1 year or more.
- Click Next and then click Finish.
Solution 7 – Repair Damaged PST File with Inbox Repair Tool
A partially damaged or inconsistent PST file may also lead to such issues as it fails to store new mail items. To overcome this situation, you can use Inbox Repair Tool or SCANPST.EXE tool that comes with the Microsoft Office to fix the PST file errors. The steps are as follows:
- Go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16 or C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16 and launch SCANPST.EXE. Here, change the Office version number with your application version.
- Click Browse and select the PST file.
- Click Start. This will scan the PST for errors.
- Click Repair to fix the PST file errors. This may take a while.
- Once done, restart Outlook, go to Send/Receive, and click Update Folder.
Check the Inbox for the disappeared emails.
Solution 8 – Use Specialized Software to Repair PST and Recover Missing/Deleted Emails
If the SCANPST.EXE failed to fix the PST file due to severe damage or large size, you can use Stellar Repair for Outlook – an advanced Outlook PST repair tool. This software can effectively repair severely corrupt, encrypted, or large-sized PST file and recovers all the mail items, including those that are deleted from the Inbox. It saves the mail items recovered from the repaired PST file to a new PST file which you can import into your Outlook account. Further, it also allows exporting the recovered mail items directly to an existing PST file or Office 365.
Conclusion
Usually, emails disappeared when you accidentally delete or archive them in Outlook. It may also be an indicator of your account being compromised and used by someone else without your authorization. Further, incorrect settings, rules, and filters may also give the impression that emails are disappearing. You can fix these by following the solutions discussed in this blog and restore disappeared emails to your Outlook Inbox folder. If you have deleted emails and can’t restore them using Outlook options, use the Outlook repair tool discussed in this blog to scan the PST file and recover all mail items, including the deleted emails.
