Cannot retrieve missing emails

[jmt356]

Outlook crashed yesterday my Outlook.pst file was corrupted. I ran a repair and just found that six days of my emails (23-30 Sept.) are missing.

I saved a backup file named Outlook_Backup, but Outlook cannot open it. I am receiving an error message that states that "The file you chose is not an Outlook Data File." In fact, Outlook_Backup is not a backup file. Properties states "File" under Type of file.

Is there a way to retrieve the emails in Outlook_Backup?

If not, is it possible to redownload the emails from the server from 23-30 Sept.? The email accounts are POP/SMTP.

[DaveA]

This is the first that I have heard about Outlook backup.
I con not find it in Outlook 365, what steps did you do to make this backup?

Also NOTE that Outlook 2003 is no longer supported if that is what you are using

[jmt356]

I am using Outlook 365. I didn't take steps. I was prompted to confirm where to save the backup before the repair ran.

[DaveA]

By Googling I see that one must do a restore of the backup file.
See https://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/bac ... estore.htm

[JoeP]

If you were using the Inbox repair tool, the backup file is just a copy of the original file before repairs were attempted. So, it is a copy of the corrupted file. If you rename it with a .pst at the extension Outlook will most likely tell you is corrupted.

Whether or not you can still access the emails on the server depends on your settings. See if you can access them via web access. If you can "send" them to yourself again. Outlook should download them then.

[kdock]

Is your Outlook file backed up via a computer backup?

You usually can retrieve email a second or third time from your POP server, but it depends on how you've configured Outlook to manage your email. There's a setting in Outlook that lets you determine how long your server should keep your emails after you've deleted them. I think the default is 14 days. If you can mark the email as Not Read, Outlook will pull them again. You should be able to have this access via a webmail, browser-based interface and webmail reader set up on your server (such as Roundcube).

More info on your mail server would help.

Kim

[jmt356]

JoeP:
I renamed Outlook_Backup to Outlook_Backup.pst. Outlook did in fact state it was corrupted and tried to run the repair tool all over again, which I declined.

All of my emails are still available on the Gmail server, but I am unable to figure out how to redownload the missing emails. It seems that with POP3, once they are downloaded, they cannot be downloaded again. I could forward each individual email to myself, but that will take a long time and will cause the emails to be sorted by the date they were forwarded, not the date they were actually sent and received.

Kdock:
My Outlook file is backed up on an external hard drive. Trying to mount that Outlook file and open it in Outlook to retrieve a missing contact is what caused Outlook to crash on Thursday and got me into this mess to begin with. There is also an Outlook_Backup file saved on my local drive, which appears to be corrupt.
My server settings are set to keep all copies of my emails on my server.
I am using Gmail. Are you saying that if I mark my emails as unread on the Gmail server, they will be re-downloaded? My emails are all marked as unread on the Gmail server because I don’t read them on mail.google.com. I read them on Outlook after I download them. Some are read and some are unread in Outlook. However, that does not impact whether I can re-download them. It appears once they are downloaded once, they cannot be re-downloaded.

[HansV]

See Redownload a message from the mail server. You can move multiple messages instead of one of course.

[kdock]

Yes, you can select all emails that are missing, mark them as unread, and Outlook should redownload them. So, this or Hans' method ought to get you where you want to go.

Best, Kim