Why do deleted emails keep coming back in Outlook?
Published On - April 16, 2024
Microsoft Outlook is an advanced email client used to send and receive emails. It also provides access to email, calendar, contact, and task management features. However, email deletion helps to maintain and organize mail items by removing redundant and spam emails. Deleting emails lowers energy consumption and carbon footprints.
In Outlook, when the user deletes the emails, instead of permanent deletion, the email is moved to the Deleted Items folder and gets removed automatically after 30 days. If the user wants to reduce the data file size to improve Outlook’s performance, then emptying the deleted folder is required.
But sometimes, deleted emails come back in Outlook in the mailbox continuously, which means that the Outlook data file (.ost) is not synchronizing. This issue needs to be fixed, but before going further, let’s look at the causes of the synchronizing issue in Outlook.
Causes for synchronization issue in Outlook
These are some common causes that keep back the deleted email in the Outlook mailbox.
- Email recovery feature
- Misconfigured email clients
- Faulty add-ins issues
- Corrupted OST file
This section will explain different manual methods to resolve the issue of deleted emails coming back in Outlook. You’re advised to try methods one by one.
Misconfigured or damaged Microsoft Office programs may cause the malfunctioning of Outlook and result in keeping back the deleted emails. Some simple steps help to configure the MS Office:
Step 1. Open the Control Panel and select program and features .
Step 2.Select Microsoft Office from the program list and click on Change
Step 3. Choose the Repair option and click the Continue button.
Restart the Outlook application and check if the issue is resolved or not.
Sometimes, the subscribed email folder creates synchronization issues in Outlook due to bad internet connection, oversized PST files, etc. Unsubscribe unnecessary email folders from the Outlook mailbox. Follow the steps below:
Step 1. In the Home section, right-click on the email folder , such as Inbox and choose IMAP folders .
Step 2.Click on the Query button in the Subscribe tab and select the folder location where deleted emails are reverting.
Step 3. Click the Unsubscribe button and click OK to confirm.
After unsubscribing the IMAP folders, delete emails and check whether the emails are coming back or not.
If a faulty or incompatible add-in is present in Outlook, then it may result in a synchronization issue. Follow the steps below to find and remove the incompatible
Step 1. Open Outlook in safe mode and choose File .
Step 2.Select Option , then Add-Ins , then choose the Go button.
Step 3. Now, uncheck all add-ins checkboxes and check whether the issue has been resolved or not.
Step 4. Activate the add-ins one by one and observe if the error persists again due to faulty add-ins; remove them immediately.
Recreating and rebuilding the damaged OST files may fix the synchronization issue that reverts the deleted emails. Follow the below steps to recreate the deleted emails in Outlook:
Step 1. In the Run window, type %localappdata%/Microsoft/Outlook, and click the OK button
Step 2.Locate the Outlook data file (.OST) file and rename the file with the .bak extension.
Step 3. Now, Restart Outlook. Outlook will not find the renamed file, so a new OST file will be generated.
Note: It is not very sure that these methods may resolve your issue, but they work efficiently in Outlook. If you’re still facing this issue, it means your OST file is severely damaged,corrupted and inaccessible, and this corruption can be resolved by converting the OST file into PST format
When your OST file is severely corrupted or damaged, only the conversion of OST to PST can give the proper resolution and access to the file. Recoveryfix for OST to PST Converter software retrieves corrupted, lost, and inaccessible OST data and recovers entire OST data, including emails, tasks, contacts, calendar, etc., and deleted emails into PST format and other file formats.
Wrap up
In conclusion, if any issue exists with the OST file in Outlook, then the conversion process of the OST file to a PST file becomes necessary for access and resolution. However, the Recoveryfix for OST to PST Converter tool efficiently retrieves the data with integrity. This tool also converts multiple Outlook OST files to PST format and migrates OST files to Office 365, Live Exchange, Outlook, Gmail, and other IMAP servers.
