This wikiHow teaches you how to restore email from the " Trash " folder to your inbox in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and Apple Mail. Unfortunately, in general you cannot restore or recover deleted emails from the “Trash” folder.
Step
Method 1 of 8: Using Gmail Mobile App Version
Step 1. Open Gmail
Tap the Gmail app icon, which looks like a red “M” on a white envelope. After that, your Gmail inbox will be displayed if you're already signed in to your account.
If not, enter your account email address and password before continuing
Step 2. Touch
It's in the top-left corner of the screen. After that, a pop-out menu will be displayed.
Step 3. Touch Trash
It's at the bottom of the pop-out menu.
Step 4. Find the email you want to restore/recover
Scroll through the “Trash” folder until you find the right email.
Step 5. Select the email
Touch and hold the email you want to restore.
If you want to select more than one email, tap the other message after selecting the first message
Step 6. Touch
It's in the upper-right corner of the screen. After that, a drop-down menu will be displayed.
On the Android device, touch the button
Step 7. Touch Move to
It's at the top of the drop-down menu.
Step 8. Touch Inbox or Primary.
You'll see one of these options at the top of the menu, depending on your email settings. Once the option is touched, the selected message will be returned to the inbox.
Method 2 of 8: Using the Desktop Site Version of Gmail
Step 1. Open your Gmail inbox
Visit https://www.gmail.com/ via a browser. After that, the inbox page will be displayed if you are already logged in to your account.
If not, enter your Gmail email address and account password before continuing
Step 2. Click Trash
This option is on the left side of your inbox.
Step 3. Find the email you want to restore
Scroll through the “Trash” folder until you find the right email.
You may need to use the arrow in the upper right corner of the “Trash” folder to go to a new page if the “Trash” folder contains more than 50 emails
Step 4. Select the emails you want to restore
Click the checkbox to the left of the email you want to return to your inbox.
Step 5. Click the "Move to" button
This folder icon is at the top of the Gmail window, below the search bar. Once clicked, a drop-down menu will appear.
Step 6. Click Inbox
This option is in the drop-down menu. After that, the selected message will be moved to the inbox.
The recovered messages will be placed back in the inbox in chronological order
Method 3 of 8: Using Mobile Version of Outlook
Step 1. Open Outlook
Touch the Outlook app icon, which looks like a white Outlook icon on a dark blue background. After that, the inbox page will open if you are already logged in to your account.
If not, enter your account email address and password before continuing
Step 2. Touch the button
It's in the top-left corner of the screen. Once touched, a pop-out menu will appear on the left side of the screen.
Step 3. Touch Deleted Items
It's in the pop-out menu.
Step 4. Find the email you want to recover
Browse the contents of the “Deleted Items” folder until you find the message you want to restore.
Step 5. Touch and hold the message
After that, the message will be selected.
If you want to select more than one message after selecting the first message, just touch the other message
Step 6. Touch the “Move” icon
This folder icon is at the bottom of the screen.
Step 7. Touch Inbox
It's at the top of the “Move” menu. Once touched, the selected message will be returned to the inbox
The recovered messages will be placed back in the inbox in chronological order
Method 4 of 8: Using the Desktop Site Version of Outlook
Step 1. Open your Outlook inbox
Visit https://www.outlook.com/ in a browser. After that, the inbox page will be displayed if you are already logged in to your account.
If not, enter your account email address and password when prompted
Step 2. Click Deleted Items
This tab is on the left side of the page. Once clicked, the “Deleted Emails” page will be opened.
If the option is not displayed, click the “☰” button in the top left corner of the page to display it
Step 3. Find the email you want to restore
Browse through the contents of the “Deleted Items” folder until you find the email you want to recover.
If you don't find the email you want, but you know that it was deleted in the last 14 days, you can still recover the email. If you're using the beta version of Outlook, please disable the beta first before restoring messages
Step 4. Select the message
Hover over the message, then click the circle in the upper left corner of the message to select it
If you're not using the beta version of Outlook, click the checkbox in the upper-left corner of the message that you want to select
Step 5. Click Restore
It's at the top of the “Outlook” page, just below the “Search” bar. Once clicked, the selected message will be returned to the inbox.
The recovered messages will be placed back in the inbox in chronological order
Method 5 of 8: Using Yahoo Mobile App Version
Step 1. Open Yahoo Mail
Tap the Yahoo Mail app icon, which looks like a white envelope on a purple background. After that, the Yahoo Mail inbox page will open if you're already signed in to your account.
If not, enter your account email address and password when prompted
Step 2. Touch
It's in the top-left corner of the screen. After that, a pop-out menu will be displayed.
Step 3. Swipe the screen and touch Trash
It's at the bottom of the pop-out menu.
Step 4. Find the message you want to recover
Scroll through the “Trash” folder until you find the right email.
Step 5. Select the email
Touch and hold the email you want to select. After that, a check mark will be displayed on the left side of the message.
If you want to select more than one message, touch the other messages you want to select
Step 6. Touch the “Move” icon
This folder icon is at the bottom of the screen. Once touched, a pop-up menu will appear.
Step 7. Touch Inbox
It's at the top of the pop-up menu. After that, the selected message will be returned to the Yahoo inbox.
The recovered messages will be placed back in the inbox in chronological order
Method 6 of 8: Using Yahoo Desktop Site Version
Step 1. Open the Yahoo Mail site
Visit https://mail.yahoo.com/ in a browser. After that, the Yahoo inbox page will be displayed if you are already signed in to your account.
If not, enter your account email address and password before continuing
Step 2. Click Trash
This option is on the left side of the page. Once clicked, the “Trash” folder will be opened.
Step 3. Find the email you want to recover
Browse the contents of the “Trash” folder until you find the right email.
Step 4. Select the emails you want to recover
Click the checkbox to the left of each message that you want to recover.
Step 5. Click Restore to Inbox
It's at the top of your inbox. After that, the selected message will be returned to the Inbox or “Inbox” folder.
The recovered messages will be placed back in the inbox in chronological order
Method 7 of 8: Using Apple Mail on a Mobile Device
Step 1. Open Mail
Touch the Mail app icon which looks like a white envelope on a light blue background.
Step 2. Touch Trash
It's at the bottom of the page. After that, the “Trash” folder will be displayed.
If the Mail app immediately displays the inbox, touch “ < iCloud ” in the upper left corner of the screen first.
Step 3. Touch the message you want to recover
Browse the contents of the “Trash” folder until you find the message you want to restore.
Step 4. Touch Edit
It's in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Step 5. Touch each message you want to recover
After that, the message will be selected.
Step 6. Touch Move
It's at the bottom of the screen. Once touched, a menu will be displayed.
Step 7. Touch Inbox
It's at the top of the menu. Now, the selected messages will be returned to the inbox or “Inbox” folder.
The recovered messages will be placed back in the inbox in chronological order
Method 8 of 8: Using Apple Mail on a Desktop Computer
Step 1. Open the iCloud Mail website
Visit https://www.icloud.com/#mail in a browser. The Apple Mail inbox page will appear if you're signed in to your iCloud account.
If you're not signed in to your iCloud account yet, type in your Apple ID and password, then click the → button
Step 2. Click Trash
This option is on the left side of the page.
Step 3. Find the message you want to recover
Browse the “Trash” folder until you find the right message.
Step 4. Select the message
Click the email you want to restore.
To select multiple emails, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) while clicking each email
Step 5. Click
It's a blue folder icon at the top of the “iCloud Mail” window. After that, a drop-down menu will be displayed.
Step 6. Click Inbox
It's at the top of the drop-down menu. Now, the selected message will be moved back to the inbox.
Messages that have been recovered will be placed back in the inbox in chronological order
Tips
- If you delete messages from the trash or “Trash” folder while using an e-mail service on a shared server (eg school server), you may be able to ask your system administrator or IT department to return the records.
- Although it's rare, messages stored in a desktop email management program (eg Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.) can be recovered using a data recovery program. This can only be done if you haven't downloaded any programs or created other files between the message deletion and the restore point/time.
