How to Stop Outlook Automatically Deleting Emails from Inbox and Prevent Issues

Why Outlook Automatically Deletes Emails

Outlook, like many other email clients, has built-in features to manage your inbox and prevent it from becoming cluttered. One such feature is automatic email deletion. This can occur due to various reasons, including:

• Archive Settings: Outlook allows you to automatically archive old emails to reduce inbox clutter. Once archived, these emails are still accessible but moved to a separate folder. You can customize the archive settings to specify how often emails are archived and where they are stored.
• Delete Rules: You may have created rules that automatically delete emails based on specific criteria, such as sender, subject, or keywords. These rules can be very useful for managing large volumes of email, but they can also accidentally delete important messages.

• Storage Limits: If your email account has a storage limit, Outlook may automatically delete older emails to free up space. This is common for web-based email accounts like Outlook.com or Gmail.
• Software Bugs or Glitches: In rare cases, software bugs or glitches can cause unexpected email deletion. This can be especially problematic if you're using an older version of Outlook or if your system is experiencing performance issues.

How to Stop Outlook Automatically Deleting Emails from Inbox

To prevent Outlook from automatically deleting your emails, follow these steps:

Solution 1. Check and Disable AutoArchive

• Open Outlook and go to File > Options-> Advanced.

• In the AutoArchive section, click on AutoArchive Settings.

• Uncheck the Run AutoArchive every n days box.

Solution 2. Check Deletion Policies

• Right-click on each folder (Inbox, Sent Items, and any personalized folders) and select Properties.

• In the appearing dialogue box, open the AutoArchive tab.

• Ensure that Do not archive items in this folder is checked.

• Click OK to save the changes.

Solution 3. Disable Empty Deleted Items on Exit

• Go to File > Options.

• Select Advanced.

• Under the Outlook Start and Exit section, make sure the option Empty Deleted Items folders when exiting Outlook is unchecked.

Solution 4. Check Account Synchronization Settings

• Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings.

• Select your email account and click Change.

• Ensure the Mail to keep offline slider is set to All.

Solution 5. Review and Modify Delete Rules

• Open Outlook and go to File > Manage Rules & Alerts.
• In the Email Rules tab, review the existing rules and modify or delete any rules that are causing unwanted email deletion.
• To create a new rule, click New Rule. Use the Rule Wizard to create a rule that meets your specific needs. For example, you can create a rule to move emails from certain senders to a specific folder instead of deleting them.

Solution 6. Increase Storage Limit (If Applicable)

If your email account has a storage limit, consider upgrading your plan or contacting your email provider to increase the limit. This can be a good option if you frequently receive large email attachments or if you need to keep a large number of emails.

Solution 7. Check For Software Issues

If you're still experiencing unexpected email deletion, try repairing your Outlook profile or reinstalling the software. Keep your Outlook software and operating system up-to-date to address potential bugs and security vulnerabilities.

Bonus Tip: How to Manage and Back Up Outlook Emails

This article clarifies “how to stop Outlook automatically deleting emails from inbox”. If you’re considering backing up your Outlook, MultCloud can be extremely useful. Trusted by over 3 million users, MultCloud is a multi-cloud management tool that facilitates the transfer or synchronization of files between various cloud services. Now, it has released the Email Migration feature for backing up important emails to local or cloud drives.

For instance, you can save your Outlook emails as PDFs to your computer or cloud drives, such as Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox, in bulk. MultCloud also enables you to access and manage all your cloud or Email accounts via a single application. Currently, it supports more than 30 different cloud services, including Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, Google Photos, iCloud Photos, FTP, WebDav, and more.