Lost Inbox and Sent Items e-mails

[Helen10]

I have lost all Inbox e-mails prior to 30/09/22 and all Sent Items e-mails that were sent from Outlook (from a different device). They are not visible on web version of BT e-mail or in Outlook (which is just mirroring) on current device

Searching the community, I see this is a frequently recurring problem but that it can be resolved by BT via the community moderators

Please can both sets of messages be recovered ASAP as there is significant critical information within them

Many thanks in advance

[gg30340]

If the emails are not showing when you log onto BTMail webmail using a browser it means that the emails have been deleted from the BT Servers and will not able to be recovered.

It may be the case that the moderators will be able to check to see which device deleted the emails but it is unlikely that they will be able to recover them for you if they are not on the BT servers.

I have notified the moderators of the forum about your problem. Once they have read this they may be able to help. They are very busy at present so it can take up to 48 hours for them to contact you. They will do this by posting on this thread.

[NeilO]

Hi @Helen10 thanks for posting. @gg30340 is correct if the emails are no longer on webmail at www.bt.com/email then they've been deleted from the server and unfortunately can't be recovered. Were there any changes to Outlook or any of your other email clients on the 30/09/22 as the deletion request has likely come from a device you use to access your BT emails?

Thanks

Neil

[Helen10]

No there were no changes to anything on 30 September 2022 and all e-mails were still available up to 14 October 2022 (i.e. 2 days ago) in my Outlook Inbox and Sent Items on my previous laptop. I hadn't checked Webmail for some time as use Outlook but as the Outlook Inbox was synchronsing from the BT server, I would expect all to have been available on Webmail too.

There is now only a 'Sent' folder i.e. not Sent Items folder on webmail and this new laptop's Outlook which contains very old e-mails that were sent via 'Sent' rather than 'Sent Items' many years ago when using Webmail on another device (netbook)

The only change is me replacing my laptop today and when I have used Outlook on this and looked at Webmail, all Sent Items have disappeared (including since 30 September 2022) and all Inbox items prior to 30 September 2022.  I have not deleted any e-mails from the Server for a very, very, very long time (i.e. many years).

I don't get why logging into Webmail and Outlook from a different device would coincide with most of my Inbox and all my Sent Items disappearing from BT servers? 

[gg30340]

Have you checked to see if Outlook on your new laptop, which you have set up Outlook on, has Outlook set up as an IMAP or POP 3 account and if it has the settings to keep downloaded items on the server?

[Helen10]

Is set up as IMAP/SMTP

Downloaded items visible in Outlook are all visible on the server (Webmail), so does not appear to be doing anything to remove downloaded items from the server

And anyway, the new laptop Outlook (and Webmail) has no items prior to 30 September 2022, it was the old laptop that showed all items - Inbox and Sent Items - see previous messages

The problem is with historical items prior to the new laptop and Outlook so not sure how this helps?

There remains the overlap between 30 Sept 22 and Friday between the old laptop and Outlook and the new (for Inbox, Sent Items is just not there at all)- so unclear what there could be about the new Outlook set-up that would cause this

Also I looked at Webmail on my Fire this morning prior to setting up the new laptop (and Outlook) and the same Inbox and absent Sent Items were showing on that device as well. So does not appear linked to the new laptop or Outlook set-up

[asvora]

Hi, around the same date i too lost all my emails from the "sent" folder. I login either via browser or phone app. And I haven't intentionally or accidentally triggered a "delete". I just happened to go to my sent folder to pull out an earlier email... and I discovered it empty barring last 1 week's mails. Wondering has something gone wrong in BT servers?

[Helen10]

Thanks for posting, does not appear to be an isolated incident around those dates then

[asvora]

Does BT mail admin or support team read our posts? Is there a way to get their attention and response?

Thanks

[gg30340]

This is a BT residential customer to customer forum. Your post does not go to BT. The only BT staff are the forum moderators who do not necessarily read all the posts.