recovering deleted emails?

[jenb]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: Exchange

Like a giant dope, I accidentally deleted ALL the subfolders beneath my inbox in Entourage. These folders contained hundreds, nay thousands, of work emails I had moved off the exchange server and onto my computer's inbox to keep my exchange inbox size under control. The hard drive inbox was collapsed, so when I mindlessly dragged it to the "deleted items" and then permanently deleted, I only realized my error once windows began popping up saying how many items were being deleted. (Lesson: Do not try to clean up inbox files at 6pm on a Friday evening, when you should be stepping away from the computer and having a beer.)

I'm screwed if I can't recover these. I had tons of needed information filed away. Is there any way to recover permanently deleted messages that were saved on the computer? Please say yes.

thanks...

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

Like a giant dope, I accidentally deleted ALL the subfolders beneath
my inbox in Entourage. These folders contained hundreds, nay
thousands, of work emails I had moved off the exchange server and
onto my computer's inbox to keep my exchange inbox size under
control. The hard drive inbox was collapsed, so when I mindlessly
dragged it to the "deleted items" and then permanently deleted, I
only realized my error once windows began popping up saying how many
items were being deleted. (Lesson: Do not try to clean up inbox files
at 6pm on a Friday evening, when you should be stepping away from the
computer and having a beer.)

I'm screwed if I can't recover these. I had tons of needed
information filed away. Is there any way to recover permanently
deleted messages that were saved on the computer? Please say yes.

You're using Exchange, which is your saving grace. You have a couple of
options.

Exchange, by default, has a kind of hidden Deleted Items where your
messages move when you delete them from your account. For a few messages
you can log into Outlook Web Access (OWA), select Options on the left
and scroll to the very bottom where you can Recover Deleted Items.
Depending on your server's settings these messages can go back weeks or
even months.

The downside to using Recover Deleted Items is that your folder
structure is not preserved. I'm not sure if this utility has more
functionality when viewing OWA with IE on Windows. If you have the
ability then check there as well.

Your second option is to contact your company's or your service
provider's Help Desk and request they restore your account. Keep track
of all new messages. They may have to restore an older mailbox from
backup, which means your newly received messages will be gone.

Hope this helps and good luck!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[Roberto Franceschetti]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: Exchange

Like a giant dope, I accidentally deleted ALL the subfolders beneath my inbox
in Entourage. These folders contained hundreds, nay thousands, of work emails
I had moved off the exchange server and onto my computer's inbox to keep my
exchange inbox size under control. The hard drive inbox was collapsed, so when
I mindlessly dragged it to the "deleted items" and then permanently deleted, I
only realized my error once windows began popping up saying how many items
were being deleted. (Lesson: Do not try to clean up inbox files at 6pm on a
Friday evening, when you should be stepping away from the computer and having
a beer.)

I'm screwed if I can't recover these. I had tons of needed information filed
away. Is there any way to recover permanently deleted messages that were saved
on the computer? Please say yes.

thanks...

In addition to Bill's suggestion, do you have Time Machine (or another
backup solution) running? If so, you can recover the Entourage database file
under:
Macintosh HD/Users/your_username/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008
Identities/Main Identity/Database