Recover Deleted Emails or Files in Microsoft 365

Category: Microsoft 365 · Audience: Customers & Technicians · Est. time: 5–15 min

Summary

Deleted email and OneDrive/SharePoint files can usually be recovered by the user for a period of time, and by BBN for longer via the M365 admin tools and the BBN M365 Backup.

Recover deleted email (Outlook)

1. Open the Deleted Items folder — the item may simply be there. Right‑click → Move → Inbox.
2. If it's not there, use Recover items recently removed from this folder (top of the Deleted Items folder, or Folder → Recover Deleted Items in classic Outlook). This restores items emptied from Deleted Items (kept ~14–30 days).
3. On the web: outlook.office.com → Deleted Items → "Recover items deleted from this folder."

Recover deleted OneDrive / SharePoint files

1. Go to the OneDrive or SharePoint site in a browser → Recycle bin (left menu). Select the file → Restore.
2. Not there? Open the second‑stage recycle bin ("Deleted from end‑user Recycle Bin" at the bottom of the recycle bin page) — items linger there longer.
3. For a file that was changed (not deleted), use Version history: right‑click the file → Version history → restore an earlier version.

If the item is past the self‑service window

• BBN can restore it from the Microsoft 365 admin tools (mailbox/site retention) or from the BBN M365 Backup, which keeps long‑term, versioned copies of mail, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams.
• Open a ticket with BBN Support and include: the item name/subject, roughly when it was deleted, and the mailbox/site it was in. The sooner you ask, the more options we have.

Prevention

• Empty Deleted Items less aggressively; use folders/archive instead of delete for anything you might need.