How to Recover Deleted Emails in Yahoo Mail

Yahoo Mail moves deleted emails to Trash, but it only keeps them there for 7 days. After that they’re deleted automatically, and you can’t change that timeframe. If you’ve lost something, act today.

Restore from Trash on a computer

New Yahoo Mail

1. Open Yahoo Mail in a desktop browser.
2. Click the More icon on the left, below your folders, then select Trash.
3. Select the message you want back.
4. Click the Restore to Inbox icon.

New Yahoo Mail isn’t available in every region yet. If your screen looks different, use the classic steps.

Classic Yahoo Mail

1. From your inbox, click Trash.
2. Select the message.
3. Click the Move icon, then select Inbox.

Restore in the Yahoo Mail app

1. Tap your profile icon.
2. Swipe down and tap the Trash folder.
3. Select the email, then tap the Move icon.
4. Select Inbox. If you can’t see it, swipe up the menu to reveal it.

Check Spam too

Email you didn’t delete may have gone to Spam. Yahoo deletes Spam after 30 days, so it lasts longer than Trash — but it isn’t storage either. Move anything you want to keep back to your inbox.

Trash already emptied? Send a restore request

Yahoo has a restore request form on its “Recover lost or deleted emails” help page. You choose a point in time to restore your mailbox to.

• Only the last 7 days. Yahoo can only restore messages lost or deleted in the past 7 days — no matter when you originally received them.
• What can come back: emails that were in Trash, Sent, Archive or your own folders.
• What can’t: emails from Spam or Drafts, and non-email items such as marketing deals or coupons.
• A request can’t be cancelled, and Yahoo says restorations aren’t always successful.

After a restore, look in your Trash first if you can’t see the messages, then move them to the right folder so they aren’t deleted again.

Avoid losing email again

• Don’t use Trash or Spam to keep anything — 7 and 30 days go fast.
• Check your Yahoo Mail filters: a filter can send new mail straight to Trash.
• If email keeps vanishing and you didn’t delete it, someone else may have access — see Yahoo Mail security.

Using another service? See Gmail (30 days) or Outlook.com.