You can restore lost and deleted mails in Yahoo Mail

Have you lost some emails from your Yahoo Mail account? Or, did you accidentally delete some emails from Yahoo Mail? And, have these lost or deleted mails been deleted from the Trash folder also? So, your lost or deleted mails have now gone forever. Luckily, you can still recover your lost or deleted emails from Yahoo Mail even if they have been deleted from the Trash folder also!!! Yes, what I am writing is absolutely true. I repeat, you can restore your lost and deleted mails in your Yahoo Mail account!!! Of course, conditions apply. But, the fact remains that it can be done. Keep reading.

This is what Yahoo Mail states in this regard:

“In some cases, we can restore lost or deleted emails. However, we cannot guarantee a successful restore, and there is a limited time frame in which a restore is possible.”

So, what are the caveats for restoring your deleted or lost emails in Yahoo! Mail?

• Yahoo Mail can restore only those lost or deleted emails that were lost in the last 48 hours. Mails lost or deleted prior to 48 hours cannot be restored. So, you’ve to be quick in reporting to Yahoo.
• A successful restoration of these lost emails is not guaranteed. Sometimes, such restoration may not succeed.
• When you request Yahoo to restore your lost or deleted emails, what Yahoo does to perform a restore operation is to return your Yahoo email account to exactly the same way it was when your missing messages were there. Therefore, any emails that were sent or received after that time will now be deleted, and these cannot be retrieved. For example, if you request restoration of your mails that were lost up to 24 hours back, allsubsequent emails that were sent by you or were received by you during last 24 hours would be lost now when Yahoo restores your account by putting the clock back by 24 hours on your email account. Since this “restore process causes your most recent emails and instant messages to be permanently deleted”, it is advisable that before you request Yahoo to restore your lost / deleted emails, you MUST backup your new emails sent or received after that time frame. In fact, it is advisable to backup all your new emails received or sent within the last 48 hours before you request Yahoo to restore your lost or deleted mails.

How does Yahoo restore your lost or deleted mails?

In fact, Yahoo simply restores your email account to as it existed at an older time (up to 48 hours maximum) on your request. Therefore, any new emails received or sent after that time will now be lost or deleted!!! It is due to this reason that first you should backup your new emails sent or received during last 48 hours in your Yahoo mail account, before you make a request to Yahoo to restore your lost or deleted emails.

How to backup your new emails during last 48 hours?

Since FREE Yahoo Mail does not support POP3 operations (of course, the paid version Yahoo! Mail Plus supports it), you can’t transfer these new mails to your computer by sending them to Outlook Express. However, to backup, you can forward these new emails to any other email account (including to another Yahoo Mail account). Second option is to print these new emails. Third option is to save these emails (individually) as a text file or as a PDF file (by printing them as PDF files) on your computer.

How to request Yahoo to restore your deleted or lost files?

Well, fill out this Yahoo Mail Restore Request Form. You’ll have to login to your Yahoo Mail account to fill out this form, if you’re not logged in already. Read this form carefully, take the precautions mentioned in this form, fill out your full details, etc., and then submit this form. Rest of the action will be taken by Yahoo Mail to restore your email account exactly to the same position as it was at an older time requested by you. This will restore or undelete your lost or deleted files when your email account is reverted to the old position. Have a look at an illustrative Restore Request Form that I filled out:

Yahoo Mail Restore Request Form - restore lost or deleted email messages

As mentioned already, you can restore your Yahoo Mail account by a maximum period of 48 hours only. So, act quickly if you happen to accidentally lose or delete your emails. Moreover, as the above picture shows, you’ve various time-period options for which to request for restoration of the Yahoo email account [such as 0-4 hours, 4-8 hours, 24-48 hours, etc.]. So, act fast!