Recover "deleted" junk mail

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Recover "deleted" junk mail

I wanted to move some e-mails from one folder to another. Because the e-mails were in a subfolder of a folder mail wouldn't allow them to be moved directly so I thought I'd just temporarily dump them into the junk folder and then move from there. Oops, bad idea. When I opened the junk folder I saw the e-mails being systematically deleted one by one. I looked in my mail trash folder and they we're there. I couldn't find them anywhere in any mail folder.

I don't knowingly have any automatic deletion of junk mail option set so I have no idea what happened. But, I thought I'll just go to Time machine and open up yesterday's mail to get the deleted e-mail messages back. Alas, I can't find any reference to mail in Time machine.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to get the e-mails back.

For reference I'm using Mail on an iMac running Big Sur 11.7 and Mail 14.0 (3654.120.0.1.13)

Posted on Dec 2, 2022 9:20 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

DerekM87

Community Specialist

Dec 5, 2022 8:41 AM in response to John - Proj

Hi John,

If the missing messages don't show in the Trash folder, you can try checking in Time Machine by having the Mail app open on the folder you wish to recover messages from, in this case the Junk folder. Then from the menu bar, click the Time Machine icon and select "Enter Time Machine".

If there are backups to recover, Time Machine should open directly into the Mail app Junk folder and you can then restore your files.

Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

If they're not there, they would not be able to be recovered.

Take care.

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Answer 2

Jeff_W.

Community Specialist

Dec 5, 2022 1:28 PM in response to John - Proj

Hi John,

Thanks for the update. If you should need further help, we would advise contacting Apple Support using this link:

Contact - Official Apple Support

They will be in the best position to assist further.

Cheers!

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Answer 3

John - Proj Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 5, 2022 10:53 AM in response to DerekM87

DerekM87,

Thanks for responding. I opened Mail and selected the Junk folder. Then I opened time machine but instead of going to the Junk folder in time machine it went to All inboxes and showed all those messages. I could not select the Junk folder in time machine. I tried again and this time it showed what is currently in my Junk folder. I must be doing something wrong because even when I select my inbox and go to time machine, it shows what is currently in my inbox, even when I go back to last week when several of those messages weren't there.

However, I've determined those messages I dumped in the Junk folder for "temporary" storage are not critical as I do have an e-mail "trail" retained in the last e-mail on that subject and I still have that.

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Recover "deleted" junk mail

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