How long does outlook keep mail
Outlook, like many other email services, has a retention policy for deleted emails. This means that even after you delete an email, it may still be stored on Microsoft's servers for a certain period of time.
The length of time Outlook keeps deleted emails varies depending on the type of account you have and the settings you've chosen. Here are some general guidelines:
- Hotmail and Outlook.com accounts: Deleted emails are typically kept for 30 days before they are permanently deleted. During this time, you can recover them by going to the "Deleted Items" folder and clicking "Recover" next to the email you want to restore.
- Outlook.com accounts with 2-factor authentication: If you have 2-factor authentication enabled on your Outlook.com account, deleted emails are kept for 60 days before they are permanently deleted.
- Microsoft 365 and Office 365 accounts: Deleted emails are typically kept for 30 days before they are permanently deleted. However, if you have a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 account with a retention policy set up, deleted emails may be kept for a longer period of time (up to 30 years).
- Exchange accounts: If you have an Exchange account, deleted emails are typically kept for 30 days before they are permanently deleted. However, if you have a retention policy set up on your Exchange account, deleted emails may be kept for a longer period of time.
It's worth noting that even if an email is deleted, it may still be stored on Microsoft's servers for a short period of time before it is permanently deleted. This is because Microsoft may need to retain the email for legal or regulatory purposes.
If you're concerned about the length of time Outlook keeps deleted emails, you can adjust your account settings to change the retention period. For example, you can set up a retention policy for your Outlook.com account to keep deleted emails for a longer or shorter period of time.