How to Recover Old Hotmail Emails from Outlook [Answer]

We’re sad to inform you that, well, you probably won’t be able to restore emails you’ve lost due to a transition from Hotmail to Outlook.

A lot, and we mean a lot of users, have experienced this problem, losing years-old items and emails in the process.

The process is seemingly irreversible, and all server-stored items were wiped clean after Outlook replaced Hotmail as a go-to email client.

It’s fair to say affected users are furious about what happened with their emails but can they do something to restore at least some emails?

Use a different email client

If you switched to Outlook email from Hotmail and all the emails are gone, we are very sorry. In case you were using a local email client, it might still have them stored locally, and you can retrieve them from your computer. 

If not, it’s a good time to think about using one. We recommend you look into the best Windows 10 email clients and pick your best bet.

The main benefit of a local email client is that it allows you to connect to multiple email addresses from just one Window.

On top of that, many of them include advanced search functions that will help you find any email by entering a few keywords. You can also find them based on images due to the implementations of OCR.

Worthwhile email clients provide really good security and data protection features, including end-to-end encryption and built-in anti-malware tools. Some of them even come with backup features.

Can I get back my old Hotmail emails?

Now, even though Microsoft support has a legal high ground with the license terms and agreements where they dismiss responsibility, users should have been more thoroughly informed about the negative outcome before the transition has been made. The license terms point we mentioned is:

“6. Services disruptions and backup
We strive to keep the Services up and running; however, all online services suffer occasional disruptions and outages, and Microsoft isn’t liable for any disruption or loss you may suffer as a result. You should regularly backup the Content that you store on the Services. Having a regular backup plan and following it can help you prevent loss of your Content. We make an effort to provide detailed service status on the Service status website (https://status.live.com).”

Now that the damage is done and there’s nothing we can do about that. Or almost nothing, as there might be something left in the Deleted items or Archive but that’s a long shot.

Also, you can restore even some items or emails which were deleted from the Deleted items folder, but those are preserved up to 30 days after the deletion.

You can also try contacting Outlook support but we would not hold high hopes. That’s just the way it is. We don’t like being the bearers of the bad news, but our educated guess is that retrieving your emails is not a possibility.

To ensure this doesn’t happen, be sure to visit our guide on how to migrate from Hotmail to Outlook without data loss.

And, on that note, we can wrap it up. What are your thoughts on this? Have you found a way to get your emails back? Tell us in the comments section below.