Folder with Entire Contents of Inbox has Disappeared

Question

Folder with Entire Contents of Inbox has Disappeared

CHarrison 0

Please help! I am in the process of switching jobs, and I am trying to move the contents of my inbox from my old work account to my new work business, as I am continuing the same work for the same client. Today, I added both accounts to my desktop Outlook app, then made a folder with all of the contents of my old inbox (about 40k emails) and attempted to move it to a folder in my new inbox. The process worked swimmingly for about 4 or 5 minutes, moving about 3,000 emails before it stopped, and provide an error code that the task could not be completed because the item being moved had already been deleted. I can now no longer find the contents of this folder anywhere and desperately need to before I no longer have access to my old inbox.

Are there any ways to get these emails back? I have searched through all of my other folders and trash and they are nowhere to be found.

Some additional information that is likely relevant:

Old email is Google Workspace that uses Google Workspace Sync to use Outlook (I have been using it like this for the duration of my employment).
New email is a new 365 for Business account.
I had also tried to do this same migration a couple of days ago using Thunderbird - I luckily had the forethought to take Thunderbird offline before trying to move the items in Outlook, So, faint silver lining here, is that I do still have access to that folder of emails in Thunderbird, but I'm afraid to but TB back online for fear that it may sync and delete the folder there as well. But the trove in TB isn't terribly helpful to me if I cannot reply from or forward those emails (many are active threads being discussed on behalf of the client).

Any thoughts or recommendations here on how to fix this mess? Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

1 answer

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Answer 1

Jayden-P 10,910 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @CHarrison

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Can you double check if you login into your Google Workspace on the web, can you still see your emails there? Check in your trash bin also.

If the emails are still there, it means your server still has a copy of your emails.

You can try resyncing your Google account into Outlook again. This time, use export to .pst feature to move the emails. Export from your Google account, then import to your Outlook business account.

Export emails, contacts, and calendar items to Outlook using a .pst file - Microsoft Support

Import email, contacts, and calendar from an Outlook .pst file - Microsoft Support

You mentioned you still have a copy of the email in Thunderbird, you can try export the emails as CSV (comma separated values) file, then import it to Outlook as well.

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Jayden-P 10,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-04T07:01:43.5366667+00:00

Hi @CHarrison

Any update from you?
CHarrison 0 Reputation points

2025-11-04T15:16:21.63+00:00

Thank you for the helpful info and for checking in. Checking all folders and all trash bins including on the web platform, I was not able to find the folder - I'm resigned to the idea that it is gone from there forever.

I was however able to make some progress with Thunderbird. I kept it offline and downloaded the folder to a local folder on my computer in .mbox format, and was then able to pull them back into a "local folder" in Thunderbird. I also have a copy of them saved local to the computer in .eml format, but I'm not sure those are needed. I now need to figure out how to move from the "local folder" on thunderbird into the new inbox so that they sync with my Microsoft account and ultimately to Outlook.
Jayden-P 10,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-04T16:27:00.6766667+00:00

Hi @CHarrison

Thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately, Classic Outlook does not have a built-in bulk import feature for .mbox, .eml files. Classic Outlook supports .pst and csv format for importing.
CHarrison 0 Reputation points

2025-11-04T18:01:59.9233333+00:00

Thank you. So I currently have both my new 365 email and my old GSuite email using outlook as my mail client for both with two separate inboxes. When I lose access to GSuite, is there a way to keep those emails in my Outlook without getting constant notifications that I need to log in?
Jayden-P 10,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-04T18:14:00.14+00:00

Hi @CHarrison

Totally yes. As I mentioned above, you can export your GSuite account into a pst file.(make sure to include subfolders if you want).

Export emails, contacts, and calendar items to Outlook using a .pst file - Microsoft Support

Choose where to save the .pst file (e.g. C:\Users\UserName\Documents\Old GSuite Mail.pst).

Complete the export, Outlook will copy all your emails locally in a .pst file.

Then you can import to your Outlook account.

File > Open & Export > Import/Export > Import Old GSuite Mail.pst.

When you finish all of the steps, you can remove your old GSuite account, so it won't prompt for login anymore.
Jayden-P 10,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-07T12:50:05.2633333+00:00

Hi @CHarrison

Are you able to do it now?

Is there anything else I can help with?
Jayden-P 10,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-11T08:06:08.5166667+00:00

Hi @CHarrison

It has been a while since I heard from you.

Do you still meet this issue?

Please feel free to reach out if you need help.

If the issue has been resolved, please kindly mark this as accepted answer.

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Folder with Entire Contents of Inbox has Disappeared

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