Find your missing emails

There are different reasons why an email may be missing from Gmail. For example, an email goes to spam instead of your inbox. In this article, learn how to locate your missing emails.

Check these things first

If you can’t find an email:

• Your storage is full. Your account storage is shared with Google Drive and Google Photos. If your storage is full, you may not be able to send or receive emails.

  Check how much space you have left

• It’s in your trash or spam. Emails in your trash or spam are permanently deleted after 30 days or when you manually empty your trash or spam.
• It’s permanently removed. You can find email drafts under the "Drafts" label. When you discard a draft, you can’t recover it.
• You deleted it from another device. There’s only one copy of every email. When you delete an email from any device that’s synced with your Gmail account, the email is deleted forever.
• You deleted it in another email client that’s synced with your Gmail account, such as Apple Mail. To locate your emails:
  • In a web browser, go to mail.google.com.
  • From a mobile device, download the Gmail app.

Step 1: Search for an email

If you can’t find an email in your inbox, search for your email across Gmail.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top, in the search bar, click Show search options .
3. Next to “Search,” click the “All Mail” dropdown menu Mail & Spam & Trash.
4. Enter information that’s in the missing email.
   • Use search operators to refine your search.
   • If you're not sure about the exact words or details, leave the fields blank.
5. At the bottom of the box, click Search.

Tips:

• If there’s an important email in your Trash, remove the email from your Trash.
• To prevent Gmail from automatically sending an email to Spam, report the email as “Not spam.”

Step 2: Review your filters

If you set up filters, find any filters that automatically archive or move incoming emails to your trash. You can then choose to edit the filter or delete it completely.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
3. At the top, click the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
4. In the list of filters, look for filters with the words:
   • "Delete it"
   • "Skip Inbox"
5. On the right, click Edit or Delete.

Step 3: Review forwarding & POP or IMAP settings

If you forward emails from another client to Gmail, or read your emails from another client, you can choose to archive or delete the original emails. For example, in Microsoft Outlook, you can choose whether deleting an email also deletes it from Gmail.

Check your forwarding settings

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
3. At the top, click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP or Forwarding tabs.
4. In the "Forwarding" section, select Forward a copy of incoming mail.
5. Select Keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox or Mark Gmail's copy as read.
6. At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.

Tips:

• If an email isn’t authenticated, it may go to Spam. Learn how to check if an email is authenticated.
• If you find that your emails go to an unfamiliar address, someone may have unauthorized access to your account.
  • To turn off forwarding, select Disable forwarding.

Check IMAP or POP settings

I use IMAP to read emails

• Make sure you use the recommended IMAP settings.
• In your email client, search for settings that explain when emails are deleted.

I use POP to read emails

Important: If you use recent mode, change your email client's POP settings to leave emails on the server. Learn about recent mode.

1. In Gmail, go to the Forwarding settings page.
2. Enable POP.
3. If you get "Delete Gmail's copy" or "Archive Gmail's copy," select Keep Gmail's copy in the inbox.
4. At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.

I use another program to read emails

• Check your settings to make sure emails are not automatically deleted or archived.
• Remove access to unused apps and services connected to your account:
  1. In your Google Account, go to Third-party apps & services.
  2. If you don’t recognize an app or service, click it.
  3. Click Remove.

Request email recovery

You’re not signed in to a Google Account. To request email recovery, sign in to your Google Account and return to this article.

Sign in to your Google Account

Related resources

• Report spam in Gmail
• Delete or recover Gmail messages