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Backup: How can I restore deleted emails?

Have you accidentally deleted emails or folders? Can the deleted data also no longer be found in another folder or in deleted items?

If so, we can try to restore the emails from a backup. This is possible if certain conditions are met. In this help article, you can learn which conditions these are, how you can request a backup of data and how it will occur if applicable.

Contents

Conditions

  1. The accidental deletion of emails must have occurred no longer than a week ago. Security backups of your data are saved for 7 days – and then deleted.
  2. The deleted email data must have still been located in your mailbox at the time when at least one of these backups were made. We typically make a backup of your data once every 24 hours.

How to have a backup restored

If the conditions are met, next log in to your Posteo account. After logging in, follow these steps:

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Click on My account.
  3. Open the menu item Restore data.
  4. In the Restore deleted emails section, enter the date and time when the deleted email was still available.
  5. Click on Request backup of emails.

That’s it! You have requested to restore a backup of your data.

Processing your request may take anywhere from a few hours to a business day. We will try to restore a matching backup for you. You will receive an email once the process has been completed.

How to open the restored emails

As soon as we have restored a security backup for you, you will find a folder with the name BACKUPRESTORE in your account. The folder contains a complete copy of all the emails and folders in your mailbox at the time of the backup. To open the restored emails, follow these steps:

  1. Click on the arrow underneath the folder symbol to display the restored folders.
  2. Click on the desired folder to display the emails.

You can now move the necessary email(s) into another folder. You can learn how to move a whole folder here. Afterwards, you can delete folders that you no longer need.

How to open restored emails (with crypto mail storage activated)

If at the time of the backup crypto mail storage was activated for your account, you can find the backup of your encrypted data in a temporary email account with the login myaccount_tmp@posteo.de.

  • The emails are still encrypted with your Posteo password.
  • You can log in to the backup email account using your Posteo password and save emails from the account or copy them with the help of an email client to your (regular) email account.

In order to copy emails or folders to your regular email account, set up the temporary email account in your email client and move the searched emails via drag & drop to your regular account. You can find instructions for setting up a Posteo account in many email clients in our help section here.

How to copy the restored emails if you do not use an email client

If you do not use an email client, you can copy emails to your regular email account with the help of the free, open-source client Thunderbird. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Download Thunderbird from the Thunderbird webseite and install the program on your system.
    Thunderbird is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.
  2. Set up your account myaccount@posteo.net in Thunderbird. You can find instructions for doing so here.
  3. Set up the temporary account myaccount_tmp@posteo.net in Thunderbird.

In the left sidebar of Thunderbird, you now have access to all emails and folders in each email account. To copy emails to your regular email account, follow these steps:

  1. Mark the emails or folders that you would like to copy in the temporary email account.
  2. Move the emails via drag & drop to the desired destination folder in your regular email account.

That's it! Thunderbird will now transfer the emails to your regular email account. The changes will then be automatically applied in Posteo webmail.

If you have transferred all emails, you can uninstall Thunderbird.

Tips & troubleshooting

The email I’m looking for is not contained in the backup. Why?

At the time you designated in your request, the email was not part of the backup.

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