Recover Deleted Emails on Mac | Mac Email Recovery

When it comes to how to recover deleted emails on the Mac, you have six ways to go. You can either use trustworthy third-party software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, which is the most effective way, or Time Machine to recover permanently deleted emails, or recover deleted messages from Apple Mail from Trash. Keep reading to find more solutions.

Table of Contents

recover deleted files from Apple Mail

Recover Deleted Emails from Apple Mail on Mac:

  • Click the "Mail" icon on the dock to open Apple Mail.
  • Click "View" from the menu bar and go to "Show Deleted Messages".
  • Click the "Trash" tab in the sidebar to see the list of your deleted emails.
  • Select and right-click the message you want to recover, then choose "Undelete" to restore your deleted email to your inbox.
  • Choose a destination to save these recovered emails.

Is It Possible to Recover Deleted Emails on Mac

Sometimes, the Mac email messages might be deleted or lost by mistake. When such a disaster happens, you may wonder whether you can retrieve deleted emails on Mac and, if you can, how to do it.

Apple Mail is a built-in email client that comes with Macs running OS X 10.0 or higher. It works seamlessly with other email service providers, such as iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, and Exchange. When you use Apple Mail, the emails are stored locally on your Mac rather than on the email provider's server or their cloud service, which is the main reason why it is possible to recover deleted emails from Apple Mail.

Thus, the deleted email messages are recoverable even if they were permanently deleted as long as you find reliable Mac email recovery solutions. Here, we will present six possible ways to recover deleted emails on Mac.

How to Recover Deleted Emails on Mac

How to Recover Deleted Emails on Mac in 6 Ways

How do I restore Mail on my Mac? The easiest way to recover deleted emails or messages on your Mac is to restore from the Trash, which is only suitable for data that are not permanently deleted. If you want to recover permanently deleted emails, the most straightforward way to do it is using EaseUS recovery software. And if you have enabled Time Machine, you can also use it to get back your lost emails from Mac Time Machine backup. Find all the six methods quickly from the following table:

Mac Mail Recovery Editor's Review

👍EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

Professional data recovery software can help you recover deleted emails even after emptying the Trash folder.

🗑️Mailbox Trash Folder

All the deleted files will go to the Mailbox's Trash folder, and you can restore these deleted messages easily.

📃Time Machine Backup

Time Machine will automatically back up email for you, and you can restore deleted messages from Time Machine backup.

☁️Email Service Providers' Cloud

Gmail, Outlook, and other email service providers will offer Cloud service as well, and you can restore deleted emails from the Cloud.

iCloud Trash

iCloud Mail Trash will keep recently deleted emails for 30 days, and you can check the iCloud after permanently deleting emails on Mac.

👩‍⚕️Data Recovery Services

A professional team can help you a lot when all the recovery methods do not work. This service is not free, and the price depends on the file size, storage device, etc.

Method 1. Recover Permanently Deleted Emails on Mac with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

Important
Be sure that you have deleted your emails from the Apple Mail email client rather than the web browser, through which you deleted the messages from the server rather than the local storage, and the items removed can't be recovered.

The most straightforward way to recover deleted emails is to use the accomplished Mac data recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Pro. With this reliable software (both Windows and macOS compatible), you can not only retrieve deleted emails from Apple Mail but also recover permanently deleted emails in Outlook.

Download this Mac email recovery software now, and this software can do many recovery projects more than email recovery. Keep reading to find out!

  • 🌟Recover unsaved Word documents on Mac and also the deleted Word documents. This software can help you recover both unsaved and deleted files on Mac.
  • 🌟Recover deleted files from Mac without Time Machine. EaseUS data recovery software can be your first choice when you don't have any backups.
  • 🌟Support email recovery from internal hard drives and also external storage devices, including USB drives, SD cards, and external SSD&HDDs.
  • 🌟Retrieve data after deletion, formatting, OS crash, OS reinstallation, and other tough data loss situations.

Here are some real reviews of the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. You can 100% trust this product!

Review:

  • I download your free software at first, and the software helps find all lost files over 10GB, then i upgrade to the pro version and recover all of them. Its perfect! - from Jobs
  • I am very impressed! This app recovered my pictures quickly... and for free! A winning combination! :) Thank you for developing such an effective product and for keeping it free! - from Debbie B.
  • I have tried some mac file recovery software before use your software. I have to say your software is the perfect. It helps me recover the lost files which cant be recovered by other software. Thanks so much. - from Anna
  • I accidentally deleted my vocation photos and emptied the trash. It is really desperate. I google it and find easeus data recovery wizard, it is amazing software, all the photos are recovered. - from Jasmine

Now, follow the steps below to recover your deleted emails on your Mac within minutes.

Step 1. Select the Mac hard drive where your important emails were deleted and click "Search for lost files".

select a location and click scan

Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard will run quick and deep scans to find as many deleted email files as possible on the selected volume. Filter wanted files through the "Type" > "Email".

use the Filter option to recover files

Step 3. Double-click the deleted emails to preview. Then, click the "Recover" button to get these lost emails back.

recover deleted emails

After recovering the deleted emails, you need to import these items to your Apple Mail.

Step 1. Go to Mail from the dock and go to "File" > "Import Mailboxes".

import Maibox Mac

Step 2. Select "Apple Mail" and choose the email files you just recovered.

Step 3. Click "Continue" to start importing emails to your Apple Mail.

Step 4. When it has finished, click "Done".

In general, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is able to rescue your lost data in most cases. Don't hesitate to give it a try! You can also share this page on social media to help more Mac users!

 

Method 2. Recover Deleted Apple Mail Messages from Trash

Like many other mail clients, Apple Mail has a Trash folder that stores the recently deleted emails. As long as you don't empty the Trash folder, you can recover deleted files on macOS Sonoma from it. Here are the detailed steps for recovering deleted emails on Mac.

Step 1. Click the "Mail" icon on the dock to open Apple Mail.

Step 2. Click "View" from the menu bar and go to "Show Deleted Messages".

Step 3. Click the "Trash" tab in the sidebar to see the list of your deleted emails.

Step 4. Select and right-click the message you want to recover, then choose "Undelete" to restore your deleted email to your inbox.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Emails on Mac

related articles

How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac After Emptied Trash Bin?

EaseUS can hopefully recover deleted files on Mac even from the emptied trash bin.

Recover from Emptied Trash Bin

Method 3. Recover Permanently Deleted Emails with Time Machine

If you have enabled Time Machine backup, it will back up your Mac automatically and periodically to your backup disk. Thus, after you delete emails from Apple Mail on your Mac, you can recover your messages with the help of Time Machine. There are two options for you:

✅Option 1. Recover Files from the Time Machine Backup Disk

Step 1. Connect your backup disk to your Mac and turn on your computer.

Step 2. If your Mac starts up to the setup assistant, set the details of your country, keyboard, and network. Then, choose to transfer your information from a Time Machine backup from the Migration Assistant window. If your Mac starts up to the Finder, go to "Applications" > "Utilities" > "Migration Assistant" and choose to transfer your information from a Time Machine backup.

How to Recover Deleted Emails on Mac with Time Machine

Step 3. Select the wanted Time Machine backup and click "Continue".

Step 4. If you have more than one backup option to choose from, select one of them and click "Continue".

Step 5. Choose the files to transfer and click "Continue".

Step 6. When the transfer has been completed, restart your computer and log in to the target account. You will see all the recovered files.

If the Migration Assistant is not working, solve the problem with the following passage:

Migration Assistant not working

Migration Assistant Not Working: Fixed in 8 Ways

Is migration assistant not working on your mac? Worry no more; this article will help fix the issue with multiple methods! Read more >>

✅Option 2. Restore Files from Local Snapshots

If your backup disk is unavailable, you can recover your deleted emails from the local snapshots, which are the files on your Mac stored by Time Machine.

Step 1. Enter "Time Machine" to restore Mac from Time Machine.

Step 2. Select the file or folder you want to restore, then select an older version of the file or folder.

Step 3. Press the "Space" bar to preview and see whether it's your desired one.

Step 4. Click Restore to restore the selected file. 

How to Recover Deleted Emails from Apple Mail with Local Snapshots

Tip
If you cannot find the target Time Machine backup, the backup may have been deleted. Try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to recover deleted Time Machine backups.

Method 4. Restore Deleted Emails on Mac from the Cloud

Most email services support email Cloud recovery, so you can recover permanently deleted emails from Cloud backup. The most popular email service providers, including Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, ProtonMail, and iCloud Mail, support Cloud recovery. 

The tutorial for each email service provider is similar, so we'll take Gmail as an example:

Step 1. Launch a browser on Mac and visit Gmail's official website.

log in Gmail on Mac

Step 2. Click the "Trash" from the sidebar. Select the emails you want to recover and choose "Restore" or "Move to".

recover deleted Gmail emails

Method 5. Perform Mac Email Recovery on Mac via iCloud

If you have enabled iCloud to sync your emails, you can perform Mac email recovery from iCloud Trash. You should know that the iCloud Trash can only keep deleted emails for 30 days. Check the following steps to recover deleted emails from iCloud:

Step 1. Visit the iCloud official website and log in with your Apple ID.

iCloud log in

Step 2. After logging in, click the "Mail" icon.

click Mail

Step 3. Click "Trash" and choose target email. Then, click "Move Message" to recover deleted emails.

recover deleted emails from iCloud Trash

LEARN MORE

You may also want to know how to create backups to iCloud. Click here to learn more about backing up Mac to iCloud.

Method 6. Find Lost Emails on Mac with Data Recovery Services

All the recommended 5 methods are not working? Don't feel frustrated! You can contact EaseUS data recovery services for help! It's free to seek recovery advice from our professional data recovery team. And you can ask anything you want to know at anywhere, anytime.

Consult with EaseUS data recovery experts for one-on-one manual recovery service. We could offer the following services after FREE diagnosis

The Final Words

All of the six ways detailed above allow you to recover deleted emails on your Mac but are suitable for different situations. Carry out the method best suited to your needs.

We recommend EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac as your first choice when you don't have any backups from a local drive or iCloud.

Mac Email Recovery FAQs

If you encounter Mac email deletion, you can easily follow the tutorials in this passage to recover them. This final part can answer more questions about Mac email recovery. Keep reading to learn more:

1. How do I recover permanently deleted emails on my Mac?

You can try professional data recovery software to recover permanently deleted emails on your Mac. Or you can check Time Machine backups or iCloud Trash to find deleted emails.

2. How can I recover deleted emails after 2 years?

Basically, it is possible to recover deleted emails after 2 years. Why? No matter how long since you have deleted the emails, you can recover them only if you haven't written new data on this storage device and no data overwritten occurred.

3. Why do I lose emails on Mac?

You may lose emails on a Mac for many reasons, including accidental deletion, malware or viruses, hardware issues, full storage space, automatic cleaning programs, etc.

4. How do you back up emails on Mac?

You can back up the Mac to an external hard drive with Time Machine or just copy the emails manually to the backup disk. Or you can upload the emails to iCloud, all these methods can help you prevent data loss in the future.

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Updated by Dany

Dany is an editor of EaseUS who lives and works in Chengdu, China. She focuses on writing articles about data recovery on Mac devices and PCs. She is devoted to improving her writing skills and enriching her professional knowledge. Dany also enjoys reading detective novels in her spare time.

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Written by Tracy King

Tracy became a member of the EaseUS content team in 2013. Being a technical writer for over 10 years, she is enthusiastic about sharing tips to assist readers in resolving complex issues in disk management, file transfer, PC & Mac performance optimization, etc., like an expert.

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