How to locate your missing emails (IPM_subtree)

Today I ran into a little problem. For some reason I moved all my emails from a particular folder into a unknown other folder. I could find the email(s) using the search option and found out that the specific files were located in the IPM_Subtree folder.

After some investigating I found out that it was quite easy to locate these files and move them back again to their old location.

First download MFCMAPI here.

Assuming the missing emails are in the IPM_SUBTREE folder, do the following.

  1. Download the MFCMapi program above, and run it from the client PC that the user connects from (no installation necessary). MFCMapi uses Outlook profiles to get server information and connect. You can connect directly using your Outlook profile.
  2. Go to the Session menu, then “Logon”.
  3. Choose the Outlook profile and click OK.
  4. Locate the main mailbox to open, and double-click it to open.
  5. Expand “Root Container” and locate “IPM_SUBTREE”.
    subtree1
  6. Right-click on “Top of Information Store” and select “Open Contents Table”. Note: You may see an entry called “IPM_SUBTREE” instead, this is the same folder as “Top of Information Store”.
    subtree2
  7. A new window will open, and will show any messages in the “IPM_SUBTREE” folder. Select all that show up, and right-click and select Copy.
  8. Navigate to the Inbox (or alternative folder), under the Root Container / Top of Information Store / Inbox. Other folders will appear here as well.
  9. Right-click and select Paste to move the messages found in to the Inbox folder.
    You can choose to move the emails instead of copying them.
  10. The messages should now show up in Outlook once again.

 

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