Outlook PST file deleted from drafts folder

[bekdik]

Does anybody know of a way of recovering it?

For some reason the user decided to use DRAFTS as a work folder, then deleted the contents of his email and closed the document. The now empty document is no longer shown and he is freaking out.

Of course if he hadn't used DRAFTS a drsft copy would have been saved there.

 

[Thor]

His out of luck. User should have known better.

 

[TribbleZA]

Does anybody know of a way of recovering it?

For some reason the user decided to use DRAFTS as a work folder, then deleted the contents of his email and closed the document. The now empty document is no longer shown and he is freaking out.

Of course if he hadn't used DRAFTS a drsft copy would have been saved there.

Sorry did he delete the contents of the Drafts folder, the contents of the document itself or all emails? A .PST file holds all emails or archived emails.

 

[gfmalan]

Does anybody know of a way of recovering it?

For some reason the user decided to use DRAFTS as a work folder, then deleted the contents of his email and closed the document. The now empty document is no longer shown and he is freaking out.

Of course if he hadn't used DRAFTS a drsft copy would have been saved there.

Ontrack Easy Recovery can recover PST files (and contents there-off) if its not compacted.

 

[TribbleZA]

Ontrack Easy Recovery can recover PST files (and contents there-off) if its not compacted.

But if it is a document as mentioned in the paragraph - then not much can be done (as far as I know)

 

[bekdik]

Sorry did he delete the contents of the Drafts folder, the contents of the document itself or all emails? A .PST file holds all emails or archived emails.

He is confused, but from what I understand he deleted the contents then closed the document. He didn't volunteer that he'd saved it.

Meantime I made a copy of the .pst and when I get hold of it will see if I can salvage anything using suggestions from here or the Goog.

 

[AlphaJohn]

He is confused, but from what I understand he deleted the contents then closed the document. He didn't volunteer that he'd saved it.

Meantime I made a copy of the .pst and when I get hold of it will see if I can salvage anything using suggestions from here or the Goog.

From what I understand is User opened an Email, with Document attached. Worked on the attachment and hit save. Deleted the draft and lost the document?

If above is true, Attachment should be in the %Temp% folder somewhere.

 

[bekdik]

His out of luck. User should have known better.

Few users, even knowledgeables, would understand the significance of storing data in a pst file structure vs. that of storing on disk.

 

[bekdik]

From what I understand is User opened an Email, with Document attached. Worked on the attachment and hit save. Deleted the draft and lost the document?

If above is true, Attachment should be in the %Temp% folder somewhere.

No, no attachment, he deleted the email message.

 

[TribbleZA]

He is confused, but from what I understand he deleted the contents then closed the document. He didn't volunteer that he'd saved it.

Meantime I made a copy of the .pst and when I get hold of it will see if I can salvage anything using suggestions from here or the Goog.

I am confused. Tried to repeat what you said he says he did - it still keeps the document(email). If you delete the email itself it goes to the recycle bin. Could be problem if he has his recycle bin set to empty on close or exit. But then the Ontrack might help. I would run a search once you have loaded the PST file - perhaps you will find what he is missing.

Good luck - glad I am not you.

 

[gfmalan]

But if it is a document as mentioned in the paragraph - then not much can be done (as far as I know)

A PST file is a database file, and the email message has been stored, even if you mark that message as deleted, it stay in the database till you compact it.

So user has a good chance of getting his mail back.

 

[TribbleZA]

A PST file is a database file, and the email message has been stored, even if you mark that message as deleted, it stay in the database till you compact it.

So user has a good chance of getting his mail back.

Sorry by Document I was thinking Word - not email.

 

[gfmalan]

Sorry by Document I was thinking Word - not email.

No problem, even if it was a word doc, then it should be in the temp folder, long path, but i recovered such files for clients.

So long the client doesnt continue and open and close files or move allot of data.

Seems if it would be more effort to get the data back, than what it is worth.

 

[TribbleZA]

No problem, even if it was a word doc, then it should be in the temp folder, long path, but i recovered such files for clients.

So long the client doesnt continue and open and close files or move allot of data.

Seems if it would be more effort to get the data back, than what it is worth.

I would agree

 

[bekdik]

A PST file is a database file, and the email message has been stored, even if you mark that message as deleted, it stay in the database till you compact it.

So user has a good chance of getting his mail back.

sounds like scanpst is worth a try

 

[gfmalan]

sounds like scanpst is worth a try

Scanpst would try fix the PST, but wouldn't bring back (remove the deleted status) of the mail that's "lost".

I think you are going to reduce your chance of recovering, like Compacting the PST will do.

Do it on a copy of the PST. As far as I understand the PST isn't faulty, so no use for scanpst.