Searching for a Message You Accidentally Deleted and Can’t Find It?

SUMMARY: Configure Outlook 2007 to include the “Deleted Items” folder when searching for text inside “All Items”.


Normally, when you search for text inside messages in Microsoft Outlook 2007, if a match cannot be found you are prompted to search for all items. However, even this seemingly all-inclusive search will not scan for items in your “Deleted Items” folder.

If you rarely remove items from this folder and have dozens, if not hundreds of messages, and frantically need to find a message you did not mean to delete, there is a way to configure Outlook 2007 to search this folder as well:

1. Select “Tools” – “Options”.outlook_2007_options_tab_preferences

2. The “Options” multi-tabbed dialog box appears. Make sure the “Preferences” tab is selected.


3. Click the “Search Options” button.

outlook-2007-search-options-button

Accessing Outlook 2007 Search Options

4. When the “Search Options” dialog box appears, underneath “Deleted Items”, check “Include messages from the Deleted Items folder in each data file when searching in All Items”.

outlook-2007-configure-search-deleted-items

Configuring Outlook 2007 to include Deleted Items when performing searches for All Items

5. Click “OK” on the dialog boxes to close them.