I cannot see my deleted mailbox item when I try to recover it by using the Recover Deleted Items option on the Tools menu in Outlook.

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Cause: You may not have selected the folder or the parent folder from where the item was permanently deleted.

Solution: If you are recovering a permanently deleted mail item, ensure that you select the folder from which the mail was deleted. For example, if you have a subfolder in your Inbox named Meeting Minutes, you must select the Meeting Minutes folder before you choose the Recover Deleted Items option on the Tools menu.

If you are recovering a deleted folder, ensure that you select the parent folder of the deleted folder. For example, if you permanently deleted a subfolder named Meeting Minutes from your Inbox, you must select the Inbox folder before you choose the Recover Deleted Items option on the Tools menu.

Note

You cannot recover a permanently deleted item if the retention time for permanently deleted items has elapsed. The default retention time is 30 days. An administrator can run the Backup Configuration Wizard to change the retention time or to turn it off.