Sunday, June 1, 2008

Undo "Clear Offline Items" in Outlook

Some tips to share or to avoid from accidentally delete all your emails in your inbox MS Outlook. When I’m cleaning up and organizing my emails in MS outlook, I accidentally click the “Clear Offline Items” in the inbox properties page causes all my important emails are gone.



However, it can be recovered if you are using a Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail account in Cached Exchange mode which I believe most companies setup their outlook in this way.

So what I do is to click “Send and Receive” button to synchronize all the emails in the server back to my Outlook. This is how you can undo the "Clear Offline Items" in Outlook in case one day you accidentally click the "Clear Offiline Itemes" in MS Outlook.

139 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you! This article truly saved me. I clicked Send/Receive and every calendar item reappeared. I thought I was hosed.

ChampDog said...

You're welcome! I thought I would lost all the emails and calender too at that time. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks! I wrongly presses clear offline items, your message saved me!

HBK said...

Thanks a lot :) i got my mails back :)

tester said...

Thanks a lot, your message saved by day. Microsoft should consider a warning message before clearing emails.

Anonymous said...

You did help me with this... thanks!

Anonymous said...

Thanks - was very helpful :-)
Have a nice day! from Romania

Anonymous said...

Single handledly one of the most useful posts I've ever seen on the web. Thank you for sharing and also saving me from a bad blunder.

The people who put that button in Outlook with no warning message, associated help or definition should be ashamed of themselves.

ChampDog said...

Surprisingly, quite many of you have the same issue. :) I"m glad that this post helps. :)

Anonymous said...

You are really a Champ..........It really saved me too......

Thanks a lot........

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh - I was in a panic when this happened to me and I lost my calendar! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Anonymous said...

THANKYOU! Saved me today!

Anonymous said...

Legend!
Thanks
x

Anonymous said...

hi thanks for your article..

i shat bricks when i clicked clear offline items.. and your article helped me.

:)

Anonymous said...

Just thought I'd let you know, ChampDog, this post is still saving lives...

thanks!

hijodelande said...

whew !!!!

ChampDog said...

Thanks everyone! :) There is an hidden feature in outlook that allows you to recover from deleted items. I"m not sure if you guys are aware of this. I will write about this. :)

Unknown said...

I was panic, when it happened. But this post really saved me. Thanks a lot. Got all my mails and calender items back.

Developer said...

Thanks a lot. I accidentally pressed it when I was searching to set an alert item for that folder...

Sanjay said...

Thanks man, I really did not know what to do and get back my mails. You saved me.

Vinayak said...

You saved me, I almost wanted to break something !!!

Unknown said...

my goodness! I am so thankful for this post. My boss accidentally did this on her email and lost her ENTIRE calendar. After 5 mins of freaking out we had her back up and running again. Legend.

ChampDog said...

So, would you get more raise because of this? Hahaha... I'm just kidding.

Btw, I wrote about how to recover those emails that you may accidentally permanently delete them. Hope this will be helpful to you guys one day...

Undo & Recover Deleted Items in Outlook

Anonymous said...

Scary moment, easily solved with this information. Thanks for the warning message and confirmation, Microsoft.

Anonymous said...

while I appreciate your post to help others, clearing offline cache does not delete items from mail server - whether it is calendar items or emails.

As name says all it does is cleaning\removing what is on cached(local copy), this is helpful when you are troubleshooting corrupted reminders etc..

If your outlook is set to cache mode the it will rebuild\reload the cache file next time outlook connect to exchange server - either by send and receive or reopening outlook.

But for non IT users may get a shock when they see outlook without their emails, calendar and task entries.

ChampDog said...

Yes, you're right. The thing is that it doesn't clearly stated it is cleaning the cache.

Anyway, even for deleted items. They're not completely deleted in the mail exchange server. You still can recover them by modifying the registry:

http://softwaretracker.blogspot.com/2009/11/undo-or-recover-deleted-items-in.html

Anonymous said...

This post saved the day for me by showing me exactly what to do when I accidentally clicked the Clear Offline button! Thanks very much!

Unknown said...

Thanks a bunch. Saved my bacon!p

Plum said...

Thanks bro!!!! Join my persatuan itik itik malaysia!

ChampDog said...

Persatuan itik itik? Hahaha...

Anonymous said...

Thank you thought I was toast!

Unknown said...

Thank you very much !!
You saved my all mails and efforts...

Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Thanks alots .. ChampDog

Anonymous said...

AMAZING TIP! THANK YOU!!!

Anonymous said...

TQ!!! It just saved my life!!!! Stupid Microsoft!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you!!!!

Anonymous said...

Can I get a WOOF WOOF? Thanks ChampDog for the post, I had a ton of emails I thought I had just lost.

This option should at the very least have a warning saying "Are you sure you want to do this blah blah."

Thanks!

ChampDog said...

Woof woof! Hahaha... Yes, I agree with you that they should give a least some warnings.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot! This worked out!!!

Anonymous said...

This post is still saving Inbox contents... Thank you very much!

Anonymous said...

OMG!! thank you so much!! I almost had a heart attack!!

Danny said...

Beautiful!!! Life saver. I accidently clicked that button and damn, I for sure thought I was screwed. Thanks for you help.

Check me out at www.ramblingtech.com

ChampDog said...

You're welcome, Danny.

Anonymous said...

Life saver! thanks

Anonymous said...

This was exactly what I needed after heart failure for thinking I deleted every meeting in my calendar forever! Oh my god, I still can't believe I got it all back. Thank you!!!!

The Locke said...

My heart was in my throat thinking I deleted all of my calendar items.

THANK YOU!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks very much. That saved me for sure.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU!!!!!!
SAVED MY BUTT!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks! I was shocked at no message by MS before cleaning out all items... .stupid...

Anonymous said...

Thank you! thank you! thank you! This article was a life saver.

From Sherrie in Antigua.

Anonymous said...

you just saved my ass!!!!
thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much. Helped me too!

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I actually clicked the question mark in the top bar of the window to get the question mark cursor then clicked the button hoping to get an explanation of what it was for... it still poofed my e-mails - damn M$
thanks for the quick tip on restoring everything!

Anonymous said...

This didn't work for me initially. It turns out that if you don't wait for the synchronization you can be stuck with only partially synced items.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/820867

Anonymous said...

You saved our asses , your help is appreciated man. Thank YOU!!

Anonymous said...

Waouw, amazing ! I was completely lost but you saved me !!! How comes microsoft doesn't ask you to confirm you want to run that action ?

Anonymous said...

Thx. Ditto most of the comments above. :-)

Anonymous said...

holy crap! that was close! thank you so much! i thought it would just clear a few reminders i made, not EVERYTHING!

your article saved me big time!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot man. God Bless you.

Lizz Judd Gray said...

Thank you! It's been over two years since your original post and this is still saving people!

Ichiro said...

If I had any option to use software other than than the flaky inconsistent crapola that Microsoft put out (honourable exception - Excel), I would leap on it like a desert dingo on a pile of fresh offal. This post saved my life! You are a HERO!

ChampDog said...

Wow, 2 years! I just realized that...

kyle said...

Not gonna lie... I totally pressed that button and thought I was done for.

But ChampDog is definitely the MAN!

Thanks very much!

Arun said...

That was fantastic, Saved almost my job

Anonymous said...

Thanks. You saved one more person almost 3 years after your post!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Another person saved from certain doom. This time, all contacts were lost. "Update Folder" under "Send/Receive" (Outlook 2010) did the trick. THANKS!

Anonymous said...

It didn't work!!!

ChampDog said...

Can you elaborate more why it didn't work? One reason could be you're not using the MS exchange server.

Anonymous said...

This worked and saved my bacon. Thank you!!

formerly terrified person said...

Another life saved! Thank you, ChampDog!

Pramod said...

Thanks a lot, phew! for a moment I thought I had lost my mails.

Ohio said...

Holy cow, that's a terrible button without explanation on Outlook, and I feel even dopier actually clicking it. Your post is brief, helpful, and amazing! Many thanks.

netsquads said...

kudus for your time and comments:
I also wanna add that actually it should have been stated that the cache folder would be reloaded/refreshed, to avoid heart attack.
When I made this mistake I was at peace bcos I'm a support person and I know that microsoft is always flexible with 'undo features' - I got all my messages back immediately a mail entered my box. It just auto synchronize.

ChampDog said...

Thanks again everyone! Apparently this post is still alive... :)

Anonymous said...

WOW! Thank you! There should have been a warning before it deleted items.

Anonymous said...

Sweet holy internet !
You should be proud of having posted this so long ago and still getting praised by clumsy people who like me, clicked on that button, it really could use a warning

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much. This saved my new job. I did not come across this situation in my 7yrs of career. I was trying to clean up my inbox to stop getting that warning email and here I go with 1 click...

Unknown said...

thank you very much....

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much!!! The help desk for my company didn't know how to fix it! :)

Anonymous said...

Life Saver....Saved my job :)

Anonymous said...

Yes you continue to save people. Thanks for rescuing my calendar!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the hint. In my case though, it worked after I clicked on 'Update Folder'. I use Outlook 2010.

ChampDog said...

Thanks for the sharing. :)

Anonymous said...

Thankyou.. !! this post helped me a lot .

Anonymous said...

Just in case it didn't look like it worked. After pressing the "Send/Receive" button. Nothing happened. I closed Outlook then Opened again, and there they were.. my emails were back.
Thanks for the help.

T.Irwin said...

I'm another person where this saved me. ALL of my work life (and a chunck of personal things) were saved on my calender and this helped me get the items back on! Thank you!!!!!

asif mehedi said...

Can't say enough how useful your post was. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

It's just amazing post, saved me

Nestor S. said...

After so many years since you published this article, you might be surprised of how many people you helped. Thank you so much! I thought I lost all my current emails...

Laura said...

Still saving ppl! Thanks for your post.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness - thank you so much for your blog! I thought I had lost everything. Thanks so much!!

oveyV. said...

Thanks a lot...

oveyV. said...

Thanks a lot...

PR said...

Thanks a lot :) very useful article.

ScottC said...

Yep, still saving people ChampDog - this time me!! The woofman is da man!! Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Boy that scared me. many thanks, life saver.

Anonymous said...

You saved my calender 3 years after your post! THANK YOU SOO MUCH!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much!!! being a bit of an i.t learner this saved my life!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks a ton. You saved me from a minor attack!

Anonymous said...

THANKS that worked great
Wow, that was scary. Thanks for the post I thought my calendar was gone forever.

Anonymous said...

You truly saved my life here!!! It worked, and MS should feel shameful about not even warn user what this feature does. Where is Linux nowadays, monopoly really is a bad thing...

ChampDog said...

You can view it as a bad or good thing. :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this! as another user mentioned i had not come across this in 5 or so years and was gobsmacked when my inbox disappeared... Thanks for the posting!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this! as another user mentioned i had not come across this in 5 or so years and was gobsmacked when my inbox disappeared... Thanks for the posting!!

Anonymous said...

another satisfied customer. worked as advertised!! this saved me! thanks.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this!!! It saved my me ruining my own sunday worry about contact company service desk to 'restore' my inbox!!!!

Kudos!!!

Anonymous said...

Very useful. I assume Outlook would have recovered the items during the next start, but still - many thanks.

Claudia said...

thank you so much for the tip! I was about to kill myself!

Anonymous said...

Thank You!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post!!! I was imagining there was no way to recover my appointments until I found your post.
Thanks!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you!!! My hands are still shaking. What if...?You saved me!

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately it hasn't worked for me. I hit send/receive but nothing happens, even if i restart outlook still nothing happens :( Any suggestions?

ChampDog said...

I think that is only for MS exchange server mode which you retrieve your message from the exchange server. This is the common setup for office. Maybe yours is not using MS exchange server?

It also depends on your administration setting at server,it may not work too. It needs to be set to cached exchange mode if I remember correctly.

Anonymous said...

Phew! it worked.
Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot. it worked for me. This information has saved after three years after it got posted.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much.. you were a life saver....

Anonymous said...

thanks a million, it works

Anonymous said...

Never seen a post with so many thankful replies. You clearly deserve them ChampDog.
One more from me... Thanks a lot.

Malitska said...

You saved me today!!! Never again i'll click that button!!!

Anonymous said...

Didn't work for me. What did work was pressing "Download Headers" for some odd reason that doesn't make sense.

GG said...

You save my life.
It really works.

Thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

My heart stopped when everything disappeared. Thanks for this!

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I thought I'd deleted all of my work email from my inbox, but your blog answer came to my rescue!!! (Ummm... why can't they make that button a little bit clearer on what it means, or at least have a pop-up that asks if you really want to clear your inbox out before actually doing that??)

ChampDog said...

lol you're welcome! Can't believe this issue still here after many years. I"m glad that this post still helps.

Yes, it is really not clear. Is there way to file a problem report to Microsoft? Perhaps they don't even know this is a problem!

Anonymous said...

Before the Ambulance gets here to take me to A&E (ER) let me buy you a beer. I think my heart stopped.

what a stupid thing to do... delete all your calendar appointments with 1 button click. Thanks MicroSoft.

Oh i must go i hear the paramedics at me door!

Anonymous said...

Another user saved by this article. I was going to be so embarrassed asking for help.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot. This info is very helpful.It saved my day!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Went through all stages of grief - paniced, then denial, then decided maybe it was a good thing,then freak out to crying when I was the messages came back. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Was trying to fix someones outlook and accidentally clicked this.... you saved me (I'm a tech support guy as well)

Anonymous said...

Wow, add another person to the 130 or so you've already helped with your post on how to regain our calendars and mail.

Thank you very, very, very, very much.

Anonymous said...

Thanks you saved my bacon!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks ever so much. Hope this post never gets deleted. Phew!

Anonymous said...

Let me add my voice to the chorus! thank you, thank you, thank you!

Anonymous said...

Another heart-felt thank you! Saved my hide!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much..

Anonymous said...

What is the use of this feature actually?

ChampDog said...

Good point, not really sure, it just clears the local copy of your email. Perhaps it is used when you mess up your mailbox.

Or another way I can think of is it is used when MS exchange server is configured in a cached exchange mode. Server will not keep the copy once downloaded. So this feature will clear all your emails at one shot! But isn't that I can use the delete function? lol No idea, a useless feature actually.

Anonymous said...

Thank you! as many others have said - this was a life-saver!!

Anonymous said...

Repeating just what everyone said... thank you - you're a lifesaver.


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