What happens when you delete an item in Outlook?

PST files are very complex database. When an item is stored in a PST file, the items are recorded in the database and there is an index that point to each item. When you delete an item or empty the deleted items folder, Outlook doesn’t actually delete the items, it just deletes the items listings from the index. The item is still in the PST, but unreadable because Outlook has no idea where it is without the pointer in the index. The space the item takes up is referred as whitespace.

The item is permanently removed if you compact a PST file or save any new data to the hard drive. One of the greatest disadvantage is that once the whitespaces reaches 20%, Outlook begins compacting the PST file automatically. On the other hand if the Deleted Items folder contains a lot of messages, Outlook begins compacting the PST immediately and the items will be deleted forever.

Thus, to recover deleted emails it is very important to act instantly otherwise you may end up losing all of your emails forever. After you have deleted an important email simply Exit Outlook and run the scanpst.exe (Inbox Repair Tool, an inbuilt tool which is installed by default on all Windows computer systems). The Inbox Repair Tool creates a backup and repairs the damage and recreates the PST. It usually works if you act immediately. If the problem is very complex like a PST file corruption due to virus, software malfunction, 2GB size limit, power outages etc… trusting reliable advanced email recovery software would be a better choice. Advanced Outlook Mail Recovery Software can recover your deleted/lost email messages, contacts and much more in just few minutes.