How to restore deleted emails from a Google Workspace account?
Solved Cloud & Migration
AJ
Andrew Jackson
June 25, 2020
2 replies
6,810 views
Reviewed by moderators

An employee cleaned out their Workspace mailbox including Trash before resigning. We need those messages for handover. As admin, what recovery windows do I actually have?

Accepted Answer
Verified by Mariya Beckham, Forum Moderator ยท Reviewed June 2020

Layered windows, check in this order:

1
Admin console, Users, select the user, Restore Data: brings back items deleted within the last 25 days.
2
Google Vault, if your edition includes it and retention rules were on: mail survives there regardless of user deletion. Search and export from Vault directly.
3
Past both windows with no Vault: gone from Google's side. This is why teams schedule SysTools Google Workspace Backup for local copies, the lesson every org learns exactly once.

Day 19, admin restore brought the mailbox back. Vault retention now enabled and backups scheduled. Solved.