Deleting email and other items does not permanently remove them from Outlook. Rather, items you delete are moved to the Deleted Items folder until it is emptied.

To remove messages from your Deleted Items folder with:

• Microsoft Outlook 2007 for Windows
  1. Select Mail in the Navigation Pane.
  2. Right-click Deleted Items folder. Select Empty “Deleted Items” Folder.
  3. Click Yes.
     
• Microsoft Outlook 2010 for Windows
  1. Press Ctrl+6 to select Folder List.
  2. Right-click Deleted Items folder. Select Empty Folder.
  3. Click Yes.
• Microsoft Outlook 2011 for Macintosh
  1. Select Mail in the View switcher.
  2. Right-click Deleted Items folder. Select Empty folder.
  3. Click Delete.

Outlook can be set to automatically empty your Deleted Items folder whenever you close Outlook. To set up automatic emptying with:

• Microsoft Outlook 2007 for Windows
  1. Select Mail in the Navigation Pane.
  2. Select Tools > Options > Other tab.
  3. Select Empty the Deleted items folder upon exiting.
  4. Click OK.
•  Microsoft Outlook 2010 for Windows
  1. Select File tab > Options.
  2. Select Advanced tab.
  3. Select Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting.
  4. Select Prompt for confirmation before permanently deleting items to be notified before the Deleted Items folder is emptied automatically.
  5. Click OK.
• Microsoft Outlook 2011 for Macintosh
  1. Select Mail in the View switcher.
  2. Select Tools > Run Schedule > Edit Schedules.
  3. Double-click Empty Deleted Items Folder.
  4. Select On Quit for When.
  5. Select Enabled.
  6. Click OK.
     

Outlook provides a way to recover items after you delete them permanently, even after you empty the Deleted Items folder.

Deleted items are unrecoverable if:

• you do not move items to the Deleted Items folder before you delete them
• 7 days have passed since you deleted the item from your Deleted items folder 
• your Exchange server is not configured to keep deleted items

To recover deleted items with:

• Microsoft Outlook 2007 and 2010 for Windows
  1. Select Mail in the Navigation Pane.
  2. In the folder from where you deleted the item, or in the Deleted Items folder, select Tools > Recover Deleted Items. You cannot recover an item if it does not appear in the Recover Deleted Items dialog box.
     
• Microsoft Outlook 2011 for Macintosh
  1. You must log into Outlook Web Access (OWA) to restore deleted messages in Outlook 2011.
  2. Once logged in, ctrl-click (or right-click) Deleted Items folder. Select Recover Deleted Items.
  3. Ctrl-click (or right-click) on the message you want to recover. Select Recover Deleted Items icon.
  4. Select the folder into which you want to place the recovered message. Click Recover.