Step 4: Restore deleted email and contacts

As soon as we detect that your account might have been hacked, we start saving your deleted messages in a safe place.

  1. Select the Deleted Items folder.
  2. At the top of the page, select Recover deleted messages.

Outlook will recover as many messages as possible and put them in your Deleted Items folder. Any messages not recovered are permanently lost.

Note: Email deleted from children's accounts can't be restored. This way, parents can be confident that messages they delete from their children's accounts stay deleted.

If contacts have been deleted, you might be able to restore them. See Delete contacts or restore contacts in Outlook.com.

Step 5: Help prevent future hacks

To prevent your account from being hacked in the future, see Help protect your Outlook.com email account.

How did a hacker get my password?

Frontline Commando 1 Hacked Version

Hackers use several techniques to get your account password.

You can check your sign-in location information by going to your your Microsoft account's security options and selecting Review activity.

Can I close my Outlook.com account?

Tip: Outlook.com allows you to have multiple email addresses associated with a single account, and you can choose which email address you send mail from. Creating alternate addresses to use on websites or apps that force you to register can help keep your personal email address out of the hands of marketers and hackers. Read more about how to add or remove an email alias in Outlook.com.

If your Outlook.com account has been hacked and you want to close it, you need to close your Microsoft account.

Important: When you close your Microsoft account, your email and contacts are deleted from our servers and can't be recovered, and you won't be able to access Microsoft services like Xbox, Skype, and OneDrive using that account.

If you're sure you want to close your account, read how to close your Outlook.com email account.