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Is there an easy way to undo deletion of outlook calendar event?

I found

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/recover-deleted-items-in-outlook-for-windows-49e81f3c-c8f4-4426-a0b9-c0fd751d48ce

and

https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/outlook/2185-outlook-restore-deleted-meetings-contacts.html

However, all the people in the meeting list is lost, and I lost the meeting content (into an attachment), and the previous scheduled time as well.

Just to make sure that the above is the only option available, and no other easier ways. This is outlook 2016, of the outlook calendar event that I setup long time ago.

I've tried the steps in Lernkurve's answer to the last one, at which point I don't have that "Move → Calendar" option,:

enter image description here

The masked out ones are just personal folders that I created myself.

UPDATE:

As of September 28, 2020, the accepted answer no longer working -- It used to work, but this morning when I try it again, it no longer put the deleted meeting back into Calendar, but put it into attachment instead:

enter image description here

I.e., all are lost again -- all the people in the meeting list is lost, and I lost the meeting content (into an attachment), and the previous scheduled time as well. I'm using Outlook from Office 365, if it matters.

xpt
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  • @music2myear, yes, I sent out the event cancellation email, and that email is in my Deleted Items folder. And BTW, I don't need Exchange admins to restore entries for me, because I've tried the "**Recover Deleted Items From Server**" method from the first link and it works fine for me. Just my deleted cancellation email/event is not there (so I tried on something else). – xpt Mar 19 '18 at 21:09
  • Unless you are the Exchange administrator, the Exchange admins may have access to additional recovery methods. – music2myear Mar 19 '18 at 23:33
  • Oh, good to know. However, our IT support ticket turn around time is 2~3 days, and that's only first tier, piecing through the tiers and reaching to the Exchange administrator is impractical, but thanks anyway. – xpt Mar 20 '18 at 04:19
  • You don't appear to understand: If the calendar event is NOT in your deleted items, the ONLY way you're getting this back is by asking the Exchange Admins to do this for you. A well-organized domain environment is set up this way on purpose to protect the system and to segregate access and control to minimize the chance of unexpected human-caused issues. While restoring an event may seem like a little thing, it isn't. Deleting it simple, but it has ramifications. Recovery is almost never simple in anything but a basic file structure. – music2myear Mar 20 '18 at 15:21
  • Gotya @music2myear, the cancellation email *is* in my Deleted Items folder. but thanks for the explanations all the same. – xpt Mar 21 '18 at 00:08

4 Answers4

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In Outlook 2016, I do this annoyingly weird sequence of steps:

  1. In the email view (not calendar view), click in the Search Current Mailbox field (above the messages pane).
  2. In the ribbon, go to the Search tab, select Search Tools → Advanced Find...
  3. In the Advanced Find dialog set the following parameters
    1. Look = Appointments and Meetings
    2. In = Deleted Items (not the default of Calendar)
    3. In the `Advanced tab
      1. Field → All Appointment fields → Modified = Today
      2. Click the button Add to List
    4. Click the button Find Now
  4. In the results view, you will now see your deleted appointment

  5. Right-click on it and select Move → Other Folder... → Calendar

    enter image description here

  6. Now, the appointment will show up back in the calendar including all text, attachments, previously scheduled time and the participants.
  7. Done

If anyone finds a simpler solution like, say, Ctrl+Z or something, then please let us know!

Adam C
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Lernkurve
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  • Yeah you're right Lernkurve, "Move → Other Folder... → Calendar" worked for me for the first time, then I found it right under "Move → Calendar". Please update all our comment into your answer and I'll accept it. Thx again. – xpt Aug 24 '18 at 13:46
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    To be precisely, the entries under "Move" are the most Recently Used folders. So it might just disappear again, just like in my second screenshot the "inbox" Folder disappeared because it's the Least Recently Used (LRU) one and the newly added Calendar Folder. – xpt Aug 24 '18 at 13:57
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    Perfect ! you saved the day. It worked for recovering a series I deleted by mistake yesterday ! Thanks again. – RohitAneja Oct 30 '19 at 03:43
  • Using Outlook 365, I am able to find my meeting using the steps described above. However, when trying to move it to my calendar, it fails with "As the meeting organizer, you do not need to respond to the meeting." – Chris Aug 10 '20 at 14:37
  • As of September 28, 2020, the accepted answer no longer working. See updated OP for details. @Chris, you didn't find the correct message. You need to find the canaled message, the one with a red exclaim mark. For all others, e.g. send/modify, you'll get "As the meeting organizer, you do not need to respond to the meeting" – xpt Sep 28 '20 at 16:35
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    This worked for me recovering a calendar series event that I had accidentally deleted using the Windows 10 Mail app. This was using Outlook 365 version "2008" (I assume that's referring to 20/08 i.e. Aug 2020, as this is definitely a modern version of Outlook) – binaryfunt Jun 29 '21 at 10:21
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For Outlook 2016, I went to the deleted items in the email view. I found the calendar entry that I had accidentally deleted. Right mouse click on it. On the pop up window, it gave me the option to Accept the invite again. I clicked on Accept, and picked the option to not send a response to the organizer (since this one came from someone else). This put it back on my calendar.

CindyH
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    Yep, that works for the outlook calendar event that others send you. The OP focuses mainly on the outlook calendar event that we setup ourselves, some are long time ago. – xpt Dec 12 '18 at 19:57
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This is for a more accessible, permanent way to find deleted calendar entries. You must still right click the element you want to restore, and choose move to folder -> more -> Calendar.

(I'm using Outlook from Office 365, so not sure if same solution is possible, appologies if not.)

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Create the list:

In Outlook, i have a folder category "Search folders" where I can create folders containing elements based on search criteria. As I constantly hit Ctrl+D when trying to save with Ctrl+S I need an easier route, so I created this one:

1) Right click "Search folders" and hit "New search folder..." to add a new search folder.

2) Choose the bottom option "Create a custom search folder" and hit "Choose criteria"

3) Name your folder, and hit "Criteria..." to open the criteria dialogue

4) Under the "Advanced" tab, go to "Field"->"All post fields"->"In folder" and add.

5) Make it to be equal to: [name of your deleted items folder] and click "Add to list".

6) Again, under the "Advanced" tab, now go to "Field"->"All appointment fields"->"Start" and add.

7) Make it "Any time" and click "Add to list".

8) Click "Ok" a couple of times to confirm creation of this folder, and you should find your new folder listing all deleted calendar entries under your "Search folders"-group.

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- Sorry for any poorly translated (from Norwegian UI) and possibly unrelated to Outlook 2016 :( Still hope this helps.

Feel free to repost with improvements, I won't be updating this answer.

Kenneth Andersen
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I found this works in Outlook 2016 and above, by going to Deleted Items, select the deleted calendar event, right clicking, go to Move and selecting the Calendar Folder. Note that this may be under More Folders

Mike Upjohn
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