ARCHIVED: In Microsoft Outlook, why is my Exchange email disappearing from my Inbox at work after I read it at home?

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If you have an Exchange account, your mailbox stores your email directly on the server so you can get to your stored email messages from any computer. However, when you connect to the Exchange server using Outlook with mail delivery directed to your personal folders, unread mail will be moved into the Inbox of your personal folders instead of being stored on the Exchange server. To change this behavior:

Outlook 2010

  1. Click the File tab. From the Account Settings drop-down menu, click Account Settings, and then click the Data File tab.
  2. Select your Exchange account with Location listed as Online, and then click Set as Default.
  3. When you get a message saying you have changed the default location for your email messages, click OK.
  4. Close the Account Settings window, and then restart Outlook.

Outlook 2007

  1. From the Tools menu, select Account Settings..., and then click the Data File tab.
  2. Click Mailbox - Your name, and then click Set as Default.
  3. When you get a message saying you have changed the default location for your email messages, click OK.
  4. Close the Account Settings window, and then restart Outlook.

Outlook 2003

  1. From the Tools menu, select E-mail Accounts....
  2. Select View or change existing email accounts, and then click Next.
  3. Next to "Deliver new email to the following location:", from the drop-down menu, select Mailbox - Your last name, Your first name. Click OK.

Using personal folders

Note: If your personal folders are only on your home computer, you will have to carry out these steps from your home computer.

To move messages already stored in personal folders back to the server mailbox, drag them from your personal folder to a folder in the mailbox. If you cannot see the list of folders, from the View menu, select Folder List.

Once you've redirected your mail to your Exchange mailbox, you can still use your personal folders to permanently store or make copies of your email messages on your computer.

Recovering deleted messages

If you are looking for an email message that you deleted from your personal folders, you may be able to recover it; see Recover deleted items from Exchange at IU

This is document aedh in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2021-09-07 17:06:28.