went back to 7 from 10 and lost all old emails

[melanie1]

can anyone help with this. I couldn't stand having to do to workarounds every time I needed to turn on my mobile broadband .. and also had problems with printers. fixed it once then the next time it kept saying off line and I couldn't fix it. I googled for any pitfalls with going back to windows 7 and there didn't seem to be any unless you had loaded new programs which you would lose.
No mention that I would lose my emails. Is there any way to get back the ones I had been saving either in my inbox or storage folders. They are very important to me.

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Melanie,

What email client were you using?

• Windows Live Mail
• Outlook
• Windows 10 Mail App
• Something else?

 

[Jake B]

Well most likely you have POP3 email. POP3 email account download the email from your email server to your computer. If you have it set to delete emails on the server you may find them in a deleted file folder. POP3 downloads emails to your machine and if you went back to windows 7 yopu probably went back to the status in email you were when you did the upgrade.

 

[melanie1]

Hi Melanie,

What email client were you using?

• Windows Live Mail
• Outlook
• Windows 10 Mail App
• Something else?

windows live mail

 

[melanie1]

Well most likely you have POP3 email. POP3 email account download the email from your email server to your computer. If you have it set to delete emails on the server you may find them in a deleted file folder. POP3 downloads emails to your machine and if you went back to windows 7 yopu probably went back to the status in email you were when you did the upgrade.

yers I download from server so must have pop3 .. but the time I did the upgrade I had all these emails in my account as many of them are quite old and Ive saved them so I have addresses from old school friends, and pics of my sisters kids .. also log on details for downloaded courses I have bought .. passwords for things .. so it's a pretty significant loss

 

[davehc]

How did you install Windows 10 initially, and how di you return to windows 7? - upgrade: Fresh install with/without format, and recover..etc?

You may have a win.old folder sitting somewhere, and we can work from that.

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Melanie,

There are a couple of methods that may resolve your issue given you have Windows Live Mail.

Note: Before trying this make a System Restore Point so that in the worse case scenario you can return to your current status. To make a System Restore Point:

• Press Winkey + R to open Run dialog
• Type systempropertiesprotection then click OK
• Click the Create button and follow prompts

OK time to try and find those missing folders etcetera . . .

Option 1:

• Open your Windows Live Mail
• In the top toolbar click View > now click Compact view
  
  When you do this you will notice the left pane compacts things and you will see a green + symbol
  
  Sample image
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Click that green + symbol
  
  A window will pop up titled Add to compact view listing all folders including any deleted ones.
  
  Sample image
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Each item will have a check box next to it.
  
  Check all boxes that you want to keep and/or restore
  
  Once you have checked what you want click OK. The pop up window will now close.

• With that window now closed you return back to your WLM main window. Click on View > Compact view
• All going well you will now see those once missing folders appear normally now in your left pane.

If Option 1 does not help try Option 2.

Option 2:

• Press Winkey + R to open your Run dialog
• Type or copy & paste the following into the Run dialog window:
  
  

  %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail
  
  Note: If the above fails because location does not exist then use this command instead:
  
  %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail

  
  Click OK to execute
  
  This will open your File Explorer window to the above location.
  
  You will see a bunch of folders there, including your particular email setup. If you recall in the second image above my Account was called Regedit32 and had the various folders belonging to that account listed beneath it. See in this next image Regedit32 has a folder.
  
  
  
  
  
  If I open that folder it will contain every folder I ever created as a sub-folder, plus the Inbox etcetera.
  
  You can open those other folders to look what is there also.

• Having opened for example my Regedit32 folder you then Select all the folders inside and COPY
• Close File Explorer
• Right-click on empty spot of Desktop > Select New > Folder
• Name this new folder Windows Live Backups then open this folder and PASTE all those folders you just copied a moment ago. Note this will take a bit of time depending on how many emails and folders you copied. Be patient. When it is done then move to next step.
• Close the folder now and open Windows Live Mail.
• Click on File > Import messages > select Windows Live Mail then click Next button
• Browse to that folder on your Desktop you just created and click on a folder you chose to backup, then click OK
• Now click Next. After some time passes a confirmation message will appear.
• Click Finish
• You hopefully now will see all your restored folders along with any current ones.

Hopefully one of the above two options will work out for you.

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[melanie1]

just went to settings and clicked on restore windows 7.
I have looked for a windows.old folder and there is not one there for some reason.

I now have another problem. it tells me that my office program which I have had for years is not registered/activated and won't let me use it. I don't know if I will still have the activation number if I have to do that again??this is a nightmare.

 

[melanie1]

this is going to sound dumb .. but what is Winkey

 

[Regedit32]

Winkey is the key bottom left row on keyboard with the Microsoft flag on it

 

[Regedit32]

I now have another problem. it tells me that my office program which I have had for years is not registered
and won't let me use it. this is a nightmare

We'll deal with that later, but don't panic you can easily re-register that later via automated microsoft support. I've had to do it a few times myself over the years

 

[davehc]

Are you logged on with a MS account?