A few minutes ago I was checking my emails in Gmail when all of a sudden all my received emails between today and December 13th just vanished. I have multiple browsers so it is not that. I know Gmail emails are not held on y our computer but on their servers. I opened my phone and exactly the same thing happemed. I checked through my labels and folders, even all mail………nothing. Has this happened to anyone else?
Missing Gmail emails
Are they not in the bin by any chance? Could it have been you deleted them by mistake? Check the “bin” folder.
It has happened me a few times where I open the app on my phone and they’re mysteriously missing, check all folders,no sign, and then after closing and re opening they’re there again. I reckon google must be doing something with the servers or something for a moment here and there
MediumRoastSteam Have done but no. They literally vanished in front of my eyes! I found a Google ❤️🩹 tool and it did recover 815 messages but none of the ones that were nicked!
JahLaza I thought the same thing……will just sit back and see what happens!
Hillary Clinton ‘accidentally’ deleted 33,000 emails and then someone put bleach on the hard drive they were on. So I can see how Google can ‘accidentally’ have emails removed.
Google is doing nothing to your emails, they won’t delete those.
Usually what you described is applying some filters, like you display only Unread ones.
Play with the settings to show what you need. 
@dfk41 - is there a possibility that the account has been compromised? I’m assuming you have 2-factor authentication at least?
pjw Nope matey, nothing to do with filters. Best answer I have found is Google doing maintenance on a server. There is a recovery tool available if you hunt for it. I did recover 814 emails but only ones that I had deleted. When this happened on my laptop, I picked up my phone, opened Gmail and watched a months worth vanish in front of my eyes as they did on the laptop. If I had deleted them, then they would be in my Bin
Everything is possible, but I doubt.
You can always reach they support, but as this “free” service not sure what terms they offer.
In general paying for email, like Outlook PRemium, gives you more consumer rights.
Check also this statment:
- As of June 1, 2021, if you remain inactive or go over your storage quota for 24 months or longer, all of your emails may be deleted starting June 1, 2023. Learn more about how Google storage works.
pjw In Gmail you can click the ? the report any issues. The deleted account statement only refers to accounts that have been inactive matey, and I have reached out to them today. Having read around a bit, it seems this is an ongoing problem with Gmail users. I will double check the storage link you sent though
pjw It is not the storage link matey as having read it, I checked and I pay for 100 GB of space and have 64 used up
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OK, got it.
No more ideas how to help, if nothing from this link helped (https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7015314?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop#zippy=%2Ccheck-if-the-email-was-archived-deleted-or-marked-as-spam) , then I am afraid you are out of options.
For the future you can in theory keep local copy of email using some clients like Thunderbird or Outlook.
Another option is to FWD important (or all) emails to different mailbox provided by different provider (there are a few starting with outlook, protonmail, etc…) .
PS.
in fact you can give the Thunderbird try now, if this is some filtering/display issues, the client will still download the content.
pjw I have been a Mac user for 10 years or so. The convenience of Gmail is that it is browser based so the stuff is not actually stored on your phone/device…..whilst that is good, when you get the odd issue like this, it does annoy you though! Many thanks for your thoughts
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Did the emails disappear before your eyes? I know that sounds like an odd question but emails that appear momentarily and then disappear usually means they’ve been deleted somewhere and the view you’re seeing is catching up.
In this case the account might’ve been compromised (or at least accessed by someone else) and deleted from a different device.
I’m not sure if Google offers this functionality but are you able to see login activity? If so, check that all activity matches the IP addresses of devices you own.
If they were all just absent entirely when you logged in, then it suggests it might be issues on the server side.
Batch editing/moving/deleting emails isn’t something you’d easily do by accident but at the same time, if some emails are visible still and some not, it suggests it’s unlikely to be server problems. This would typically make all emails inaccessible.
La Marzocco Linea Mini - Mazzer Philos
HarveyMushman Being retired and not liking daytime (or night time) tv I am more or less on my laptop all the time. Gmail is always open on a tab. My Iphone sits next to me and that usually makes a sound so I check my mail. When I clicked on the gmail tab, all the emails were missing so I did not see them vanish. But, when I opened Gmail on my phone they vanished in front of me suggesting the server was synchronising…….