Emptied the Trash by accident, or a phone set to POP3 removed all mail from the server? If the messages were on the server when the daily backup ran, JetBackup 5 can restore them. Restoring mail adds the old messages back; it does not delete mail that arrived since.
Before you start
- Know which mailbox and roughly when the messages were still there. The message must have existed on the server at the time of a backup; mail received and deleted on the same day may not be in any backup.
- Make sure the mailbox has enough quota for the restored messages. See mailbox quotas.
Restore a mailbox or folder
- Open cPanel → JetBackup 5 → Email Backups.
- Find the email account, for example
sara@example.com. - Choose the backup date.
- To restore only some folders, click Change Files Selection (if offered) and tick folders such as
INBOX,.Sentor.Archive. Otherwise the whole mailbox is selected. - Click Restore and confirm.
- Check Queue until the job is completed.
Open webmail or refresh your email app. Restored messages appear in their original folders with their original dates, so sort by date to find them.
Note: Email apps using IMAP may need a moment, or a folder resync, to show restored mail. In Outlook right-click the folder → Properties → Clear Offline Items, then sync. Apps using POP3 will download the restored messages again.
Restore a deleted email account
If the whole address was deleted in cPanel:
- Recreate the account with the same address in cPanel → Email → Email Accounts. See create email accounts.
- Restore its mail from JetBackup 5 → Email Backups as above.
Forwarders and filters are restored separately; full account backups or support can help with those.
Download instead
Choose Download instead of Restore to get an archive of the mailbox folders (Maildir format). This is useful for archiving an ex-employee's mailbox before deleting it. Each message is a separate file that can be opened in a text editor or imported by specialised tools.
Prevent lost mail
- Use IMAP, not POP3, on all devices, so nothing is removed from the server by an app. See IMAP versus POP3.
- Do not set Roundcube or your app to empty Trash immediately.
- Keep important mail in folders rather than Trash or Spam, which you may clean automatically.
Troubleshooting
- Account not listed: it did not exist yet at the last backup. Check older or newer dates.
- Restore completed but nothing appears: you restored a date after the mail was deleted. Try an earlier backup.
- Quota exceeded: raise the mailbox quota first, then repeat the restore.