If your searching for a mail that you know you sent yonks ago, it could be that it’s been automatically purged from your Sent folder. You can see the full list of Google’s recommended settings for various email apps here. Here’s a prime example: if you collect your Gmail in Outlook using the IMAP protocol, Google advises that you uncheck the box that says “Save copies of messages in the Sent Items folder”.

Worse, settings that seem perfectly obvious to tick sometimes get in the way. The bad news is, if it is in that folder, there’s no chance the recipient has received it. So, the first place to check is in there. Unsent messages will normally be saved in your Drafts folder, waiting for you to finish them. You may well have hit the Send icon, but for some reason or another – perhaps shutting down the email app or the computer before the message had actually been sent – the message never left your system. The most likely cause of an email not appearing in the Sent folder is that it wasn’t sent in the first place. I know this sounds like one of those really annoying questions, much like ‘where did you last leave it?’ when you’ve lost something, but are you sure you sent it? Why is that email not in your sent folder? Where the Charlie Dickens has it gone? Search the Drafts folder No matter how much you search, you cannot find that important email. You typed an email, you sent it, and now you’ve gone back looking for it in your Sent folder.

Cannot find sent mail in outlook 2013