Email search doesn't find messages more than 3 years old

Hi there, @forumwba! We understand the importance of being able to locate old emails and want to help. 

What platform do you typically use to access your email (Outlook, Apple Mail, Currently, etc.)? If you haven't already, log into your email via Currently and check to see if you can find your old emails there. Since it's supported by AT&T, using Currently can help to eliminate a host of email troubles. 

We do have a way to restore missing emails to your account, however, this can only be used for emails from the past 7 days.

We look forward to hearing back from you so that we can take the proper next steps together.

Lacey, AT&T Community Specialist 

Thanks for the reponse, Lacey.  I am using eM Client to manage my email (Eudora before that).  I just tried logging directly in to Currently and tried a search that should have returned some results from several years ago, but nothing was found.  It was probably naive of me to think that these messages would just hang around forever, so I guess going forward I will need to start saving off anything important.

Thanks for getting back to us, @forumwba!

Do you know if those emails existed in your inbox within the past 7 days? If so, you can try completing a restore request form. Before you ask us to restore your messages, keep in mind:

• We can only restore emails from the past 7 days.
• You can’t cancel a restore request.
• Restoration efforts aren’t always successful.
• Recovered emails go into the same folders they were in on the restore date you pick. Check your trash folder if you can’t find them after the restoration.
• You should back up any important emails received or sent in the past 7 days. 

If the messages you are searching for were not in your inbox in the last week, we won't be able to bring them back.

Please don't hesitate to reach back out if you need help in the future. Thank you for contacting the AT&T Community Forums!

Lacey, AT&T Community Specialist 

Unfortunately, a restore request won't help in this case, since I'm looking for messages that are much older.  I spent some time this morning looking through my old Eudora email, which I used until 2015, and every message I sent or received since 2001 is still there (started with AT&T in 2008).  It must have been configured by default to save the messages, because I don't remember doing that; then when I switched to eM Client I probably assumed that it would do the same thing, but it's obviously not.  

Thank you for your help - not exactly what I was hoping to hear, but at least now I know how things work.