Random Emails Gone from Gmail

#1

Post by jtnag » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 9:39 AM UTC

One of my workflow within gmail is to use it as searchable history of conversations/receipts/confirmations emails.

While I was printing out all the confirmation for upcoming holiday, I needed to get the confirmation of car rental.

Searched in gmail search - no email confirmation returned, seemed strange as I remember that I check it in December. Checked credit card history - it was payed although payment details did not had rental company name nor reservation confirmation id. - searched gmail mails around payment time - no match. - searched browser history - found links to gmail url with confirmation id around December, gmail url does not opens the email but inbox.

With confirmation id, I went through one-by-one on rental company to finally get the voucher by confirmation id and email.

This is the second time where email was simply gone from gmail - is it me (I'm loosing the trust for myself) or more then gmail issue?

Re: Random Emails Gone from Gmail

#2

Post by aurizon » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 10:57 AM UTC

It was there, but the classic . search did not find it - you found it as a response to the original booking. Hard to say if google is easing their cross-indexing?? or what? I wonder if the paid gmail has that same problem, or does the fee cover the extra detail work? I wonder if yahoo etc do the same? Or was this a one time flaw?

Re: Random Emails Gone from Gmail

#3

Post by jaggs » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 11:18 AM UTC

Yep, I've definitely had the same weirdness in the past. Messages completely gone or hidden. I've noticed that I also get the odd email from a stranger's account every so often. Which is really worrying.

Re: Random Emails Gone from Gmail

#4

Post by jtnag » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 12:07 PM UTC

aurizon wrote: post #2

It was there, but the classic . search did not find it - you found it as a response to the original booking. Hard to say if google is easing their cross-indexing?? or what? I wonder if the paid gmail has that same problem, or does the fee cover the extra detail work? I wonder if yahoo etc do the same? Or was this a one time flaw?

Email was not there at all - not in searched results nor in mailbox history. Only reference was seen in firefox browser history where url to maiblox is kept + tab description (fortunately it included reservation id). Url did not resolved into showing email content.

Re: Random Emails Gone from Gmail

#5

Post by ipython » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 1:26 PM UTC

I think often about this sort of “digital rot”. It’s got to be more common than we anticipate.

Re: Random Emails Gone from Gmail

#6

Post by hiidrew » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

I've noticed gmail search is poor, especially if you're trying to recover something accidentally deleted

Re: Random Emails Gone from Gmail

#7

Post by aurizon » Tue, Feb 07, 2023, 10:29 AM UTC

jtnag wrote: post #4

aurizon wrote: post #2

It was there, but the classic . search did not find it - you found it as a response to the original booking. Hard to say if google is easing their cross-indexing?? or what? I wonder if the paid gmail has that same problem, or does the fee cover the extra detail work? I wonder if yahoo etc do the same? Or was this a one time flaw?

Email was not there at all - not in searched results nor in mailbox history. Only reference was seen in firefox browser history where url to maiblox is kept + tab description (fortunately it included reservation id). Url did not resolved into showing email content.

Well, I download all my gmails every year as an searchable archive. I joined in Oct 2006 = 600,000+ mails in it now.

Re: Random Emails Gone from Gmail

#8

Post by smittywerben » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 7:40 PM UTC

If you somehow find how to contact Google Support, I'd pass along the url with the ID. Maybe you have a rogue SMTP client putting the message into an unlabeled folder. Or your account is cursed, I like some of my gmail accounts more than others. It's hard to say. Sorry about that though. I've looked into recording all of my HTTP/HTTPS (decrypted) packets because losing important documents like this drives me crazy.