Lost Aol Mail

[Achickand3dogs]

Below is a question that was sent to AOL. Have not heard back yet, but figured someone in the MAC community has encountered this problem and probably has a solution. Had a number of things saved that it would be so helpful to retrieve.

I have not logged into my AOL account in a very long time. Never knew that the account would be cleaned out after 120 days. I use a Mac and have Time Machine backups. If I go back to an old Time Machine back up where I did access my AOL account, will it (and AOL) allow me to restore emails, contacts and such? Please email response to... (e-mail address removed)

Thank you

Lynne

Any thoughts would be helpful. I am using an iMac, running 10.6.8

Thank for any thoughts, help or direction you can offer.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-Are you using Apple Mail to access your AOL account?
-How long ago did you lose the AOL emails?
-How far back do your Time Machine backups go?

If we find the files that we need to restore, you may lose all activity since that backup - especially if you are using the Apple Mail app. If you login via a web browser to AOL to access your email, Time Machine will not have them stored and available for restoration.

C

 

[Achickand3dogs]

Not using Apple mail.
About 3 months ago
Time Machine goes back to 2013, but it sounds like that is no help since I am logging in via a web browser.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for your email.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Unfortunately, since you are accessing AOL via a browser, there isn't anything you can do on your end. You would have to work with AOL, but I doubt that they would restore anything, because of their stated 120 day policy.

So sorry we couldn't be or more help and good luck,

C

 

[Achickand3dogs]

Unfortunately there was no stated policy a while ago. It is a relatively recent development. This is not the first time that email address has been dormant for a time.

I may offer to be a paying customer, to see if that encourages AOL to restore.

 

[Cory Cooper]

I hope things turn out well for you...please let us know how it goes.

C

 

[MacTipster]

Aol does have a way restore old e-mail accounts. They couldn't find my account that was 15 years old but I learned through that process that a lot of accounts can be re-activated, you just need to get in contact with them via phone. Hope it works out!

 

[Achickand3dogs]

Any tips/ideas/key words you can suggest? Also, how long ago did you get yours restored?