My trash folder is empty but I need to recover emails I put there. Where do I find them?

sjsullivan wrote:

My trash folder is empty but I need to recover emails I put there. Where do I find them?

what do have set for Trash...(?)

Mail>Preferences>Accounts>Mailbox Behaviors make changes that suit you better

Mail User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

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It is not clear if Time Machine backs up email messages since I find few after I updated to Monterey. Also, Time Machine no longer has a mail message interface to allow you to identify messages you need to restore. The messages are only identified as sequential number but the date does not match the date of the message.

To backup mail messages see:

How can I back up my email?

When we empty our Trash folders, any data or files that they contained is gone and not able to be restored. All of us need to have a backup system in place. That means using program such as Time Machine (which Apple provides) or Carbon Copy Cloner which will automatically copy all of our data to an external drive which is dedicated to that purpose. Eventually all hard drives will fail. If it has not been backed up all that data is lost - gone. Backup apps have multiple backups done over time, so an earlier backup file would have the data you deleted. As an alternative, you can manually copy all your files to a backup disk, replacing each one as it is changed. In conclusion, getting an external disk to use for backing up is easy. These days they are cost effective, compact, easy to install with a vendor provided USB cable and most do not require any external power source. All you may have to do is to reformat the disk before using it.

iCloud is NOT backup source although it does have some of those characteristics. It is made to mirror selected devices and to allow cross platform sharing. You may be able to find those old files in your iCloud if you look now.

You can find them in your backup file.