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How to stop Outlook from deleting meeting invite emails after you respond

Change one setting in Outlook's Mail options so meeting invite emails stay in your inbox after you accept, tentatively accept or decline them.

  • By Nur Islam
  • 0:42 video
  • 2 steps
  • 21.1K views
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Who this is for

You accept a meeting and the invite email disappears from your inbox. Later you want to check the agenda, the attachments or who sent it, and you have to dig through Deleted Items.

By default, the Outlook desktop app removes a meeting request from the inbox as soon as you respond to it. The setting that does this is in File, Options, Mail. Untick it and your invites stay where you left them.

What you need

  • The Outlook desktop app
  • A mailbox that receives meeting invites

Step by step

0 of 2 done
  1. 01

    Open the Mail options

    In Outlook, click File, select Options, and choose Mail.

  2. 02

    Turn off automatic deletion

    Scroll to the Send messages section and untick Delete meeting requests and notifications from Inbox after responding. Click OK.

    From now on, when you respond to a meeting invite, the email stays in your inbox.

Tips and common problems

  • The setting sits under Send messages in the Mail options, not under the Calendar options.
  • It only affects invites you respond to after the change. Invites removed earlier are in Deleted Items.
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Questions

Why does Outlook delete meeting invites after I accept them?

The option Delete meeting requests and notifications from Inbox after responding is turned on by default in the Outlook desktop app. Untick it in File, Options, Mail.

Where do accepted meeting invites go in Outlook?

When that option is on, Outlook moves the invite email to Deleted Items after you respond. The meeting itself stays on your calendar.

Ask a question in the comments Last checked 26 Sep 2026. Screens change: if a step looks different, tell me in the comments.