In a typical default setup, your browser accesses your web\/cloud-based email and displays it locally (on your PC); but at most, only temporary scratchpad copies are saved locally, while you\u2019re reading the email. The actual email files, including attachments and your replies, remain on the distant server. And when you close your browser or run a cleanup app, the local, temporary copies are deleted. The copies on the server remain until you delete them through the email interface, or cancel your account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, if you didn\u2019t use a default, web-based email setup, then you might<\/em><\/strong> have local copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But you\u2019d probably already know, because you would have had to take extra steps to make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, when you set up your Yahoo mail, did you convert the default account to use a non-browser-based email client via IMAP<\/strong><\/a> or POP<\/strong><\/a>? (See also: Yahoo IMAP instructions<\/strong><\/a>; Yahoo POP instructions<\/strong><\/a>) Did you select, install, and configure a different different email client; and also told that email client to store your emails on your local system?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those things are unusual enough that you\u2019d probably remember doing them. And you probably would have encountered some large mailbox folders on your PC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if all this sounds unfamiliar to you, then odds are you had a pretty basic, non-POP, non-IMAP, browser\/web-based email account, with nothing of significance permanently saved on your local system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sorry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n (P.S. If you ask, Yahoo will try to recover emails that were deleted within the last 7 days. (Yahoo email recovery page<\/strong><\/a>.) But you specified \u201cold\u201d emails, so I\u2019m guessing this isn\u2019t an option. Again, sorry!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Permalink:<\/strong><\/em> https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=2493<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n COMMENT \/ QUESTION<\/strong> on THIS ITEM?<\/strong> See the<\/em> Comment box<\/strong> at bottom of this page!<\/em> Maybe \u2014 but probably not. It depends on how you set things up. Most web\/cloud-based email services (not just Yahoo) live almost entirely on their host servers, not on your PC. In a typical default setup, your browser accesses your web\/cloud-based email and displays it locally (on your PC); but at most, only temporary scratchpad…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,21,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-misc","category-science-and-tech"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-Ed","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1700,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/22\/a-reader-asks-what-is-the-best-software-to-recover-deleted-android-files-by-a-pc\/","url_meta":{"origin":2493,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: “What is the best software to recover deleted Android files, by a PC?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-22","format":false,"excerpt":"It depends on where the files are located. If the files are on a removeable memory card, it's easy! Just shut down the phone, remove the memory card, plug the card into a PC's card reader and use any of the gazillion free and paid file-recovery tools available. (Examples.) No\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1969,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/11\/a-reader-asks-does-it-still-make-sense-to-buy-external-hard-drives-in-the-cloud-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":2493,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: “Does it still make sense to buy external hard drives in the cloud era?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-11","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Simone Paciaroni*\u00a0asks: \"Does it still make sense to buy external hard drives in the cloud era?\" I think so, yes. But not instead of cloud storage --- with cloud storage. Local storage gives you immediate access to everything, regardless of the size or number of files you're accessing. When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":285,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/06\/a-reader-asks-fred-whats-your-current-recommendation-for-backups\/","url_meta":{"origin":2493,"position":2},"title":"A reader asks: Fred, what’s your current recommendation for backups?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-09-06","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Eric Desman writes: Fred, You have always had a practical approach to layered backups. In 2018, what is your recommendation for backups? I currently backup to a local external hard drive and use Backblaze for off-site backups. I found an old version of Zipit.bat that made me think of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2045,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/15\/a-reader-asks-what-is-the-sense-of-backing-up-data-on-your-hard-drive-if-it-is-lost-when-the-computer-crashes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2493,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “What is the sense of backing up data on your hard drive if it is lost when the computer crashes?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-15","format":false,"excerpt":"You're right. There's absolutely no sense in that. Storing backups on the same physical hardware as the original is a terrible idea because, as you say, any major PC problem that takes out the original is also likely to take out the backup. You'd be left with nothing. True backup\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1260,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/07\/a-reader-asks-how-do-i-install-win-10-on-a-win7-pc-with-no-internet-access\/","url_meta":{"origin":2493,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: How do I install Win 10 on a Win7 PC with no internet access?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-07","format":false,"excerpt":"A reader* asks: \"How do I install Win 10 on a Win7 PC with no internet access?\" Easily! Use Microsoft's free Media Creation Tool to create a 100% legit, fully-functional setup DVD or flash drive. Here's how: \u25cf Using any other PC with internet access, go to this page: https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/software-download\/windows10\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3219,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/08\/is-a-32gb-ssd-memory-on-a-netbook-enough-to-run-windows-and-microsoft-office\/","url_meta":{"origin":2493,"position":5},"title":"“Is a 32GB SSD on a netbook enough to run Windows and Microsoft Office?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-08-08","format":false,"excerpt":"In a word: No. On this page, Microsoft states (emphasis added): \"Starting with the May 2019 Update, the system requirements for hard drive size for clean installs\u00a0of Windows 10 as well as new PCs changed to a minimum of 32GB.\" That's Windows itself. MS Office also needs room, although the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2493"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2497,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493\/revisions\/2497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"[seperator]\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEPERATOR-short-grey.png?resize=104%2C6\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/em>NEW QUESTION? <\/b>Ask<\/em> here<\/a><\/font><\/u><\/b>!
(Want free notification of new content? Click<\/em> <\/strong>here<\/a><\/b>!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"