It’s not uncommon for people to receive dozens of emails each day, or more, and that’s a lot of information. If Outlook decides to stop working, you’ll be missing tons of important contacts, calendar appointments, confirmations, and data that you need to keep your life running. Thankfully, there are several techniques you can use to gain access to the information you lost. Try some of these to help you gather the missing information quickly and efficiently.

Use an inbox repair tool: Even though you can’t see your emails in Outlook, you may be able to access them if the corrupted files are still on your computer. Rather than using a general data recovery tool, use an inbox repair program specifically designed for Outlook. Because it’s so specific, it is more likely to be able to handle exactly the types of files you need to access and restore them to the format they take in Outlook. If you’re fortunate, you may have your inbox looking just as it did before the crash in a relatively quick period of time.

Check the original client: Most email addresses can be accessed through the web in addition to using Outlook or another locally based email client. For example, if you have your Gmail or Yahoo address that puts emails in Outlook, you can log into your account through the web and check for important messages there. This method helps you keep up with your daily life as you work to get Outlook set up again. You can also email important messages and files to yourself so you have them in your Outlook inbox again.

Get files re-sent: Go back to the original source to have important documents sent to you again. Usually a company will be willing to resend invoices and other files, especially if they are waiting on you for a payment or other response. You can also often download important documents from a company website. For example, your bank’s website usually has archives of your statements and other documents that you can download. You can also go to co-workers who received the same emails you did and ask them to forward the emails to you so you have them again.

Remember preventative measures: You don’t want your life to come to a halt if you lose your emails, so think ahead of the curve and make backups to store outside of Outlook. For example, print out important documents and emails to store in a locked filing cabinet. Keep an extra copy of documents and contacts on your smart phone so you have another copy if Outlook crashes on your computer. You can also create a regular backup of your Outlook files that you store on a flash drive, burn to a CD, or upload to a cloud storage website.

In today’s world, lost files are very rarely lost forever. Technology has advanced to the point of being able to extract corrupted data, which is incredibly helpful after a crash. In addition, you can usually find information in multiple places, especially if you are attentive to backing up your files on a regular basis. With all of these methods available, you should be able to get through an email crash without any major setbacks.