Draft email message disappeared

Thank you kindly for your reply, and for checking those suggestions.

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Re: "The only thing I had done was to flag the original email".

Have you tried re-opening that flagged email ... unlikely, yet worth checking there ... (ie: "conversations" may be collected in the one file, depending on settings)

and

check the "Bin" and "Archive" folders (one set for deleted mail)

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Re: " ... it was very annoying that it was deleted outside my control."

Commiserations! Suddenly losing our work is a shock.

Interference from unnecessary third-party (non-Apple) software like ad-blockers, virus-checkers, cleaners and the like, even VPN (if not supplied by an employer) has been found to cause grief in the Mail app by others. Even if turned off, they may keep running in the background. Getting rid of them completely by using un-installers from their developers also deletes their associated files.

( More info: Apple support's info. )

Any third-party apps that you find necessary also need to be kept up-to-date to avoid compatibility issues.

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Else: if you can rule out "third-party" possibilities:

You may want to send feedback to reach those who work on the software behind-the-scenes at Apple. Although they will likely not reply, and it won't help immediately, if others also have a similar issue Apple may address it in a future update. (All feedback is carefully read and logged.)

Web-form for feedback: Feedback - Mail - Apple

Re: "Draft email message disappeared"

"Where did my draft go and why did Mail delete it?"

Wondering if you have checked whether or not the reply autosaved into the "Drafts" folder in the sidebar in Mail app.

There are various possible causes for the email reply disappearing, so we can not say which one for sure.

Eg: a few suggestions:

• brief interruption to wifi or internet supply
• unnecessary software running in the background

(Eg: interference from third-party VPN, or ad-blocker etc)

• accidentally hitting "send" (check in sent mail)

The draft should be in the Drafts folder in the mail app. You can open it and continue editing it.

The email was not in the Drafts folder.

I had not sent the message and it was not therefore in the Sent folder.

I had also not deleted the message. (If I had clicked the red button on the draft, it would have asked me if I wanted to save it.)

The only thing I did in respect of the message was to flag the original message I was replying to while the draft was open.

I do not know if there was any interruption to internet or wifi but, even if there was, it should not have caused the draft to vanish.

It was a complex reply that I was drafting and had taken nearly an hour to write so it was very annoying that it was deleted outside my control.

It was not there. See my other reply.