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Is it possible to recover email text that was originally viewed in Google Chrome browser by finding it somehow in the cached browser files. The original gmail messages was deleted and so was the gmail account. Is this a easy process. I spoke to a forensic computer tech that said it was possible but wanted $1200 just to try.

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Hm, theoretically, yes. If you have Windows, take a look at ChromeCacheView

You can select one or more cache files from the list, and then

  • export the list into text/html/xml file ('Save Selected Items' option),

  • copy the URL list to the clipboard (Ctrl+U),

  • copy the entire table of cache files (Ctrl+C), and then paste it to Excel or to OpenOffice spreadsheet.

You can also extract the actual files from the cache, and save them into another folder, You can do that by using the 'Copy Selected Cache Files To' option (F4).

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I have used ChromeCacheView, but what do I do with the files that I think could contain the text that I need. Thank you in advance. – Phuc Mar 31 '11 at 10:43
You could just save them anywhere and perform a search (Windows search will do fine, I guess) within those documents for some keywords you know. Under Linux/Unix I'd suggest grep for this purpose. – slhck Mar 31 '11 at 15:42
I am using windows 7. the chromecacheview only shows me the files and information about it. how do I acutaully find the file and view the text on the page. Windows search doesn't work. This may not be possible I fear. At least not with my limited resources and abilities. – Phuc Mar 31 '11 at 16:10
You can export the files (all from Gmail, for example) as plain text files. Put them into some folder, e.g. on your Desktop. If you search that folder with Windows, it will be able to search the file's contents. – slhck Apr 1 '11 at 19:45
See my answer above, I included the steps for the Cache exporter. – slhck Apr 1 '11 at 20:01
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