What do I do if I'm missing items on my Steam account?

It's so frustrating when items are missing from your Steam account but luckily we found the best ways to report the issue and get it corrected.

Jeff Whelpley is the editor / author responsible for this content.
Aug 19, 2019

Steam is the ultimate platform for playing and creating games. It has about 30, 000 games and users can enjoy updates, exclusive deals, and other great benefits. If you notice that items are missing from your Steam Account, you can make a complaint through Steam customer support.

You may not get an error message to let you know that your inventory is missing. You will only notice it when you want to play. If you suspect that your account may have been hacked, check the history for strange activity. Try using a different device to check your inventory. If it is still missing, you definitely have a problem. You must contact the Steam customer for help.

When Installed Games Appear as Uninstalled

If games that you previously installed and played appear as not installed in your Steam library, there may be a problem. Fortunately, it is possible to make your games recognizable on Steam again.

If your games and files appear as uninstalled, it means that Steam can no longer recognize the files. If the games still appear in their original locations, you can try to launch them. This will prompt a download which makes it possible for Steam to recognize the files.

Go to your default Steam installation to make sure that the game folders are in their appropriate location.

If you had installed games to a different location away from your main Steam folder, you can follow these steps;

1. Launch Steam

2. Go to Steam, Settings, and then Downloads

3. Click on the Steam Library Folders button. It will direct you to all your existing library folders

4. Tap on the 'Add Library Folder' button

5. Click on the folder which has your installed games

After adding the new Library folder, you should see your installed games in your Steam Library.

Try Reinstalling the Games

If Steam still doesn't recognize your games, you may need to reinstall the games. You should resort to this option only if you have completed the instructions and still have a problem.

How Can You Prevent the Issue?

You can prevent the problem from ever happening in the future. Do not use external drives with Steam or any Steam games. External drives increase your chances of experiencing performance problems. Your external drive may connect or disconnect from the computer when you do not expect it. If you run into a problem when using your external drive, try installing Steam and your games on an internal drive.

Make sure that you allow Steam to close properly each time you shut down your computer. This may help you avoid problems. If you allow Windows to force Steam to close, your Steam library may be corrupted.

Third-party applications may cause you to lose some of your games. They can prevent Steam from writing important information. Make sure that you don't have installed an application that may be affecting the performance of Steam.

Some applications may lead to serious problems such as application crashes and loss of connectivity. If you have trouble identifying programs that are causing problems, you should ask a professional to help you.

If you have any problems with your Steam account, you should contact the customer support team for help. There are plenty of ways to reach them. If you wish to speak with an agent, you should contact them by phone. When speaking to an agent, try to provide as much detail as possible. The average wait time is about 22 minutes. The help desk is another great way to get help. You may get help from the support team or other Steam users.

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Jeff truly believes that all customers deserve good service. He’s been building tools, inventing phone tree hacks and helping customers since before his days at GetHuman. He's also a Google GDE and involved in the Angular community.
What do I do if I'm missing items on my Steam account?

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GetHuman has been working for over 10 years on sourcing information about big organizations like Steam Software in order to help customers resolve customer service issues faster. We started with contact information and fastest ways to reach a human at big companies. Particularly ones with slow or complicated IVR or phone menu systems. Or companies that have self-serve help forums instead of a customer service department. From there, we realized that consumers still needed more detailed help solving the most common problems, so we expanded to this set of guides, which grows every day. And if you spot any issues with our What do I do if I'm missing items on my Steam account? guide, please let us know by sending us feedback. We want to be as helpful as possible. If you appreciated this guide, please share it with your favorite people. Our free information and tools is powered by you, the customer. The more people that use it, the better it gets.

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