#Restore and Recover Your Exchange Online Data

If you need to quickly recover lost or corrupted Exchange content, Exchange Online Backup and Restore provides full and incremental backup capabilities for Exchange Online, which enables you to create backup plans and schedules to frequently backup high priority data and improve backup operations and storage efficiency. The following use cases present detailed scenarios for using Exchange Online Backup and Restore to protect and recover your Exchange Online data.

#Select a Restore Method

There are two types of restore methods you can use to select the backed-up data to restore: Time-based Restore and Object-based Restore. Use a Time-based Restore to select a backup job on the calendar, and then select objects to restore the backed-up data. Use an Object-based Restore to restore the backed-up data by selecting the specific object and selecting which backup job to restore it from. Refer to the sections below for details.

#Time-based Restore

The Time-based Restore is designed to find the backup jobs first, and then select the objects to restore the backed-up data. Complete the following steps to configure a Time-based Restore:

1. To start a restore, you can open the Restore tab, click Restore on the ribbon, and then select Time-based Restore from the drop-down list, or you can click Start with Time-based Restore in the workspace. The Job Selection page appears in the Restore Wizard tab.

   NOTE

   If your backup data on the default storage has been moved to the Archive tier, a pop-up window will appear, prompting you to contact AvePoint Support to restore the data.

2. Select a job on the Job Selection page. The backup jobs that have been completed within the last 7 days are available in the calendar. Click Day, Week, or Month in the top-right corner of the calendar to change the view to see all available jobs. Click the left and right arrows beside the date on the top-left of the calendar to move forward or backward. Select a backup job which contains the content that you want to restore.

   You can also configure settings in the Filter By field to limit the scope of the displayed backup job. The logical relationship between the following filter rules is AND.

   • Plan Filter – Filter backup jobs by plan name. By default, all plans are selected.

   • Job Filter – Filter backup job by job type. Select the backup type in the Job Filter drop-down list. If you check the Include jobs with only partial backup data checkbox, any backup jobs that are stopped prior to completion are included in the backup. By default, All Types is selected**.**

   • Time Range – Filter backup data by job completed time range. The All jobs selection lists all backup jobs whenever the job is completed, while Job completed within filters the backup jobs which are completed in the specified time range. By default, Jobs completed within Last 7 Days is selected.

   After you finish configuring the Filter By drop-down lists, click the Filter button. All the backup jobs that meet the filter rules are listed in the calendar. Click Reset to cancel the filter settings.

   When you are finished, click Next. The Data Selection page appears.

3. Data Selection – Select backed-up data to restore. You can browse through the backed-up data by clicking on objects to expand the data tree. There is a checkbox corresponding to each level on the data tree, which is deselected by default.

   NOTE

   If an incremental backup job is selected on the Job Selection page, the Only show incremental data option will appear above the backup data tree. By default, this option is deselected, and all data backed up in the selected incremental job, and previous jobs of the same backup cycle are shown. Select the Only show incremental data option to show the data backed up in the selected incremental job only.

   • Click the Items node, and the Item Browser for Items window appears. The items are displayed with the related properties, including file name, sender, recipients, sent time, with attachment, and category. Click the checkbox before each item to select the item, and then click OK to save your configurations.

   • You can use the Advanced Search function to filter out specific objects or data within each Exchange level. Click Advanced Search on the ribbon to use this function. For more information, refer to Restore Data Using Advanced Search in Exchange Online Backup and Restore.

4. When finished, click Next. The Restore Type page appears.

#Object-based Restore

The Object-based Restore is designed to locate the objects first, and then select a backup job of that object to restore the backup data. Complete the following steps to configure an Object-based Restore:

1. To start a restore, you can open the Restore tab, click Restore on the ribbon, and then select Object-based Restore from the drop-down list, or you can click Start with Object-based Restore in the workspace. The Object Search page appears in the Restore Wizard tab.

2. Object Search – Complete the following configurations:

   • Restore Object Level – Exchange Online Object-based Restore only support restoring the objects at the mail level.

   • Search Rules – Configure the rules for searching for objects by their properties. Select a property and a condition, and then enter the required information in the text box. The Matches condition supports the following wildcards: * and ?. Click Add to add a search rule. You can edit the logic relationship of the search rules by clicking And or Or.

   • Include Jobs with Partial Backup Data – Choose whether or not to include the finished with an exception, stopped, and failed jobs. Note that the data may be incomplete in these jobs.

   • Backup Time Range – Select the backup time range to limit the search scope in the Time range drop-down list. You can select the backup jobs performed in the Last 7 Days, Last Week, This Month, Last Month, or a custom time range.

   When finished, click Next. The Data Selection page appears.

   NOTE

   If your backup data on the default storage has been moved to the Archive tier, a pop-up window will appear, prompting you to contact AvePoint Support to restore the data.

3. Data Selection – Select the data to restore. You can click Locate the object in this scope next to a mailbox to quickly locate the objects in this mailbox, or you can click Locate All on the ribbon to locate all of the objects that meet the search rules in the selected scope.

   To view the search result of the Locate job, select this job in Job Monitor and click Search Result on the ribbon. Click Items on the data tree, select the objects you want to restore, and click Job Selection to select a backup job for that object to restore. Click OK.

   When finished, click Next. The Restore Type page appears.

#Perform an Exchange Online In-Place Restore

An Exchange Online in-place restore can be performed only on data backed up using Exchange Backup and Restore. To configure a restore, choose a restore method first to quickly search and select the backed-up data, and then select a restore type to choose the location for restoring the selected data and complete the other general settings.

To use an in-place restore to restore granularly backed-up data to its original location in Exchange Mailbox or Microsoft 365 Group, complete the following steps:

1. Log in to Classic DocAve Backup and launch Exchange Online Backup and Restore. See Launch Exchange Online Backup and Restore.

2. Select the backup data to restore by selecting either the Time-based or Object-based restore methods. See Time-based Restore or Object-based Restore for details on selecting the backed-up data to restore.

3. Select the In place restore option.

   Click Next. The Restore Settings page appears.

4. Configure the following settings for the restore on the Restore Settings page:

   • Conflict Resolution – Define a conflict resolution behavior. If the Exchange object name in the source node is the same name as an existing object in the target node, a conflict happens.

     • Container level conflict resolution – Set a conflict resolution on the container level. Skip ignores the source container that has the same name as the target one.

     • Content level conflict resolution – Set a conflict resolution on the item level.

       • Skip ignores the source item that has the same item name as the destination item.

       • Overwrite copies the source item to the target by overwriting the target item with the same item name.

   • Notification – Select an email notification profile for sending emails. For more information on working with notification policies, refer to the Control Panel section in the Cloud Management User Guide.

     Click Next when you are finished. The Schedule page appears.

5. Configure the schedule to set the time to restore the content on the Schedule page:

   • Schedule Selection – Choose Restore immediately after the wizard finishes to run the restore job immediately, or choose Configure the schedule myself to configure a customized schedule.

   • Description – Optionally enter a description of the restore job in the text box.

   Click Next to advance to the Overview page.

6. Review and edit the plan selections on the Overview page. To make changes, click Edit to the right of a heading row to go to the corresponding setting page, allowing you to edit the configuration.

7. Click Finish when you are done. The restore job will start according to your schedule settings.

#Perform an Exchange Online Item Out-of-Place Restore

To use an out of place restore to restore the backed-up data to another location in the Exchange Mailbox other than the original location, follow the steps below:

1. Log in to Classic DocAve Backup and launch Exchange Online Backup and Restore. See Launch Exchange Online Backup and Restore.

2. Select the backup data to restore by selecting either the Time-based or Object-based restore methods. See Time-based Restore for details on selecting the backed-up data to restore.

   Click Next. The Restore Type page appears.

3. Choose the restore type to select the location where you want to restore your data. Select the Out of place restore option.

4. Select the destination container by clicking the My Registered Mailboxes to expand the destination data tree, then select the node where you want to restore the source data.

   NOTE

   If you want to conduct an out of place restore of the backup data of Public Folder Mailboxes to another tenant, the service account you used to register this Public Folder Mailbox must have the Publishing Editor permission level to the root folder of the Public Folder and the Apply changes to this public folder and all its subfolders option must be selected; otherwise, you must ensure the same folder structure exists in the destination.

   Click Next. The Restore Settings page appears.

5. Configure the following restore settings:

   • Conflict Resolution – Define a conflict resolution behavior. If the Exchange object name in the source node is the same name as an existing object in the target node, a conflict happens.

     • Container level conflict resolution – Set a conflict resolution on the folder level. Skip ignores the source container that has the same name as the target one.

     • Content level conflict resolution – Set a conflict resolution on the item level.

       • Skip ignores the source item that has the same item name as the destination item.

       • Overwrite copies the source item to the target by overwriting the target item with the same item name.

   • Notification – Select an email notification profile for sending emails. For more information on working with notification policies, refer to the Control Panel section in the Cloud Management User Guide.

   Click Next when you are finished. The Schedule page appears.

6. Configure the schedule to set the time to restore the content on the Schedule page:

   • Schedule Selection – Choose Restore immediately after the wizard finishes to run the restore job immediately, or choose Configure the schedule myself to configure a customized schedule.

   • Description – Optionally enter a description of the restore job in the text box.

     Click Next to advance to the Overview page.

7. Overview – Review and edit the plan selections. To make changes, click Edit to the right of a heading row to go to the corresponding setting page, allowing you to edit the configuration.

8. Click Finish when you are done. The restore job will start according to your schedule settings.

#Restore an Exchange Online Item to a Storage Location

To restore the backed-up mailbox data to a storage location, complete the following steps:

1. Log in to Classic DocAve Backup and launch Exchange Online Backup and Restore. See Launch Exchange Online Backup and Restore.

2. Select the backup data to restore by selecting either the Time-based or Object-based restore methods. See Time-based Restore or Object-based Restore for details on selecting the backed-up data to restore.

3. Configure the restore type settings:

   • Restore Type – Choose the location where you want to restore your data. Select Restore to storage policy option.

   • File Type – Select PST File as the file type from the drop-down list.

   • Destination – Select a previously configured storage policy from the Storage policy drop-down list or click New Storage Policy to create a new one. For details, refer to the Control Panel section in the Cloud Management User Guide.

   • PST File Setting – Click Advanced. The PST File Setting appears. If the mailboxes in the selected data contain large numbers of emails, you can choose to generate multiple PST files for one mailbox. Select the Generate multiple PST files for one mailbox checkbox, and then define how many folders each PST file will contain by entering a positive integer in the text box.

   • Click Next. The Restore Settings page appears.

4. Configure the notification settings for the restore on the Restore Settings page. Select an email notification profile for sending emails. For more information on working with notification policies, refer to the Control Panel section in the Cloud Management User Guide.

   Click Next when you are finished. The Schedule page appears.

5. Configure the schedule to set the time to restore the content on the Schedule page:

   • Schedule Selection – Choose Restore immediately after the wizard finishes to run the restore job immediately, or choose Configure the schedule myself to configure a customized schedule.

   • Description – Optionally enter a description of the restore job in the text box.

   Click Next to advance to the Overview page.

6. Review and edit the plan selections on the Overview page. To make changes, click Edit to the right of a heading row to go to the corresponding setting page and edit the configuration.

7. Click Finish when you are done. The restore job will start according to your schedule settings.

#Data Types Supported by Exchange Online Backup and Restore

Refer to the table below for the data types supported by Exchange Online Backup and Restore.