Restore SharePoint Online data
Elite Plus Elite Enterprise 
Business Overview
Restore of data ensures that the data is available for future reference and business continuity and can be retrieved in case of accidental deletion or malicious activities.
An inSync Cloud Administrator can restore SharePoint Online data using the inSync Management Console at the following locations:
- In-place Restore: To the same site collection from where the data was backed up.
- Restore as a Copy: A new subsite is created within the same site collection and the data is restored in this new subsite.
Due to a Microsoft API limitation, all team sites (hidden sites for Microsoft 365 Groups, Teams Web App) are restored with the classic template when restored as a copy.
Procedure
- On the inSync Management Console menu bar, click Data Sources > Microsoft 365. An overview page that provides a holistic view of all the configured Microsoft 365 app appears.
- On the left-hand panel, click SharePoint. A page that lists all the discovered sites appears.
- Click the site name that you want to restore. The site page appears if you select a site for which the backup has been enabled.
- In the right pane, click the Backups tab. From all the listed backup site collections, browse and select the sites and subsites that you want to restore. Alternatively, you can use Search Site Collection, located at the top for files across your backed-up SharePoint Online sites and subsites.
- To use Search Site Collection, type the name of the file you are looking for in the box.
- Use the following filters to refine your search criteria:
- File Extensions - Select the file type of the document.
- Modified between/Time Modified - Select the time range to get the list of files modified during a particular time range.
- Owner - Type the name of the owner of the file.
- Click Search. A list of files matching your search criteria is displayed.
- Select the desired files.
- Use the snapshot selector to select the snapshot from which you want to restore data.
- If the SharePoint Online sites, subsites, lists, and document libraries have a “/” (forward slash) character in their name, the snapshot displays a “_“ (underscore)character instead of the “/” (forward slash).
- If the Enterprise Search feature is enabled for your organization, you can filter your search results using different metadata attributes or by typing the name of the specific backed up sites and subsites. For more information, see Search backed up data to restore.
- Click Restore. The Restore window appears.
- Select a SharePoint Restore Options and Settings Behavior option:
- In-place Restore: To replace and overwrite the existing data present in your site collection with the data selected for restore.
- Restore as a Copy: A new subsite is created within the restored site and the data is restored to this subsite.
- Settings Behaviour: Select the required option for settings provided below.
- Skip: Use this if you want to exclude settings data from getting restored
- Overwrite: Use this if you want to replace and overwrite the existing settings with the settings data selected for restore.
- Click OK.
If you want to restore a deleted site collection, create a new site collection with the same URL as the deleted site collection. Restore the data of the deleted site in the newly created site collection.
Note: No Content Backed up yet message is displayed in the following scenarios:
- If the selected site collection is enabled for backup, but, backup is not initiated for that site collection
- If the first backup for the selected site collection fails.
Support matrix for restore
Here's a matrix that lists the supported restore options for SharePoint data:
| SharePoint Data | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
|---|---|---|
| Only Settings |
|
|
| Only SharePoint Data (Document Libraries, List, Site, Files, Folders) |  |
|
| Settings and Data | |
|
Restore SharePoint data using inSync Management Console
An inSync administrator can restore SharePoint data using the inSync Management Console as mentioned below:
| SharePoint Data | Restore Options | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scenario 1: Only SharePoint settings |
|
In-place Restore: Replaces and overwrites the existing data within the site with the data selected for restore. |
| Scenario 2: Only SharePoint Data (Document Libraries, List, Site, Files, Folders) |
|
|
| Scenario 3: Settings and Data |
For example: For Document Library A you have selected only settings and for Document Library B you have selected settings and data for Restore as a Copy (With overwrite) option, then, settings data will be restored only for Document Library B. Settings data for Document Library A will not be restored. |
|
| Scenario 4: Complete Site restore |
|
|
Note:
- Due to Microsoft API limitations, the SharePoint data pertaining to Ratings Settings and Regional Settings cannot be restored.
- In case of Restore as a Copy for SharePoint data (without Settings), the files/folders data gets restored to the default Document Library (Documents) folder.
- When specific files or folders of a Document Library (without Settings) are selected for Restore as a Copy, these files and folders get restored to the default Document Library (Documents) folder.
- You can perform only In-Place restore for the following SharePoint site data:
- List Template
- Theme Gallery
- Web Parts
- Device Channel
- Solution Gallery
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