Restore SharePoint Online data
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.
This feature helps administrators in the following scenarios:
-
If a site is in a Purged state, administrators can either restore this site with the same Title and URL or restore it as a completely new site with a new title.
- Administrators can recover the backed-up site contents to another existing site or a new site.
Restore of SharePoint Online data using inSync Management Console depends on the following SharePoint site attributes:
- Type of SharePoint site template associated with the Site: Modern or Classic.
- State of the SharePoint site: Active, Purged, and Deleted
- Active: SharePoint site exists in your environment.
- Purged: Sharepoint site that is deleted from Recycle bin.
- Deleted: SharePoint site that is present in Recycle bin.
- SharePoint site component: The site components selected for restore from inSync Management Console
See the Support matrix for restore.
Note:
- To perform a SharePoint site restore, the App status of that site should be in the Enabled state. If you perform restore on a disabled site, then you will get an error “Unable to trigger restore request as site collection is disabled". For more information about enabling a disabled SharePoint site, see Manage Site Collections for SharePoint Online.
- Restore of Team Site or a Private Channel Site which are either permanently deleted or moved to Microsoft 365 tenant recycle bin is not supported.
An administrator can restore SharePoint Online data using the inSync Management Console at the following locations based on the selection for restore:
- Restore to the same Site: Restore data to the same site from which it was backed up.
- 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.
- Restore to a different Site: Restore one site's data to another existing Site.
- Restore as a Subsite: Creates a subsite with the same title and restores data to this subsite.
- Restore to a new Site: Create a new site with a new URL and restore data to this new site.
- Restore as a new Site: Create a new site with a new URL and restore data to this new site
Support matrix for restore
Here's a matrix that lists the supported restore location and options for SharePoint Online data using inSync.
| SharePoint site component selected in inSync | Site Template | Site State | Restore Location | Restore Options |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Full Site |
Modern |
Active |
Same Site |
|
| Purged | Same Site |
Restore as a new site |
||
| Deleted | Same Site | Not Supported | ||
|
Active Purged |
Different Site | Restore as a Subsite | ||
|
Active Purged |
New Site | Restore as a new Site | ||
|
Full Site |
Classic |
Active | Same Site |
|
| Purged | Same Site | Not Supported | ||
| Deleted | Same Site | Not Supported | ||
|
Active Purged |
Different Site | Restore as a Subsite | ||
| New Site | Not Supported | |||
|
Subsite, Document Library, List, Files, and Folders |
Modern |
Active |
Same Site |
|
| Purged | Same Site | Restore as a new site | ||
| Deleted | Same Site | Not Supported | ||
|
Active Purged |
Different Site | Restore as a Subsite | ||
|
Active Purged |
New Site | Restore as a new Site | ||
|
Subsite, Document Library, List, Files, and Folders |
Classic |
Active |
Same Site |
|
| Purged | Same Site | Not Supported | ||
| Deleted | Same Site | Not Supported | ||
|
Active Purged |
Different Site | Restore as a Subsite | ||
| New Site | Not Supported | |||
|
Only Settings |
Modern |
Active | Same Site | In-Place |
| Purged | Same Site | Not Applicable | ||
| Deleted | Same Site | Not Applicable | ||
| Different Site | Not Applicable | |||
| New Site | Not Applicable | |||
|
Only Settings |
Classic |
Active | Same Site | In-place |
| Purged | Same Site | Not Applicable | ||
| Deleted | Same Site | Not Applicable | ||
| Different Site | Not Applicable | |||
| New Site | Not Supported |
Things to consider:
- The In-Place Restore and Restore as Copy options will fail if subsite creation is disabled in SharePoint when restoring data.
- You cannot restore a subsite if the subsite creation is disabled in SharePoint. For example:
- Restoring a site with a subsite will complete with errors as the subsite restore fails.
- Restoring a specific subsite will fail as the subsite creation setting is disabled in SharePoint.
- At present, we don't support restore of empty files or 0 KB files in Sharepoint.
Restore SharePoint data using inSync Management Console
- 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.
- The add a new site and restore purged site (to the same site by creating a new site) functionalities are available only for Teams Sites, Communication Sites, and Group Sites.
- Group Sites (Modern Sites) are restored as Teams Sites.
An administrator can restore SharePoint data using the inSync Management Console as mentioned below.
Scenario: Full or complete site restore
| Restore Location (Site State) | Restore Options |
|---|---|
| Same Site (Active) |
In-place Restore: Replaces and overwrites the existing data within the site collection with the data selected for restore.
Restore as a Copy: The restored site is available as a subsite with the name <inSync Restore datetimestamp>.
|
|
Same Site (Purged)
|
Restore as a new Site: A new site is created with the same URL and title and the data is restored to this new site. |
| Different Site |
Restore as a Subsite: A Subsite <inSync Restore datetimestamp> is created under the selected site. Another subsite with the same title as the source site is created under the above subsite and the data is restored to this subsite. Example: Let’s say you have: Source site Title: Marketing (Site from which data is to be restored) Destination Site Title: Finance (Different site where the source site data has to be restored) Now, when you perform a restore, a subsite <inSync Restore datetimestamp> is created under the Finance site. Another subsite with the source site title (Marketing) is created under <inSync Restore datetimestamp> and the data is restored here.
|
|
New Site
|
Restore as a new Site: A new site with the provided title is created with the data and settings selected for restore. |
Restore full Site of Teams and Private Channel sites (Modern or Classic template)
| Restore Location (Site State) | Restore Options |
|---|---|
| Same Site (Active) |
In-place Restore: Replaces and overwrites the existing data within the site collection with the data selected for restore.
Restore as a Copy: The restored site is available as a subsite with the name <inSync Restore datetimestamp>.
|
Scenario: Only SharePoint Data (Document Libraries, List, Site, Files, Folders) restore
If the URL length of the file or folder you want to restore is close to or exceeds 400 characters, restore may fail using "Restore as a Copy" option due to Microsoft limitation. Instead, you can use either the "In-place Restore" or "Restore as a New Site" option to perform the restore.
| Restore Location (Site State) | Restore Options |
|---|---|
| Same Site (Active) |
In-place Restore: Replaces and overwrites the existing data within the site collection with the data selected for restore. Restore as a Copy: A new subsite with name <inSync Restore datetimestamp> folder is created within the restored site and the data is restored to this subsite. |
|
Same Site (Purged)
|
Restore as a new Site: A new site is created with the same URL and title with the data and settings selected for restore. |
| Different Site | Restore as a Subsite:
A Subsite <inSync Restore datetimestamp> is created under the selected site and the data is restored to this subsite. Example: Let’s say you have: Source site Title: Marketing (Site from which data is to be restored) Destination Site Title: Finance (Different site where the source site data has to be restored) Now, when you perform a restore, a subsite <inSync Restore datetimestamp> is created under the Finance site and the data is restored here.
|
|
New Site
|
Restore as a new Site: A new site with the provided title is created with the data and settings selected for restore. |
Restore Subsite, Document Library, Lists of Teams and Private Channel sites (Modern or Classic template)
| Restore Location (Site State) | Restore Options |
|---|---|
| Same Site (Active) |
In-place Restore: Replaces and overwrites the existing data within the site collection with the data selected for restore.
Restore as a Copy: The restored site is available as a subsite with the name <inSync Restore datetimestamp>.
|
Support for hierarchical restore of SharePoint Online data
- This also applies to the files selected for restore from the Federated Search wizard.
- In case of file and folder restore, if you want to restore the Site Contents along with its backed up settings, you must select the corresponding settings.json file from the backup snapshot. For example, if you want to restore Document Library (DL1) along with its backed up settings, you must select DL1 settings.json file from the backup snapshot.
Hierarchical restore means you can restore SharePoint Online data with the same and complete hierarchy structure (Subsite, Document Library, Folder, etc] as the original site data.
Hierarchical restore workflow is based on the following parameters:
- Data selected for restore - File or folder. For file selection restore, file parent id logic is applied. For folder selection restore, path logic is applied. This is applicable for In-Place restore.
- Type of restore
- In-Place
- Restore as a Copy
- Restore to a different site
- Restore to a new site
Let's say you have the following scenario:
If a parent hierarchy is deleted, when you initiate restore for a file or folder, inSync creates the missing hierarchy (for In-Place restore) for the item selected for restore and restores the selected item inside it.
Here's an example.
You have the following hierarchy: site1/sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1/file1.txt. The path for sub1 is deleted.
The hierarchy is restored as follows based on the data selected for restore and the type of restore.
Scenario: If file1.txt is selected for restore, data is restored as follows:
- In-place restore: site1/sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1/file1.txt
- Restore as a Copy: site1/<inSync Restore datetimestamp>/sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1/file1.txt
- Restore to a different site: existing_site1/<inSync Restore datetimestamp>/sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1/file1.txt
- Restore to a new site: new_site1/sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1/file1.txt
In the above example, as sub1 path is deleted, in case of In-Place restore of file.txt selection, inSync creates the missing hierarchy i.e. sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1/file1.txt.
Scenario: If Folder1 is selected for restore, data is restored as follows:
- In-place restore: site1/sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1
- Restore as a Copy: site1/<inSync Restore datetimestamp>/sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1
- Restore to a different site: existing_site1/<inSync Restore datetimestamp>/sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1
- Restore to a new site: new_site1/sub1/sub2/DL1/Folder1
Scenario: If DL1 is selected for restore, data is restored as follows:
- In-place restore: site1/sub1/sub2/DL1/<All Files and Folders within DL1>
- Restore as a Copy: site1/<inSync Restore datetimestamp>/sub1/sub2/DL1
- Restore to a different site: existing_site1/<inSync Restore datetimestamp>/sub1/sub2/DL1
- Restore to a new site: new_site1/sub1/sub2/DL1
Scenario: If sub 2 is selected for restore, data is restored as follows:
- In-place restore: site1/sub1/sub2
- Restore as a Copy: site1/<inSync Restore datetimestamp>/sub1/sub2
- Restore to a different site: existing_site1/<inSync Restore datetimestamp>/sub1/sub2
- Restore to a new site: new_site1/sub1/sub2
Things to consider for In-Place restore for files and folders
-
If a parent hierarchy is present and the folder within it is renamed and you perform In-Place restore by selecting a file, inSync restores only the selected file based on the parent id of the file.
For example, you have the following hierarchy: site/DL1/f1/f2/f3/f4/samplefile.txt
The folder f2 is renamed to f2new (site/DL1/f1/f2new/f3/f4/). Now, you select samplefile.txt and perform In-Place restore. As the parent hierarchy for the selected file which is f4 is already present, inSync will restore only samplefile.txt as follows:
-
If a parent hierarchy is present and the folder within it is renamed and you perform In-Place restore by selecting a folder, {{insync restores only the selected folder based on the path of the folder.
For example, you have the following hierarchy: site/DL1/f1/f2/f3/f4/samplefile.txt
The folder f2 is renamed to f2new (site/DL1/f1/f2new/f3/f4/). Now, you select f4 and perform In-Place restore. As the path for the selected folder is already present, inSync restores data as follows:
Scenario: Only Sharepoint Settings restore
| Restore Location (Site State) | Restore Options |
|---|---|
| Same Site (Active) |
In-place Restore: Replaces and overwrites the existing data within the site collection with the data selected for restore. |
Procedure
- Sign in to Druva Cloud Platform Console and navigate to Microsoft 365 > 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.
- Click Backups page to view the snapshots.
Note: By default, Curated Snapshot is selected for restoring SharePoint data if the Ransomware Recovery service is enabled for your organization and administrators have created a Curated Snapshot for SharePoint.
Note: The quarantined snapshot is marked with
icon, and the latest unquarantined (clean) snapshot is marked with
icon that you cannot delete. For more information, see Ransomware Recovery for M365.
- On the Summary page, click Restore Data.
- On the Snapshot Viewer page, use the snapshot selector to select the snapshot from which you want to restore data.
Note: By default, Curated Snapshot is selected for restoring SharePoint data if the Ransomware Recovery service is enabled for your organization and administrators have created a Curated Snapshot for SharePoint.
- Curated Snapshot - Curated Snapshot contains the cleanest and the most recent version of the file processed from multiple snapshots within a defined date range. Select this snapshot to restore data that is completely sanitized, 100% secure, and free of malware or viruses, which in turn helps mitigate ransomware attacks. For more information, see Curated Snapshot for Microsoft 365.
Note: You can create only one active Curated Snapshot per site at a given point in time.
Note: The quarantined snapshot is marked with
icon and you cannot restore or download data from the quarantined snapshot.
- From all the listed backup site collections, browse and select the sites and subsites that you want to restore. Alternatively, you can use Search, located at the top for files across your backed-up SharePoint Online sites and subsites.
- Enter the name of the file that you are looking for in the search box. Alternatively, you can search files using SHA1 checksums.
a. Use the following filters to refine your search criteria:
- File Extensions - Select the file type of the document.
- Time Modified - Select the time range to get the list of files modified during a particular time range.
- Time created - Select the time range to get the list of files created during a particular time range.
- File Size - Specify the file size range to get the list of files within the particular file size range.
b. Click Search. A list of files matching your search criteria is displayed.
c. Select the desired files.
8. 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 Federated 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.
9. Click Restore. The Restore window appears. The Restore Location and Restore Options are displayed based on the selected SharePoint Site component (Full Team, Only SharePoint Data, or Only Settings) and the associated site template.
10. Select the desired restore location and option and proceed with the restore action. A confirmation message appears after a restore action is initiated successfully.
If you want to restore a deleted site collection (with Classic site template), 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.
- 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 Site Contents folder.
- You can perform only In-Place restore for the following SharePoint site data:
- List Template
- Theme Gallery
- Web Parts
- Device Channel
- Solution Gallery
- Due to Microsoft API limitations, you cannot search a Site Title with a suffix string as a search parameter. However, you can search a Site Title with prefix strings that start with ‘ ’, ‘_’, ‘+’,’/’,’\’,’-’,double and single inverted commas.
- When creating a completely new site or a new site from an existing purged site, by default, global administrator is assigned the role of site owner for the new site.
Scenario: Restore a specific version of a file
If the file that you are searching for has multiple versions in the snapshots, the search results will list these versions. You can restore or download a specific version of a file.
Procedure
- Click on the listed version indicator for the file you want to restore or download. The version history for the file appears.
2. Select a specific version that you want to restore or download.
3. Click Restore or Download.
SharePoint Restore Considerations
Before you initiate SharePoint restore, review the following considerations.
- The modified time as per backed up data is not maintained after restoring approval status.
- In-place restore partially completes for ASPX, JS, and HTML file types if the SharePoint site URL contains two or more continuous dots (..).
- Draft site pages restore considerations:
- If the site pages are published once and then moved to the draft state, the site pages get published after restore.
- If the site pages are never published and in draft state, then the site pages remain in the draft state after restore.
- Classic site - Publishing portal template restore considerations:
- Default.aspx files are not restored.
- Published site pages are restored in draft state.
- If only site pages are restored, the restored pages are not accessible on the SharePoint site.
- Quick Launch restore is not supported in the following scenarios:
- For a new site restore, site collection level Quick Launch is not supported.
- Quick Launch for unpublished site pages is not supported.
- Audit properties for wiki pages are not restored.
- Page author (in the page heading) for the site page is not restored when you are restoring to a different site.
- The ‘Modified’ and ‘Modified By’ fields are not restored for published site pages.
- Task List restore is not supported.
- The layout of the SharePoint site is not restored.
- User-created homepage of the site is not set as the default homepage on the restored site.
- In-place restore of .js files is not supported for the Publishing portal and Enterprise wiki.
- The restore of comments added on the site pages is not supported.
- Site owners are restored with limited access when restored to a different site.
- Restore of Web Parts is not supported.
- Syntex license is not supported for restoring content type hub.
- The 'About me' field from a custom SharePoint group is not restored.
- Custom column in managed metadata cannot be restore in the below cases:
- If the system failed to restore.
- If the admin does not select “site settings” for the deleted term store while restoring it.
- If the term store or term set is not attached when the column is created in the global term store and in the site store it is deleted.