How to backup Office 365
Hi folks, as a Microsoft Outlook Expert and Office 365 Consultant, I get asked often, “So how do you backup my Exchange on Office 365” and that is a smart question! But do you need to backup Exchange? Yes and No. And does Microsoft backup your Exchange for you? And what about SharePoint and OneDrive?
These questions and a few others are covered in this blog.
Typical Questions!
How does Exchange get backed up? How do I get back emails and folders that I didn’t meant to delete permanently?
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Exchange has some built-in protections. Everything you delete should be in the “deleted items” folder and it usually is there. There is an option to “recover deleted items”. There is also an option to “Purge selected items” and that is not good. That means it’s gone for good. Can that data be recovered? Maybe. Maybe not.
Does Exchange have automatic backup?
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No, automatic backup to the cloud or local computer is not a feature of Exchange. I fix many clients broken Outlook profiles by just downloading a fresh copy of their Exchange. The data is on a server and that’s how it can synchronize so well between many computer types and devices. See options for backup down below.
Can your IT admin recover things off the exchange server if it’s missing from Outlook?
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According to my vendor, even data purged should be able to be restored back 21 days, but I recommend a 2nd backup just in case. (See notes below for vendor options for Office 365 backup).
Can my employees delete all of their data before leaving the company and can I retrieve that data?
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Yes and no. Employees can go crazy before they leave the company. I have seen this before, they delete all of their inbox/folders/deleted and sent items and do a delete and purge, so that means everything is gone. They can do that with calendar and contacts as well. If you are not using a vendor for your Office 365 and/or your current IT vendor does not have it setup correctly, then you might be out of luck. Trying to get the data back from the local OST file might not work if you are not backing up the OST file your computer backup programs.
We share our contacts with one mailbox for everyone in the company, is this safe and is that data backed up?
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Many folks today want complete sharing of calendars and contacts off the desk, meaning mobile. To do that, we need to create a new shared mailbox and that has to be completely trusted within all employees who have that access because they have full ownership. Backing up is very important because a great employee one day can go crazy the next day and destruct date very easy. Again, see options below. I highly recommend backing this data because of the full ownership required for each employee to use it mobile!
My iPhone did an update and now my calendars are empty and not in Exchange on my Outlook.
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Yep, seen this happen too. Updates on the iPhone (this is rare but can happen) cause craziness with Exchange. You can look in the deleted items and see if you can recover but if that fails and you have no backup, then you have to spend hours fixing OST files on the computer to get the data back, you can hope too that this works. I recommend backing up your iPhone before doing any updates on the phone and if you need to, do a manual backup of your exchange (see instructions below)
Where is Exchange on my computer and can I backup that file?
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Yes and no. Exchange by default creates an OST file. An OST file is really just a shadow copy of what is on the server, but stored locally so you can work offline or on travel, etc and view all of your data. If let’s say one day your Outlook won’t open, you cannot just create a new profile and import that OST File back into Outlook. With exchange you can though just create your account in Outlook and your current exchange should download. An OST file though, can be repaired and data can be extracted. I do that work and if you need me, feel free to use my online scheduler here to get on my calendar. I will let you know that an OST repair can be 1-4 hours of work, not cheap. http://bit.ly/1C2IoEO
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Some online backup programs can be configured to backup OST files. The OST files are usually stored in a hidden folder in your computer C:\Users\User Profile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
Options for backup
Online Office 365 backup
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A product I have tested is from Spanning.com. They have Office 365 backup on the cloud. What I did to test was set it up, configured it and then deleted a few folders in my Outlook. I went to the website, logged in and restored those folders. Almost instantly those folders were back in my Outlook named “restored folders” It was amazingly fast. Spanning was bought out my EMC (that owns Mozy backup) and if you want to talk to their sales rep, you can email Jennifer Bushman, tell her I referred you. I am not an affiliate or re-seller.
Manual backup
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Manual backup is free and if you’re concerned, schedule your manual backup every Friday before you leave for work, then let it run while you’re gone and you should have a good backup on Monday am. Here is my YouTube video on how to back up your Exchange to a PST file.
Don’t forget to check to make sure you have all of your email downloaded from the server too. Here is a video to help with that.
What about SharePoint and OneDrive? Are they backed up?
These two programs are cloud based and should not need to be backed up, but SharePoint does offer “version history” so you can restore a past version. If you happen to have SharePoint mapped to your computer, then you will have to see if your backup program will back that up. OneDrive (if synced correctly) can be added to the documents list in online backup programs.
*I work more with Office 365 purchases for clients and assist with Exchange migrations and Outlook troubleshooting. My core specialties do not include SharePoint or OneDrive. I usually assist clients if they ask a few questions about it.
Few final tips
Always back up your Outlook data especially calendars and contacts before using any 3rd party app! If you need my help, you can get on my calendar here http://bit.ly/1C2IoEO
I was reminded that your retention policies can be changed in the admin portal of Exchange/Office365 so you can have backup further back than the default.
If you want to discuss any of your Office 365 needs or want to work with my vendor, please use my scheduler system below. Thanks! ~Lisa
Category: Outlook Support
About the Author (Author Profile)
Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.Subscribe
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