Restoring or exporting data

This article includes the procedures for restoring and exporting data. It also offers search methods for recovering data. The procedures are performed the same for all applications except where indicated.

Restoring or exporting data

You can restore or export data using a snapshot or perform these tasks for individual data items.

A snapshot includes all of the user, site, or team data at the time the backup is created.

To restore or export data using a snapshot:

  1. On the SaaS Protection Status page, click the name of the organization for whom data is to be restored.
  2. Access an application recovery page by performing one of the following:
    • Select Recovery > name of application.
    • In the Backups section, click the application name or .

NOTE  Shared Drive snapshots taken before March 18, 2019 are accessible on the Drive recovery page.

NOTE  For shared drives to be visible for backup, you must have at least one user or group present with Manager privileges and include a shared drive member with either Full Access or Content Management privileges to the backup.

  1. For the applicable application:
    • Drive, Mail, Calendar, or Contacts: On the Users tab, click the name of the user for whom data is to be restored.
    • Shared Drives: On the Shared Drives tab, click the name of the shared drive for which data is to be restored.

NOTE  You can search for a user or shared drive by entering characters in the Search box and pressing Enter.

  1. In the backup information and tools section, click the Snapshot box.
  2. The Snapshot Selector opens with the current date selected on the calendar and lists the snapshots that have been created for the day so far.
  3. If necessary, navigate in the calendar to the correct month and select the applicable date. The snapshots for the selected date are listed.

NOTE  The number of snapshots available on a particular date is based on the number of days that have passed in the retention schedule. See the article Understanding the pricing model.

  1. Click the desired snapshot. The snapshot box updates with the date and time of the selected snapshot.
  2. To restore the data, go to step 9. To export the restored data, go to step 10.
  3. To restore the data:
    1. Click Restore.
    2. In the Restore dialog box, Snapshot is selected by default. In the Restore To list, the original location from which the data was backed up is automatically selected. If this is the desired restore location, go to step 9d.
    3. To restore the data to a different location:
      1. In the Restore To list, enter a minimum of the first three characters from one of the words in the destination location. Suggestions will appear in the list. In this example, one suggestion is listed that includes the letters reg.
      2. Select a suggestion from the list. When performing a restore to a different location, ensure that you do not select any services in the list that are archived. SaaS Protection cannot restore to these locations.
    4. Click Restore.
    5. The restore in progress icon appears.

NOTE  When restoring a Drive file, the option to restore permissions associated with the file is selected automatically. If you don't want permissions restored, clear the Restore Permissions check box. For more information, see the Restoring Drive permissions section.

  1. To export the restored data:
    1. Click Export.
    2. In the Export dialog box, Snapshot is selected by default. Click Export.
    3. To download the exported file, click the Exports tab.
    4. The file you just exported is listed first. Click Download.
    5. Navigate to the desired location and save the file.

NOTE  Currently only emails and contacts are supported in PST export. Calendar Events and Tasks are not supported. If a snapshot includes any unsupported items, perform a restore instead, as an export would likely fail.

NOTE  To access downloaded files, see the article Downloaded file formats.

  1. To recover specific items within a selected snapshot:
    1. Navigate the directory structure until you reach the directory or file you want to restore.
    2. Select the check box for the directory or file.
    3. To restore data, go to step 9. To export data, go to step 10.

NOTE  You can select multiple folders and files to recover. However, each must be selected at the same level in the directory structure. When exporting Google Mail items, if an object is housed under multiple folders (such as Inbox, Unread, and Important) a duplicate instance of this item will be included in each associated folder.

To restore or export individual data items:

  1. On the SaaS Protection Status page, click the name of the organization for whom data is to be restored.

  2. Access an application recovery page by performing one of the following:
    • Select Recovery > name of application.

    • In the Backups section, click the application name or .
  3. For the applicable application:
    • Drive, Mail, Calendar, or Contacts: On the Users tab, click the name of the user for whom data is to be restored.
    • Shared Drives: On the Shared Drives tab, click the name of the shared drive for which data is to be restored.
  4. Navigate the directory structure until you reach the directory or file you want to restore or export.
  5. Select the check box for the directory or file.

NOTE  You can select multiple folders and files to restore. However, each must be selected at the same level in the directory structure.

  1. To restore the data, go to step 7. To export the restored data, go to step 8.
  2. To restore the data:
    1. Click Restore.
    2. In the Restore box, Selected Items is selected automatically with the number of items to be restored shown in parenthesis. In the Restore To list, the original location from which the data was backed up is automatically selected. If this is the desired restore location, go to step 7d.
    3. To restore the data to a different location:
      1. In the Restore To list, enter a minimum of the first three characters from one of the words in the destination location. Suggestions will appear in the list. In this example, one suggestion is listed that includes the letters reg.
      2. Select a suggestion from the list. When performing a restore to a different location, ensure that you do not select any services in the list that are archived. SaaS Protection cannot restore to these locations.
    4. Click Restore.
    5. The restore in progress icon appears.

NOTE  When restoring a Drive file, the option to restore permissions associated with the file is selected automatically. If you don't want permissions restored, clear the Restore Permissions check box. For more information, see the Restoring Drive permissions section.

  1. To export the restored data:
    1. Click Export.
    2. In the Export dialog box, click Export.
    3. To download the exported file, click the Exports tab.
    4. The file you just exported is listed first. Click Download.
    5. Navigate to the desired location and save the file.

NOTE  To access downloaded files, see the article Downloaded file formats.

When restoring a Drive file, the option to restore permissions associated with the file is selected automatically. If you don't want permissions restored, clear the Restore Permissions check box.

Important points regarding restoring Drive permissions:

  • A file restored with sharing permissions restores to the account of every user sharing the document. This affects files from both single and full account restores.

  • When you check Restore Permissions, an email is sent to each user that had permissions on the original file. An email is generated for each item that you restore.

  • If you restore a file without sharing permissions, Datto SaaS Protection will delete all permissions and the user receiving the restore will have ownership of the document

Searching for data

There are two search methods you can use to restore data. You can search for content across all of the users, sites, and teams for a specific organization. Or, you can search for content in one organization user account.

When performing an email search, a match is sought between the search criteria you enter and the sender's email address or the email's subject line. When searching for a document, a match is sought with the title of the document. For a calendar event, the search looks for a matching event title. If you are searching contacts, the search seeks a matching contact name or contact email address.

Search criteria must meet the following requirements:

  • Have at least 3 characters.

  • Cannot include symbols such as !, @, +.

  • Underscores must be preceded by a forward slash (e.g. "\_" )

When performing a search in Mail, a match is sought between the search criteria you enter and the Name, From, and Subject email fields. When searching within Drive, ShareDrive, or Calendar, a match is sought with the application's Name field. When searching Contacts, a match is sought with the application's Display Name, First Name, and Last Name fields.

To search all accounts of a specific organization:

  1. On the SaaS Protection Status page, click the name of the organization for whom data is to be restored.
  2. Access an application recovery page by performing one of the following:
    • Select Recovery > name of application.
    • In the Backups section, click the application name.
  3. Click the Search tab.
  4. By default, searches are performed on the most recent snapshot data. However, you can perform a search on the snapshot that is closest to the date and time you enter.
    To do so:
    1. Click the Date box.
    2. Navigate the calendar and select the desired date.
    3. If desired, select the time.
    4. Click Select.
  5. In the Term box, enter a minimum of the first three characters from one of the words in your search term. In this Mail example, upd has been entered as the search term.
  6. Click Search.
  7. The emails across all of the organization's users that include upd in the Name, From, or Subject fields are listed. In this example, upd is included in the word update, found in the Subject field. Notice the search term returned emails from numerous Mail users.
  8. If you want to perform a search on one user, in the Users box, enter a minimum of the first three characters from one of the words in the user's name or email address. Suggestions appear in the list. In this example, dat is entered in the Users box, resulting in just one user with dat as part of his or her user name or email address.

    Selecting this user and clicking Search lists the emails that include upd in the Name, From, or Subject fields for this user only.

NOTE  To perform a search on one Drive, Calendar, or Contacts user, in step 8, complete the Users box. To perform a search on one Shared Drive, complete the Shared Drives box.

  1. If the results contain a directory structure, you can navigate the structure to select the directory or file you want to restore or export.

NOTE  You can select multiple folders and files to recover. However, each must be selected at the same level in the directory structure.

  1. To restore the data:
    1. Click Restore.
    2. In the Restore dialog box, if you selected specific items to restore, Selected Items is selected automatically with the number of items to be restored shown in parenthesis. If you did not select specific items to restore, Search Results is selected.
    3. In the Restore To list, enter a minimum of the first three characters from one of the words in the destination location. In the list that appears, select a restore destination.
    4. Click Restore.
    5. The restore in progress icon appears.

NOTE  When restoring a Drive file, the option to restore permissions associated with the file is selected automatically. If you don't want permissions restored, clear the Restore Permissions check box.

  1. To export the restored data:
    1. Click Export.
    2. In the Export dialog box, click Export.
    3. To download the exported file, click the Exports tab.
    4. The file you just exported is listed first. Click Download.
    5. Navigate to the desired location and save the file.

NOTE  To access downloaded files, see the article Downloaded file formats.

To search one account only:

  1. On the SaaS Protection Status page, click the name of the organization for whom data is to be restored.
  2. Access an application recovery page by performing one of the following:
    • Select Recovery > name of application.
    • In the Backups section, click the application name.
  3. For the applicable application:
    • Drive, Mail, Calendar, or Contacts: On the Users tab, click the name of the user for whom data is to be restored.
    • Shared Drives: On the Shared Drives tab, click the name of the shared drive for which data is to be restored.
  4. By default, searches are performed on data from the latest snapshot. To perform a search using data from an earlier snapshot:
    1. Click the Snapshot box.
    2. The Snapshot Selector opens with the current date selected on the calendar and lists the snapshots that have been created so far for the current day.
    3. If necessary, navigate in the calendar to the correct month and select the applicable date. The snapshots for the selected date are listed.
    4. Click the desired snapshot. The Snapshot box updates with the date and time of the selected snapshot.

NOTE  The number of snapshots available on a particular date is based on the number of days that have passed in the retention schedule. See the article, Understanding the pricing model.

  1. Click Search Account.
  2. In the Term box, enter a minimum of the first three characters from one of the words in your search term.
  3. Click Search.
  4. If the results contain a directory structure, you can navigate the structure to select the directory or file you want to restore or export.

NOTE  You can select multiple folders and files to recover. However, each must be selected at the same level in the directory structure.

  1. To restore the data:
    1. Click Restore.
    2. In the Restore dialog box, if you selected specific items to restore, Selected Items is selected automatically with the number of items to be restored shown in parenthesis. If you did not select specific items to restore, Search Results is selected.
    3. In the Restore To list, enter a minimum of the first three characters from one of the words in the destination location. In the list that appears, select a restore destination.
    4. Click Restore.
    5. The restore in progress icon appears.

NOTE  When restoring a Drive file, the option to restore permissions associated with the file is selected automatically. If you don't want permissions restored, clear the Restore permissions check box.

  1. To export the restored data:
    1. Click Export.
    2. In the Export dialog box, click Export.
    3. To download the exported file, click the Exports tab.
    4. The file you just exported is listed first. Click Download.
    5. Navigate to the desired location and save the file.

NOTE  To access downloaded files, see the article Downloaded file formats.

Creating a manual backup

You can create a manual backup for a user, site, or team. The backup snapshot includes all of the user, site, or team data at the time the backup is manually created.

To create a manual backup:

  1. On the SaaS Protection Status page, click the name of the organization for whom data is to be restored.
  2. Access an application recovery page by performing one of the following:
    • Select Recovery > name of application.
    • In the Backups section, click the application name.
  3. For the applicable application:
    • Drive, Mail, Calendar, or Contacts: On the Users tab, click the name of the user for whom data is to be restored.
    • Shared Drives: On the Shared Drives tab, click the name of the shared drive for which data is to be restored.
  4. Click Backup Now.

    Backups in Progress is displayed.

    When the backup has completed, you can access it in the Snapshot box.