This guide provides detailed instructions for restoring and downloading SharePoint Online data.
Restore SharePoint Data
With SharePoint Online, you can restore:
- Entire sites, subsites, or individual file folders
- Data from any point in time since the backup began
- Data to the same site or any other site within the same tenant
Intelligent Restore enhances the restoration process by speeding up recovery and prioritizing critical items. The system performs tasks concurrently, optimizing upload speed with SQLite databases and dividing tasks between planner and worker components. Items modified within the last 90 days are prioritized for faster restoration.
- Login and Select Site
- Log in to the End-User Portal and go to the Dashboard.
- Go to the SharePoint tab, locate the desired site, and click Restore.
- A banner will appear explaining Intelligent Restore with a link to the in-app FAQ. Click ‘Learn More About Intelligent Restore’ for additional details, or proceed directly to configure the restore setup.
- Select Options
- Restore Date and Time: Choose a date and time from the three backups done daily.
- Destination: Choose to restore to the original site or another site in the same tenant.
- Restore Method:
- Default Folder: Restores data to the original folder.
- Create New Folder: Restores data to a new folder in the selected site.
- Advanced Options: Specify actions for file conflicts (e.g., when a file with the same name already exists in the destination).
- Start the Restore
- Click Start Restore, confirm details, and proceed.
- Monitor the progress under System Status > Restores.
Restore Subsites and Specific Files/Folders
- Expand the main site on the Dashboard and select Restore for the subsite.
- Choose files/folders within the subsite and configure restore settings, as described above.
- If Intelligent Restore is available, a banner and link to the in-app FAQ will appear.
Download SharePoint Data
You can download entire sites, subsites, or specific folders/files for offline use.
Download an Entire SharePoint Site
To download your SharePoint data, follow these steps:
- Log in to the End-User Portal and go to your Dashboard.
- Go to the SharePoint tab, and locate the site you wish to download.
- Hover over the site you want to download. If you intend to download the entire site, click Download.
- Choose Download Options:
- Backup Date: Select the date to download the site as it existed at that time.
- Backup Time: Choose the specific backup version (since backups occur three times daily).
- Subsites: Select any or all subsites to include in the download.
- Generate Download:
- Once options are selected, click Generate Download.
- A confirmation pop-up will appear; click Yes, Continue to initiate the download.
- Check Download Status:
- Monitor the download status by going to System Status > Downloads in your Dashboard.
Download a Single Subsite
- From the Dashboard, expand the main site and click Download next to the specific subsite.
- Follow the same steps to choose options and generate the download.
Download Selected Folders and Files in a Subsite
- Click on the subsite to open it.
- Select the desired folders and files, then click Restore.
- Choose the versions you want to restore and complete the process.
FAQs
Does Intelligent Restore always succeed?
Success is not guaranteed due to factors such as corrupted files, Microsoft API limitations, or network issues.
Can I cancel an ongoing restore?
Yes, go to System Status > Restore, click the kebab menu, and select Cancel.
How will I know if Intelligent Restore is active?
A notification banner and in-app FAQ link appear during Intelligent Restore, with email updates and progress bars for both Intelligent and Overall Restore statuses.
What if the data needed is over 90 days old?
The system prioritizes data by modification date, with the first 25% as Intelligent Restore and the remainder as Overall Restore.
Common Restore Scenarios:
- Intelligent and Overall Restore: Some data is modified within 90 days; older data is prioritized based on the recent modification.
- Only Intelligent Restore: All items are modified within 90 days, and fewer than 1,000 items are to be restored.
Known Limitations
Due to limitations with the API used when backing up and restoring SharePoint Lists, there are certain cases where Dropsuite will not be able to fully restore certain column types with 100% accuracy
- Default value set by formula, i.e. calculated column - While the data can be captured in the backup, it cannot be restored since the API will not allow writing of values and not formulae
- Column validation - Is not returned by the API and so cannot be backed up
- Choice styling - Is not returned by the API and so cannot be backed up
- Hyperlink, location, and managed metadata columns - API does not provide information regarding the column type for these. Because of this, the data is restored as text. For Managed Metadata, we can restore the display name
- Lookup - We are unable to restore this as a lookup column due to the source list not being accessible from other sites. It is therefore restored as a text solumn and "_converted" is added to the column name to differentiate it from the original. We only restore the main lookup column, columns generated from the "Add additional columns from source" option will not be restored
- Person - All columns can be restored except the show profile photos option. However, some values cannot be restored if the person is not a member of the site. We will try to create a new column and restore the data as text, and will add "_converted" to the column name
- Task outcome - The original layout cannot be restored
Due to Microsoft not allowing data to be uploaded to Site Pages, we are not able to restore data to those. The data will be backed up and can be downloaded from SharePoint, but cannot be restored directly to Site Pages.