Current version: 24.3.1 - August, 2024
Preface
The Security of Regular Backups
Your company has selected CloudAlly for backing up your data. All your Microsoft 365 data is securely protected with easy recovery from data loss. CloudAlly comprehensively backs up your Microsoft 365 Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, OneNote, Teams & Groups data on industry-leading AWS S3 storage.
Your System Administrator has already set up your regular Microsoft Exchange backups for you, and they are safely tucked away in the cloud, should you ever need to access them.
Your Guide to Data Recovery
This guide picks up where your System Administrator left off: giving you the ability to restore or export your Microsoft Exchange data, from a single email, contact, or task, to an entire mailbox. Whether your data was accidentally deleted or corrupted, CloudAlly will ensure that you are back up and running again in no time.
Note: This feature is in beta. Feel free to try this early version, and send us your feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Recovering Your Backed Up Data
Signing In to your Account
The first step in recovering your backed up data is signing into your account.
- Navigate to the CloudAlly sign-in page at https://app.cloudally.com/newapp/sign-in.
- Sign in with your Microsoft credentials.
If your Microsoft 365 data has been backed up, you will see the following screen:
Note: If you do not see a Microsoft Exchange tile with a Recovery button, let your System Administrator know.
Selective Recovery
This section describes how to use Selective Mailbox Recovery to choose the specific item(s) you would like to restore or export.
Browsing Your Most Recent Backed Up Data
Your screen displays the most recent backed up data, separated by sub-services. By default, Emails are displayed first, but you can click on any of the other tiles to see backed up Contacts, Tasks, Calendars or Notes.
- The number on the tile shows how many items (emails, contacts, tasks, events, or notes) were backed up.
- The colored status indicator lets you know whether the sub-service was successfully backed up, whether it was partially successful, or if it failed.
Choosing an Earlier Backup Date
If you’d like to restore data from an earlier backup, click the calendar icon.
You will see the following screen. Once you click a particular date, a tile will open, indicating whether the backup was successful, partially successful, or if it failed. Select your desired date, and click Confirm.
Legend: Meaning of Dots
Dot Color | Meaning |
---|---|
Green | Successful backup |
Orange | Partially successful backup |
Two dots | Multiple backups on that date |
Choosing Items to Restore or Export
After you have selected the date of the backup, and the sub-service to recover, you need to choose which items to restore or export.
The Recovery folders are in the same familiar order as they are in Outlook, to make it easy for you to find the item you are looking for.
In addition to the usual folders, such as Inbox, Sent Items, and Deleted Items, at the bottom of the list you will find the Recoverable Items folder, and the In-Place Archive folder (if it has been activated) followed by CloudAlly Restored folders, indicated by "Restored emails" and the date of the restore.
Select any folder, such as the Inbox, to see its contents.
You can choose one or more messages, or you can choose the entire Inbox.
- To restore everything, all of the folders and their contents, click Folders.
- Or, select the menu in the Email tile, and then Select All.
- If you looking for a specific email, click the arrow of the email to see the first line of the message.
Contacts
When you select Contacts, you can see all of the details about the people in your list: Name, Email, Phone, Address, Job Title, and Company name.
Tasks
When you select the Tasks sub-service, you can see the Subject, Status and Due date.
Calendar
When you select a Calendar event, you can see the start and end dates, and if you select it, you can see the description.
Notes
When you choose a note, you can preview its contents.
Restoring or Exporting
Once you select one or more items, the Restore and Export buttons become active. When you click either Restore or Export, you will see all of the sub-services that you selected. You can turn off any of the sub-services you don't want to recover.
Restore Options: Choosing the Restore Type
Choose one of the following:
-
Non-destructive restore:
- Existing data will remain as-is
- Deleted items and folders will be restored from the snapshot to a new, dedicated folder with the name [Restored] name. The original folder structure will be preserved.
- Use this option: to keep restored data separate, enabling manual drag & drop of items to relevant folders
-
Replace restore
- The restored items will be located in the same place as the existing items, not in a separate folder, which is created when you choose non-destructive restore.
- Deleted items and folders will be restored from the snapshot.
- Existing items will be overwritten with the snapshot version.
- Use this option: to restore or repair deleted / modified items.
-
Bypass Restore
- The restored items will be located in the same place as the existing items.
- Deleted items and folders will be restored from the snapshot.
- Existing items will be skipped.
- Use this option: to restore deleted data.
Export Options
When you choose to export your backed up data, there are other options on the screen.
- Click the gear-shaped settings icon. The following option is available:
- Use 20 GB chunks: By default, 5 GB files are exported, But if the mailbox is very large, you can choose to generate 20 GB files instead, saving you time and effort.
- Select the export ZIP destination, such as direct download, Amazon S3, Azure Blob, Box, Dropbox, AWS S3 Compatible or Google Cloud Platform. Depending on which option you choose, there will be other data to complete (e.g., Bucket Name, Access Key and Secret Key for Amazon S3).
Note: The default "for download" option exports the file to your local storage device.
Completing the Selective Restore or Export
- Review the information on the confirmation screen. If the information is correct, click Next and then Restore or Export to begin the recovery task.
- You can check the Jobs page to see the status of your job. See Tracking Recovery Tasks on the Jobs Page for details.
- When the restore or export is complete, you will receive a notification email.
- If you chose to export, click Download Results on the Jobs page.
A new page will open which will enable you to download your data file.
Granular Search by Keyword or Name
To perform a granular, keyword search, on the backup page click Advanced Search.
You will see the following screen:
Enter your search criteria for any of these sub-services:
-
Email – Enter a keyword in the Search for field. For advanced search options, click the down-arrow and provide the following details in the drop-down form:
- From: Enter a name or email address from which the email was received.
- To: Enter a name or email address to which the email was sent.
- Subject: Enter a keyword that matches any text in the email subject.
- Date from / Date to: Enter the date range of the emails you would like to restore.
- Contacts: Enter a name in the Search for field.
- Tasks: Enter a keyword in the Search for field.
-
Calendars: Enter a keyword in the Search for field. For advanced search options, click the downward-facing arrow, and provide the following details in the drop-down form:
- Description: Enter all or part of the event description.
- Owner: Enter the user name or the email address
- Date from / Date to: Enter the date range of the calendar you would like to restore.
Performing a Full Mailbox Recovery
- Click Export to download a zip file of your backed up data, or Restore to copy the files back to your mailbox.
- Choose the backup you want to recover.
- First option: restore the Last Backup.
- Second option: click Specific Backup Date and select a backup date from the calendar with a backup status indication. (See Choosing an Earlier Backup Date.)
- Select which sub-services to export or restore. The default is all sub-services, but you can turn off any of the individual sub-services.
Export Options
- If you click the gear-shaped icon on the Emails tile, you will see the extra option of Use 20 GB chunks. If the mailbox is very large, this option has the benefit of generating fewer files that are each 20 GB, rather than the default size of 5 GB.
- Select the export ZIP destination, such as direct download, Amazon S3, Azure Blob, Box, Dropbox, AWS S3 Compatible or Google Cloud Platform. Depending on which option you choose, there will be other data to complete (e.g., Bucket Name, Access Key and Secret Key for Amazon S3).
Restore Options
See Restore Options: Choosing the Restore Type.
Completing the Full Recovery
The rest of the full recovery flow and monitoring the recovery results on the Jobs page, are similar to what is described in Completing the Selective Restore or Export.
Tracking Recovery Tasks on the Jobs Page
The Jobs page provides you with the status of your restore and export jobs over the last seven days. From the Navigation pane, click Jobs.
- The top portion of the screen summarizes how many jobs are in progress, successfully completed, or failed to complete successfully. If you click on any of these statuses, the screen will filter on the status.
- The bottom portion of the screen display the status of each individual job.
- For Export jobs, click Download Results to access the requested file.
Note: If your recovery job was not successful, please contact your System Administrator for assistance.