One of the questions we often hear is “How does Exchange Online back up my data?” You may be asking this because you are worried about how to recover your data if there is an error. Alternatively, you may be wondering how to recover your data if it is accidentally deleted. This topic answers these questions.
How does Exchange Online protect mailbox data?
Many things can disrupt service availability, such as hardware failures, natural disasters, or human error. To ensure that data is always available and that services continue, even when unexpected events occur, Exchange Online uses the same technologies found in Exchange Server. For example, Exchange Online uses the Exchange Server feature known as database availability groups (DAGs) to replicate Exchange Online mailboxes across multiple databases in separate Microsoft datacenters.
As a result, you can easily access updated mailbox data in the event of an error affecting one of the database copies. In addition to having multiple copies of each mailbox database, different data centers enforce data using replication (data resiliency). If one fails, the affected data is transferred to another data center with limited service interruption, and users experience seamless connectivity.
What happens if users accidentally delete data from their mailboxes?
Deleted
items are stored in the Deleted Items folder in your mailbox. Items deleted from the Deleted Items folder or deleted by pressing Shift + Delete are likely recoverable if dealt with promptly.
For more information about how administrators can recover
deleted items in Exchange Online, see the following topics:
-
Recoverable Items folder
-
Enable or disable single-item recovery for a mailbox in
-
Change how long permanently deleted items are retained for an Exchange Online mailbox.
in Exchange Online.
Exchange Online
How do users backup Outlook data?
Exchange Online doesn’t provide a way to perform a traditional mailbox backup. That is, there is no way to restore a mailbox to the state it was in when it was backed up.
However, if you need to provide additional storage for users’ emails, the best way is to use Exchange Online Archiving. Using Outlook to backup data to PST files is not recommended due to loss of content detection and control capability.
For more information about Exchange Online Archiving,
see:
-
Enable archive mailboxes
-
in
in the compliance portal Unlimited archiving in Office 365 For more information about licensing requirements for Exchange Online Archiving, see the Exchange Online Archiving service description. How your data is protected For information about how the service is protected by data resiliency, see Exchange Online data resiliency
Office 365.
When can I restore Outlook data to an unlicensed
Microsoft 365 or Office 365 account? After the expiration or deletion of a Microsoft 365 or Office 365
license, Data is not deleted instantly. The default retention time is 30 days; this means that you can renew or back up your data to PST before the data is completely deleted from Microsoft 365 or Office 365.
How do users restore Outlook data?
For information about how to restore deleted items in Outlook, see Recover deleted items in Outlook for Windows.
For information about how to restore deleted items in Outlook on the web
(formerly known as Outlook Web App), see Recover deleted items or email in Outlook on the web.
Remove a user from Microsoft 365
or Office 365
For more info about what to do when a user in your organization leaves, see Remove a former employee. This topic describes the steps you should take and how to protect your data after an employee leaves your organization.
