With Federated Search, administrators can quickly find end-user files and emails that have been backed up by inSync. It uses the metadata attributes of files and emails to deliver fast and accurate search results.

❗ Important

inSync indexes the data during a backup operation using file and email attributes. The attributes can be file name, folder name, email subject, and email attachment name.

After the snapshot creation is complete, during the backup operation, inSync creates an index of the data that is backed up. inSync uses metadata attributes like file name, folder name, email subject, and email attachment name to index the data based on delimiters (such as whitespace, dot, special characters, and so on).

Administrators can search files and emails using a part or the entire file name or email subject. Federated Search also supports of search of files and emails using the different parameters available for files and emails. For example, when the administrator searches for "financial report", the search results will contain the following files:

inSync will display results that match one or more terms. Administrators can use the available search filters and search operators to narrow down the search results.

inSync allows the following types of operators in the order of their priority:

💡 Tip

Operators must always be entered in capital letters. If you use any other variation of the operators in your search query, inSync considers them as a keyword of the search query. For example, in the Sales And Marketing search query, And is considered as a search keyword.

The search results show a maximum of 1000 results that match your search query. inSync displays the search results progressively. Click Load More to load the next set of search results. Using the Email Result option, up to 20,000 search results in CSV format can be sent to the email address of the administrator.

📝Note
​ Search results do not list files or emails for users who have enabled Data Privacy settings.

This Federated Search capability is critical, to enable administrators to locate sensitive or malicious data that is backed up by users. Administrators can also delete files from the search results. Deletion is useful when administrators want to prevent exposure of a sensitive file and remove all its occurrences from data source and storage.

❗ Important

File deletion feature is available only for Elite customers.

Here is an example scenario: An administrator is aware that Joe, an employee, has backed up a PDF containing sensitive data and shared the PDF with other users in the organization. In such a scenario, the administrator can search for the PDF backed up by Joe, and also search for users in the organization who have a copy of the PDF. Even if the file name has been renamed, the administrator can search using the checksum of the file. The administrator can also delete the PDF from the data source or both the data source and snapshot.

To further analyze the search results, administrators can email the search results in CSV format, download the files and emails from the search results for offline review, or ingest the files and emails into a third-party tool for further review.

Here is an example scenario: If an IT administrator observes that a user, Ray, is backing up files that contain sensitive or malicious data, the administrator can easily search for files that were backed up by Ray during a specific time range, and download the files for detailed inspection.

Administrators can restore files and emails from the search results to the original location or custom location.

Here is an example scenario: Ray, an employee, leaves the organization, and later, Joe, another employee, requires access to an email that was sent to Ray. In such a scenario, the administrator can search for the specific email, and restore the email from Ray’s email account to Joe’s email account.

Using the Federated Search capability, inSync Client users can search for files and emails that are backed up by inSync, download the required files and emails from the search results, and also restore emails from the search results to the original location or custom location. Federated Search helps inSync Client users to gain access to a file that was accidentally deleted, or when they need to access a particular file from a device not owned by them.

Here is an example scenario: In case of accidental deletion of the email “December Sales Training attendees” from the user’s Exchange Online mailbox, the Client user can search their Exchange Online emails with the subject “December Sales Training attendees” sent between 10 December to 23 December, and restore the email to their Exchange Online mailbox from the search results.

The following table lists the actions that administrators and inSync Client users can perform on the supported data sources using Federated Search.

📝 Note

You can search the data only after inSync has completed indexing of the backed up data. Once inSync starts indexing the data, a data indexing progress indicator named Data Sources Indexed appears on the Federated Search page. This is a one-time activity and is displayed when inSync starts indexing the backed up data. The indicator is not displayed for indexing subsequent data.

Click the info icon beside Data Sources Indexed to view details about the data indexing status. An Indexing Status window appears that displays the following details:

After the indexing is complete, the Data Sources Indexed indicator goes away. You can start searching the data of the data sources that inSync has indexed. inSync automatically starts indexing any data from newly added data sources.

Click Download Report to download the MDSIndexingReport.csv file that contains the following details:

Using the Federated Search capability, you can search for files backed up by inSync across all data sources (endpoints and SaaS Apps) for all users using:

When you search, inSync shows you a list of files that match your search query along with the following details:

You can also download multiple files from the search results using the Download File option.

📝Note
​For 7-10 days after compaction, if a user or administrator performs a search for a SharePoint file from Federated Search or admin restore/user console, the compacted files will get listed in the Federated Search results. However, if you perform a restore or download, the files are neither restored nor downloaded.

Similar to searching files, you can search for emails backed up by inSync across email services (Gmail and Exchange Online) for all users using:

When you search, inSync shows a list of emails that match your search query along with the following details:

You can also download multiple emails from the search results in EML format using the Download Email option.

If the Rollback Action feature is enabled and if the Rollback window is configured for deleted snapshots, Federated Search still supports the following actions:

📝Note
​ Folder search is not supported.

📝Note
​Restore action is not supported for files and emails for Exchange Online, Gmail, OneDrive, and Google Drive.

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