Overview
In case of accidental deletion or malicious activities leading to data loss, you can retrieve or restore your lost data from inSync backups.
Microsoft API limitations
You can restore Private Channel data (Files) only if the associated SharePoint site exists. Conversations are restored in HTML format under the Files tab.
Team Private Channel restore (for Private Channel folder) is limited to ‘In-Place’ restore only. You cannot restore the Private Channel folder to another existing or new Team.
Insync backs up data from Shared Channels only when the Team hosting those channels is backed up. Shared channels from other teams are not included in the backup.
Workflow
Here's a basic workflow of Teams data restore:
See the Support matrix for restore.
Restore Location
An administrator can restore Teams' data using the inSync Management Console at the following locations based on the selection for restore:
Restore to the same team: Restore data to the same team from which it was backed up.
If the same team does not exist in the Microsoft Teams app, a possible scenario wherein, the team was deleted after the backup, inSync creates a new team with the same Team name (along with its Settings and Channel data) within Microsoft Teams.
In inSync, both the deleted team and the new team with the same name co-exist and are listed on the inSync Management Console after discovery. Both of these teams listed have their own respective backup snapshots, which may differ.
For example, if Team XYZ is deleted from the Microsoft Teams app after it was backed up by inSync, you can restore this team with the same name (Team XYZ) from inSync. After the restored team is discovered in the inSync Management Console, two Teams with similar names, Team XYZ, co-exist. Each of these Team XYZ has its own different snapshots based on the backups initiated for them.
2. Restore to a different team: You can restore the data using any one of the following ways:
Restore to another existing team: Restore one team's data to another existing team.
Restore to a new team: Create a new team in your Microsoft 365 tenant and restore data to this new team. The Restore to a different team option is available only for the following scenarios:
Full team restore (Settings and all Standard Channels)
Only Standard Channels (without Team Settings) restore
Only Team Settings (without Standard Channels) restore
❗ Important
Because of Microsoft API limitations, Team Private Channel restore (for a Private Channel folder) is limited to ‘In-Place’ restore only. You cannot restore the Private Channel folder to another existing or new Team.
Restore Options
In-Place Restore: To restore and update the existing data with the data selected for restore.
📝 Note
For a successful In-Place Restore, ensure that the hierarchy of files/folder data within the inSync snapshot is exactly similar to the hierarchy of data within the existing Teams' Channel.
Restore as a Copy:
For Standard and Shared Channel: Restore to a new channel with name <channel_name>-INS-<count> at the root level.
For Files or folders (Standard and Shared Channel): Restore to a new folder with the name <inSync Restore datetimestamp> inside the channel.
❗ Important
For the Private Channels folder selection, you can perform only In-Place restore. Restore as a Copy is not supported for Private Channels folder selection. However, you can perform Restore as a Copy if you have selected only the Files and Conversations data within a Private Channel.
It is not supported to restore a Private Channel Site that has been permanently deleted or moved to a Microsoft 365 tenant recycle bin.
Restore considerations due to Group naming policy
When a restore is initiated, a group is created, and then the team is created. The Microsoft Groups API leverages the Microsoft 365 groups naming policy and the new team is created as per the naming policy.
For more information about the naming policy, see Microsoft 365 groups naming policy in the Microsoft documentation. Consider the following when you:
Restore to a new team
Restore a deleted team
The team will be created as per the group naming policy wherein if you are using:
Custom Blocked Words naming policy: The custom word that you have blocked in the naming policy will be appended with a three-digit randomly generated number when the new team is created. So the new team will be created with the name <blocked word><three digit number>. For example;
Word blocked in the naming policy: Sample
Original team name: Development Sample
Restored new team name: Development Sample123
For more information, see Custom block words in the Microsoft documentation.
Prefix-Suffix naming policy: The prefix or suffix you have defined in the naming policy will be appended to the new team. So the new team will be created with the name <Prefix>Name of the team<Suffix> .For example;
Prefix string: Company Name | Suffix string: Cost Code
Original team name: Development Sample
Restored new team name: CompanyNameDevelopment SampleCostCode
📝 Note
Considerations when restoring to a new or same team
The allowed special characters for team names are a-z, A-Z, 0-9, underscore (_), period (.), and hyphen (-).
Periods (.) are allowed only when surrounded by valid characters, for example, help.desk'.
If a team name contains only ‘..’ or ‘….’, the restored team name will be 'msteams_ timestamp', for example, 'msteams_1650882827'.
If a team name contains '.' at the start or end, it is trimmed out from both ends of the restored team name.
If the team name is '.teamname1, — the restored team name will be 'teamname1'
If the team name is 'teamname2.' — the restored team name will be 'teamname2'
If the team name is '.teamname3.' — the restored team name will be 'teamname3'
Ensure that the restored team has no more than 256 characters, or the restore will fail. If the team name contains more than 248 characters, the Restore to a new team option restores only metadata and does not restore the conversation and Team site.
Restore Teams' data
Prerequisite
Ensure the following:
The status of the Teams and the corresponding SharePoint sites must be Enabled in the inSync Management Console.
At least one successful backup is mandatory for the selected Teams metadata, Files and Conversations.
For successful Teams' restore, the corresponding SharePoint Online Site Collection must be configured for backup in the inSync Management Console.
Procedure
On the Teams page, click the Team name that you want to restore.
On the Team's Summary page, click Restore Data.
On the Snapshot Viewer page, use the snapshot selector to select the snapshot from which you want to restore data.
📝 Notes
If a Sharepoint Team Site or a Private Channel is quarantined, then the corresponding team's data is quarantined. You cannot perform a full restore on this quarantined team's data.
You cannot restore or download the data if the associated team site is quarantined.
On the Snapshot Viewer page, from all the listed Teams' Settings and Channel lists, browse and select the Team Settings and/or Channel(s) that you want to restore.
Click Restore.
The Restore window appears based on the Team's component selected for restore - Full Team (Settings and all Channels), only Channels (without Team Settings, or only files or folders within Channel). See the Support matrix for restore.Use the Activity Stream option to view the details and download logs of completed restore activity.
Support matrix for restore
Here's a matrix that lists the supported restore types for Teams' data:
Scenario 1: Full Team (Team Settings and all Channels-Standard, Shared and Private)
📝 Note:
For Tabs, only In-Placerestore is supported.For the Private Channels folder, only In-Place restore is supported.
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ❌ |
Restore to another existing team | ✅ | ❌ |
Restore to a new team | ✅ |
Scenario 2: Only Team Settings (No Channels selected)
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ❌ |
Restore to another existing team | ✅ | ❌ |
Restore to a new team | ✅ |
Scenario 3: Entire Standard or Shared Channels' folder (Without Team Settings)
📝 Note:
For Tabs, only In-Placerestore is supported.
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ✅ |
Restore to another existing team | ✅ | ✅ |
Restore to a new team | ✅ |
Scenario 4: Files folder
📝 Note:
For Tabs, only In-Placerestore is supported.
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ✅ |
Restore to another existing team | ❌ | ❌ |
Restore to a new team | ❌ |
Scenario 5: Specific Files within the Files' folder
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ✅ |
Restore to another existing team | ❌ | ❌ |
Restore to a new team | ❌ |
Scenario 6: Entire Private Channels' folder (Without Team settings)
📝 Note:
For Tabs, only In-Placerestore is supported.
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ❌ |
Restore to another existing team | ❌ | ❌ |
Restore to a new team | ❌ |
Scenario 7: Tabs folder
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ❌ |
Restore to another existing team | ❌ | ❌ |
Restore to a new team | ❌ |
Scenario 8: Single or specific tab within the tabs folder
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ❌ |
Restore to another existing team | ❌ | ❌ |
Restore to a new team | ❌ |
Scenario 9: Calendar
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ✅ |
Restore to another existing team | ❌ | ❌ |
Restore to a new team | ✅ |
Scenario 12: Shared Channel
📝 Note:
For shared channels, document library settings restore is supported.
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ✅ | ✅ |
Restore to another existing team | ✅ | ✅ |
Restore to a new team | ✅ |
Scenario 1: Full Team Restore (Team Settings and all Channels selected)
Restore location: Restore to the same team |
Restore Options: In-Place Restore
Team Settings to restore: By default, Permissions are selected. To restore Members and Apps, select the corresponding checkbox. |
Description
Adds the missing data and overwrites the existing same data within the same team with the data selected for restore.
Things to consider:
|
Restore location: Restore to a different team
|
Restore Options: In-Place Restore / Restore to a new team
Team Settings to restore: By default, Permissions are selected. To restore Members and Apps, select the corresponding checkbox. |
Description
|
Scenario 2: Only Team Settings (Permissions, Members, Apps, and Team Description)
Restore location: Restore to the same team |
Restore Options: In-Place Restore
Team Settings to restore: By default, Permissions are selected. To restore Members and Apps, select the corresponding checkbox. |
Description
Adds the missing data and overwrites the existing Teams' settings data within the same Team with the data selected for restore.
📝Note:
For example:
During the first backup cycle, A is an owner, and B is a member.
After the first backup, A is changed to a member and B to an owner. Now, if you perform a restore, restored data continues to show A as owner and B as a member. |
Restore location: Restore to a different team
|
Restore Options: In-Place Restore / Restore to a new team
Team Settings to restore: By default, Permissions are selected. To restore Members and Apps, select the corresponding checkbox. |
|
Scenario 3: Entire Standard Channels' folder (Team Settings not selected)
Restore location: Restore to the same team |
Restore Options:
|
Description
|
Restore location: Restore to a different team
|
Restore Options: In-Place Restore / Restore to a new team
Team Settings to restore: By default, Permissions are selected. To restore Members and Apps, select the corresponding checkbox. |
|
Scenario 4: Entire Files folder within a Channel
Restore location: Restore to the same team |
Restore Options:
|
Description
|
Scenario 5: Specific files within the Files' folder
Restore location: Restore to the same team |
Restore Options:
|
Description
|
Scenario 6: Entire Private Channel folder (Without Team's settings)
Restore location: Restore to the same team |
Restore Options:
|
Description
|
Points to consider for Private Channel restore
|
Scenario 7: Entire Tabs folder within a Channel
Restore location: Restore to the same team |
Restore Options: In-Place Restore |
Description
|
Scenario 8: Single or multiple specific Tabs within Tabs folder
Restore location: Restore to the same team |
Restore Options: In-Place Restore |
Description
|
Things to consider for Tabs restore
|
Scenario 9: Shared Channel
Restore location: Restore to the same team |
Restore Options:
|
Description
|
Restore location: Restore to a different team
|
|
Points to consider for Shared Channel restore
|
Restore Archived Team data
❗ Important
Due to Microsoft API limitations, you cannot backup Private Channels and Tabs (App info) for archived Teams.
Restore of Archived Teams data can be performed based on the state of Teams in inSync and Microsoft 365.
Scenario: The team is in an archived state in both inSync and Microsoft 365
You cannot restore archived Teams data using inSync. However, you can download the archived Teams data. Once the archived team is unarchived and the Team status changes to active within inSync, you can perform a restore. For more information on how to download Teams data, see Download Teams data.
Scenario: The team is in an archived state in Microsoft 365 and active in inSync
❗ Important
The state of the archived team changes in inSync only after at least one discovery cycle is initiated from inSync Management Console.
The following table provides details of the supported restore options for archived teams.
Restore Location | In-Place Restore | Restore as a Copy |
Restore to the same team | ❌ | ❌ |
Restore to another existing active team | ✅ | ✅ |
Restore to another archived team | ❌ | ❌ |
Recover Teams Conversations data in HTML format
Recovery of Conversations is useful in scenarios such as accidental deletion or corruption of messages in a Channel’s Conversation. It enables administrators to quickly provide the Channel members the required information for business continuity.
As an option, inSync provides administrators an option to recover the Teams Conversations in HTML format. The HTML file (generated by Druva) can be recovered in the Standard and Shared Channel in Microsoft Teams.
This HTML file can then be used to recover Conversations by administrators.
❗ Important
Currently, administrators can recover Conversations only within the Standard and Shared Channels in Microsoft Teams.
The HTML file (Druva generated) is also not a complete set of Conversations due to Microsoft API limitations.
The HTML file supports the following information in a Conversation:
Plain text
Text with an attachment
Meeting Attachment
Reference File
Reference File Preview
Hero Card
Thumbnail Card
Connector Card
Location of the HTML file
The HTML file is by default downloaded at the following location in Microsoft Teams -
(Channel Name) > Files tab > inSync Post Restore > (Conversations in individual .html files)
Procedure
On the Teams page, click the Team name for which you want to restore conversations.
On the Team's Summary page, click the Backups tab. From all the listed Teams' Settings and Channel list, browse and select the checkbox beside Name to select the entire Team's data (Team Settings and all Channels) for restore. You can also select a conversation folder or a specific conversation.
4. Use the snapshot selector to select the snapshot from which you want to restore data.
5. Click Restore. The Restore Location window appears. Select the restore location as per your requirement.
6. The Restore Options window appears. Select the restore option as per your requirement.
📝 Note
Regardless of the selection of restore location and option, Conversations are available as HTML files under the Files tab inside the Channel of Microsoft Teams.
7. Click Restore to recover conversations data in HTML format (Druva generated) under the Files tab inside the Channel of Microsoft Teams.
After the recovery is complete, log in to Microsoft Teams to view a recovered conversation.
Procedure
Go to Standard Channel > Files tab.
Locate the <inSync Post Restore-> folder.
3. Click the <inSync Post Restore-> folder to view the individual conversations .HTML files.
4. Click on the specific HTML file to view the details of conversations.
❗ Important
If a channel has more than 10,000 conversations, then the HTML file is split into multiple files with a numeric sequential suffix (1,2, and so on). Each HTML file includes a maximum of 10,000 Conversations.
For Example: Channel ABC has 20,000 conversations. When you perform a restore of this ABC channel, there will be two HTML files created as follows:
inSyncPost_<ID>_1.html (First 10,000 conversations)
inSyncPost_<ID>_2.html (Subsequent 10,000 conversations
Known issue
Description: After Microsoft deprecated Wiki for Teams, the Wiki Data folder continues to be visible in the restore view in Druva console, causing restore operations to complete with errors.
Workaround: The Wiki Data folder can be disregarded, as Wiki data is no longer supported.
Resolution: In a future update, the Wiki folder will be removed from the restore view.