Backup restoration

The Backup interface has been rebuilt to match the rest of Automate. Your policies, your data and your schedules are unchanged. This is a change to the interface, not to how Backup works.

What has changed

The functionality is the same. The Restoration screens has been rebuilt.

Before

After

Item and full restoration are now one journey. You pick what you are restoring, choose the items you want, and review a summary before anything runs. The screens are the same whether you are putting back a single email or a whole domain.

Choosing what to restore

Go to Backup > Restoration. The table has a tab for each thing you can restore:

• Users
• Shared Drives
• Org Units
• Smart Teams
• All Users
• Deleted Users

Each row shows the user, their policy, the latest backup date and time, and a status for each data type held: Mail, Drive, Calendar, Contacts and Chats.

Sort by newest or oldest first, and filter by backup policy or organisational unit.

Restoring selected items

Select a user to open the Restore user data page. The header shows their name, email address and organisational unit.

1. Choose a tab for the data type you want: Mail, Drive, Calendar, Contacts or Chats.
2. Select the items you want. The tab updates with a count as you go, for example Mail (21), Drive (12).
3. You can select across more than one data type in the same restoration.
4. The button updates to Restore [x] items. Select it when you are ready.

Configuring a data type

Each data type has its own configuration, opened from its card rather than set on the main page. That keeps the page readable when you are restoring several types at once.

Once you have configured a type, any label you applied is shown on its card. Types you have not configured keep the default card.

Previewing an item

Mail, Drive and Chat items can be previewed in a sidebar before you restore them, so you can check you have the right one.

The restore summary

Selecting Restore [x] items shows a summary. View restoration items opens a full list of everything selected, with a count per data type.

Confirm, and the restoration starts. You are taken to the Restoration status page and a notification confirms it has begun.

Fully restoring a user

Select Fully restore user in the header of the user details page. That takes you straight to the summary, skipping item selection.

Note: all data types are selected by default except Chats. Select the Chats card if you want them included.

You can configure each data type as normal before confirming.

Fully restoring several users at once

1. Tick the users you want in the selection column. A bulk selection bar appears at the bottom of the page.
2. Use Clear selected, Select all or Fully restore selected.
3. Fully restore selected takes you to the summary.
4. Confirm at the dialog, which lists every user being restored.

Note: when several users are restored together, their data goes back to their own accounts. To send one person's data to someone else, restore that user on their own.

Restoring a shared drive

Use the Shared Drives tab. You can restore to the original drive, to another existing shared drive that has synced through to CloudM, or to a new drive, and set the folder name the data lands in.

Note: a new shared drive created by a restore will not have a backup policy applied unless you have a default shared drive policy configured. See Creating and editing a backup policy.

Restoring contacts

Only primary contacts are backed up, and contacts are available on a full restoration only.

Note: contacts have to be enabled on the backup policy. A new policy enables them by default, but editing an existing policy does not, so it has to be switched on there.

All contacts held at the point in time you choose are restored, to the original user or to a different one. A target label is optional; without one the label shows as name_date_time. Contacts can also be exported in PST and VSF formats.

Photos, labels and favourites are not backed up and cannot be restored.

Google's contact limits

• 25,000 contacts per account, or 20 MB excluding photos.
• Per contact: 128 KB, 1,024 characters per field except Notes, and 500 fields in total.

Restoring Google Chat

Chat covers direct messages, both one to one and conversations with several people. Spaces and apps are not included.

When you select Chat you get two options: restore to Google Drive, or download the chats.

Note: attachments are the only content restored to Drive. In a download, attachments, links and images all appear as text. Custom emoji are not restored.

The download is an HTML file. An email is sent with the link, and the link expires after 14 days. You can also download it from the Restoration status page.

Searching a downloaded chat file

Open the HTML file and you can search by keyword, filter by start and end date, and filter by chat member. Use your browser's print option to send the results to PDF or a printer.

Letting users restore their own data

Individual users can view and restore their own mail, Drive, calendar and contacts without administrator permissions. They need the Own Profile scope.

If a user cannot see their data, check the scope first.

Common questions

Why are Chats not selected when I fully restore a user?

Every data type except Chats is selected by default on a full restore. Select the Chats card to include them.

Can I restore Chat to more than one user's Drive at a time?

No. Restoring Chat to Google Drive is single user only. For several users, an organisational unit, a Smart Team or All Users, download is the only option.

Why can I not see contacts when selecting items?

Contacts are available on a full restoration only.

Can I restore items from more than one data type at once?

Yes. Select across the Mail, Drive, Calendar, Contacts and Chats tabs, and the count on each tab shows what you have picked.

Can I run more than one restore at once?

Yes. Restore jobs run alongside each other rather than queueing, including more than one restore to the same user. There is nothing to configure.