Recovering deleted on-premises Exchange mails

This post will explain how you can restore entire mailboxes or individual mails from an existing on-premises Exchange backup using RecoveryManager Plus.

Note: Make sure you have a valid backup of your on-premises Exchange mailbox. For detailed instructions on how to create a backup, click here.

1. Log into RecoveryManager Plus as an administrator.
2. Navigate to Exchange tab → Restore.
3. Select On-premises in the Exchange Type drop-down.
4. Select the Organization which has the mailbox whose data is to be restored or exported.
5. In the Select Backup drop-down box, select the schedule which contains the mailbox to be restored.
6. Once you’ve selected the schedule, a list of all mailboxes that are backed up in the selected schedule will be displayed. The result will also contain information like the email address, number of items backed up, total size of the backup, and number of items backed up during the last backup cycle and the size of those items. Click the icon to see complete information about every backup operation carried out for the particular mailbox.
7. Select the mailboxes that you want to restore and click the Review and Restore button. You can also use the icon to shortlist the mailboxes using the name or the email address of the user.
8. In the screen that appears, the left-pane provides the list of all mailboxes you have selected.
9. To restore a particular mail from a mailbox, click on the mailbox which has the item to be restored. The list of all folders in the mailbox will be displayed. Select the items that you wish to restore.

   Note: Once you've selected a mailbox folder, you can further limit your search to items that match specific criteria by clicking the icon at the top-left corner of the result screen. Depending on the folder that you've selected, you'll be provided with a list of filters.

10. You can also use the Advanced Search option to search the entire backup for items that match specific criteria.
    • Click the Advanced Search link located at the top-right corner of the screen.
    • In the pop-up that appears, select the mailboxes in which you wish to search by clicking the Select Mailboxes field. You’ll be provided with the list of all mailboxes that you selected in the previous screen.
    • Select the type of item that you want to search for from the list of available options: calendar, contact, journal, mail, note, post, and task. In this case, select Mail.
    • Provide the criteria to search and select the items that you wish to restore.
11. To restore the selected items, click the Restore button located at the bottom of the page. The Restore Wizard pop-up will appear.
12. The first screen shows the mailboxes that you selected for restoration and the number of items that will be restored for each mailbox. Click Next after verifying the selection.
13. Select if the contents should be restored to the same location or a different location.
14. If you wish to restore the contents to the same location, select Restore to original location.
15. If you wish to restore the contents to a different location, select Restore to different location and click Browse. You can restore the contents of the mailbox to an on-premises Exchange mailbox or Exchange Online mailbox. Select the target location from the corresponding drop-down box. Click Select Target Folder to provide the folder in which the items are to be restored.
16. Provide a name for the restore operation. You can choose to restore just the modified items or missing items by selecting the appropriate option. Click Restore to begin the restoration process.
17. Click the Restore History at the bottom right corner of the screen to view the status of the last five restorations. Clicking the View All link in the pop-up will take you to the Restore History screen.

Your deleted mail will now be restored to the location of your choice.

For a hands-on experience in handling RecoveryManager Plus’s on-premises Exchange backup capabilities, try our web-hosted version.

To download RecoveryManager Plus, click here.