Home Print  

Exchange Mail Level Restore
Related Links
Exchange Mailbox Restore

Overview

In this page you can restore a single email/item to the Exchange Server from a mailbox level backup. Before proceeding with mail level restore, you need to restore the relevant mailboxes that contain the mails that you want to restore. Please refer Mailbox Restore help document for more details on restoring a mailbox. The mailboxes will be restored as PST files.

If you have got one or more PST files (restored mailboxes) in a local location in your machine, then you can do the following type of restores to any user mailbox present in the Exchange Server:

  • Restore all the emails/items present in all the PST files available in a folder
  • Restore all the emails/items present in a single PST file
  • Restore one or more folders available in a single PST file
  • Restore one or more emails/items listed from a single PST file
  • Restore one or more emails/items listed from more than one PST files
  • Restore the emails/items filtered by sender's email, receiver's email, subject, content or date range.

Top  ↑

How to get here in the Web Console?
 In the top menu, select: "Restore -> Exchange Mail Level Restore".

Requirements

  • Exchange Server:

    Supported on Exchange Server 2000 with Service Pack 3 / Exchange Server 2003 / Exchange Server 2007 / Exchange Server 2010.

  • Other Requirements :

    Before proceeding to restore the emails/items using this feature, please ensure the following essentials:

    1. Microsoft Exchange Information Store service must be running.

    2. All the relevant information stores must be in mounted state.

    3. You should have the PST files restored from your Exchange Mailbox backup in a local location. You can restore the mailboxes [as PST files] to a local location from the menu : 'Restore -> List Backups For Restore -> [your mailbox backup job name]' page.

    4. Make sure the Exchange Mailboxes are listed in "Add Exchange Mailbox Backup" page.

Top  ↑

Exchange Mail Level Restore

Restoring Exchange Mailbox folders/subfolders/emails/items can be done by following the steps mentioned below:

Select Location

Here, you can either enter the path to a PST file available in your machine from which you want to restore the emails/items or you can just enter the folder path which contains the PST files and restore the emails/items available in those PST files to the Exchange Server.

  • Loading a single PST file

    If you are sure that the emails/items you wish to restore are available in a particular PST file, then you can just load that PST file alone and restore the emails/items. You can enter the full path of the PST file directly in the text box or select the PST file by using the browse buton.

  • Loading a folder which contains PST files

    If you are not sure about the PST file where the emails/items you wish to restore would be available, then you can just load the particular folder [which contains PST files]. You can enter the folder path directly in the text box or select the folder location by using the browse button.

Top  ↑

Select Restore Option

In this step, the details of the PST file/folder you have loaded in Step 1 are displayed and the restore options are provided. You can select any one of the restore options to restore the emails/items to the Exchange Server.

    Details shown for PST file selection:

    • PST File Path : Full path of the loaded PST file
    • PST Source : Mailbox for which the loaded PST was created
    • Total Number of Items : Total number of emails/items available in the loaded PST file.

    Details shown [in a table] for folder selection

    • PST File : Full path of the PST file
    • Mailbox : Mailbox for which the particular PST was created
    • Folder(s) : Parent folder(s) available in the particular PST file. Total number of items available in the folder [including subfolders] is also shown.
    • Total Items : Total number of items available in the particular PST file.

      • If you wish to load a particular PST file listed in the table, then you can just click on the file name and the particular PST file will be loaded after a confirmation.

    Let me manually choose the emails and restore them

    If you select this option, the emails/items available in the selected PST files will be listed and you will have to manually select the ones that you want to restore.

    Let me first filter the emails and restore them

    This option will let you first filter the emails/items and then select the ones that you want to restore. This option is recommended when you are trying restore some of the emails/items from a large set of data.

    Proceed to restore all the emails available in the selected PST file [Applicable only if single PST file is loaded]

    If this option is selected, all the emails/items available in the loaded PST file will be restored to the Exchange Server. You will not be shown the emails/folders listing and you will be directly asked for destination mailbox [to which the PST file should be restored].

    Proceed to restore all the PST files available in the selected location [Applicable only if a folder is loaded]

    If this option is selected, all the emails/items present inside all the PST files available within the selected folder path will be restored to the Exchange Server. You will not be shown the emails/items available and you will be directly asked for destination mailbox [to which all the PST files should be restored].

Top  ↑

Select Items

  • If single PST file is loaded

    • In this page, the left frame will show the folder tree and the right frame will show the emails/items corresponding to the mailbox folder loaded or search done. By default, the emails/items available inside the first folder [as listed in the folder tree] will be listed when the PST file is initially loaded.

    • To perform a folder/sub-folder level restore, select the checkboxes corresponding to the folders that you wish to restore to the destination mailbox.

    • To perform a email/item level restore, click on a folder name to get the emails/items directly available in that folder to be listed in right frame.

      Note:
      1) If you want to perform email/item level restore, you can do so for only one folder at a time. i.e. emails/items from different folders cannot be restored at a time (if you wish to restore only some specific emails/items).
      2) If you have selected a folder by checking the checking the checkbox against the folder name and you have unselected some emails/items (of the same folder) from right frame, then whole folder will be restored to the destination mailbox despite the selections made in right frame.

    • You can also make use of the Filter Emails option to list emails/items from the entire PST file. This will list/restore the emails/items matching the specified filter criteria from all the folders available in the PST file.

    • You can use the "Search Table" option to display only the emails/items [listed in the table alone] that match the text you enter in the textbox shown. Other emails/items that do not match the text entered will be hidden. When you clear the text field, again all the emails/items listed in the table will be visible.


  • If a folder containing PST files is loaded

    • In this page, the emails/items corresponding to the selection made in second step [Select Restore Option] will be listed.

    • To restore the desired emails/items, just select the checkbox against the email/item and proceed to restore them.

    • You can also make use of the Filter Emails option to search emails by applying/modifying the search criteria and list the emails in this page.

    • You can use the "Search Table" option to display only the emails/items [listed in the table alone] that match the text you enter in the textbox shown. Other emails/items that do not match the text entered will be hidden. When you clear the text field, again all the emails/items listed in the table will be visible.


Top  ↑

Filter Emails

Using this option you can search and restore the emails by specifying filters.

  • Specify the search filters:

    Just enter the search text in the relevant textboxes and proceed to filter the emails. You can filter emails by specifying search string in any/all of the following fields.

    • Sender - For searching in the "from" email address
    • To or CC - For searching in the "to" or "cc" email addresses.
    • Subject - For searching in the "subject" of the email
    • Message Body - For searching in the entire content of the email [excluding attachments]
    • From Date - For listing emails received after this date & time
    • To Date - For listing emails received before this date & time

      • NOTE :
      1) Only substring match is done and hence partial texts are allowed for search strings.
      2) Case insensitive search is done and hence you can enter text in upper or lower case.
      3) The fields left blank or just with spaces are ignored when search is done. Hence if you do not wish to include any field for searching the emails, just leave the field blank.

  • Select Search Criteria Combination:

    You can now choose to list the emails matching all/any of the specified filter constaints.

    1. List emails matching ANY of the above filter constraints : The emails that match any of the specified filter contraints will be listed. If all the fields are left empty, all the emails should be listed.
    2. List emails matching ALL of the above filter constraints : Only the emails that match all of the specified filter contraints will be listed.

  • Choose To List Or Restore Emails Right Away:

    From here, you can choose to list the emails [resulting from the search criteria you have specified] or choose to restore the matching emails directly to the Exchange Server [to the destination mailbox] without waiting for the mails to be listed and shown in the table.

    1. Filter and list the emails matching the specified filters : Emails will be listed and you will be taken to the page where the emails matching your filter criteria are listed.
    2. Restore the emails matching the specified filters right away : Emails matching your search criteria will not be listed in any page and you will not be required to wait. Just you will be asked for the destination mailbox and the restore process will start. Only the emails matching the specified search criteria will be restored.

  • Clear Fields [Link at the top-right corner] :

    If you want to clear all the fields and reset them to the default state, just click this link. This will clear all the fields and reset everything in this page to their defaults.



    • After search is completed and filtered emails are listed, you can see the summary of the filters you have applied at the top left corner of the "Select Items" panel.

Top  ↑

Select Destination Mailbox

After selecting the items to restore, you need to select the mailbox to which the selected items should be restored. You can select any one of the two options available for selecting the destination mailbox.

  • Restore to the same user mailbox - Choose this option if wish to restore the selected items to the same user mailbox from which the particular PST file was created.

  • Restore to another user mailbox - If you would like to restore to any other preferred mailbox, you can choose this option and select the desired mailbox from the select box near this option. Click on the refresh icon to get the updated list of mailboxes present in this Exchange Server.


    • After selecting the destination mailbox, clicking on the 'Next' button will initiate the restore process after a confirmation.

Top  ↑

Restore Status

  • This page will show the status of the recent and other mail level restore operations in progress.

  • When this page is opened, a popup window showing the real time restore progress of the current restore operation will be opened. Make sure popup is not blocked in your browser to enable automatic opening of the restore progress window.

  • In this page, you can also view the other previous restore operations in progress. Clicking on the progress image [green triangle] will open a popup window where the current progress of the particular restore operation will be displayed.

  • If you wish to view the restore reports of the previous PST restores done, you can do so by clicking the link "Click here to view PST restore reports" shown at the bottom of the information box.





Top  ↑

Troubleshooting Tips

Sometimes I receive the error "MAPI_E_CALL_FAILED". Show/Hide

Cause : The above error may come for any of the following reasons.

  1. User account under which the application is running does not have enough permission to list the Exchange Mailboxes available in Exchange Server.

  2. If any of the information store is dismounted.

  3. Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is stopped.

Solution : Make sure the MS Exchange Information Store service is started and running and all the information stores are in mounted state. If the issue is due to permission problems, refer the Exchange Mailbox Rights help document to resolve the permission issues.

Sometimes I receive the error "MAPI_E_FAILONEPROVIDER" or "MAPI_E_UNCONFIGURED". Show/Hide

Cause : The destination user mailbox is not available in the Exchange Server.

Solution : Make sure the destination mailbox you have chosen for restore is existing and enabled in the Exchange Server.

Sometimes I receive the error "MAPI_W_PARTIAL_COMPLETION". Show/Hide

Cause : This error may come after the restore process has started for any of the following reasons:

  1. The information store where the destination mailbox exists is dismounted.

  2. Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is stopped.

  3. The mailbox size limit is reached for the destination mailbox.

Solution : Start the MS Exchange Information Store service and mount the associated information stores. Start the restore process again. However, if the restore process has failed because the size limit of the destination mailbox has been reached, then you need to restore the emails to another mailbox and cannot continue to restore the emails to the particular mailbox unless you clean up some emails from that particular mailbox.

Top  ↑

Limitations

  1. The selected emails will be added to the corresponding destination mailbox folder even though the same email exists in that folder already. This may result in duplication of some emails within the folder.
  2. If the number of emails to be listed is more than 10,000, then only the first 10,000 emails will be listed in the table. You need to use the "Filter Emails" option and do a more refined search for getting a list of fewer number of emails.
  3. If the destination user mailbox is not available in the Active Directory or in the Exchange Server, restore process will fail.

Top  ↑
Print  
Technical support-