This article outlines the out-of-the-box options to users and site administrators to recover or restore content if deleted, corrupted or affected by malware. Unless otherwise specified, these options apply to both OneDrive and SharePoint (standalone and Team-connected).
Restoring items may require elevated permissions (i.e. Owner, Administrator). If you're unable to restore something, contact the site owner or EASI SharePoint Support.
| Activity | Data Location | Data Availability |
|
Recover deleted document(s) or folder(s) OneDrive and SharePoint |
Based on recycle bin | 93 days (less if recycle bin is manually purged) |
|
Restore a previous version of a document or item OneDrive and SharePoint |
File version history | Depends on how many versions are kept and how far back you need to go. Default number of versions are 500 but can be increased. |
|
Recover a deleted library or list SharePoint |
Based on recycle bin. Only site admin can recover. | 93 days (less if recycle bin is manually purged) |
|
Restore an entire document library (to a point in time) OneDrive and SharePoint |
Gear icon-->Restore Your OneDrive/ Restore This Library In OneDrive, owner can restore |
30 days. Deleted files must still be in the recycle bin in order to be restored. Will overwrite any changes in the interim. |
|
Recover a deleted site SharePoint |
Based on Site Admin Recycle bin. Only SharePoint Admin can restore. Contact EASI | 93 days |
|
Restore a full site (to a point in time) SharePoint |
Via Microsoft Support. Contact EASI *a cost may be incurred |
14 days |
Deleted items (including files, folders, libraries, lists and sites) are stored in the site recycle bin for 93 days after which they are gone. There are 2 stages in the recycle bin: the first stage is open to users; the second stage is only accessible by the site collection administrator. A user can never fully purge the recycle bin--only the site administrator can do that.
For more on the recycle bin, see the associated article.
If an individual item becomes corrupted either accidentally or infected by malware, you can restore a previous "good" version. Select the document, then Version history from the ellipses (...). Select the last good version and "restore". If you have no previous versions, then you may be out of luck or need to do a full document library restore.
Versioning is on by default on all items in SharePoint including pages, files and list items. Versioning is only applicable to content, not file name or permissions.
For more on versioning see the related KB article.
This option restores an entire library to a previous point in time. However it restores in place and does not merge, so you will lose any changes made since that point. Use this only if multiple documents are impacted. Only users with Full Control or above permissions can perform this action.
A library can only be restored up to 30 days previous. This option utilizes versioning and the recycle bin for recovery. If the recycle bin has been purged or there are no versions, some documents may not be restored.
For more details, see Microsoft documentation.
Deleted libraries are stored in the site recycle bin for 90 days after which they are gone. There are 2 stages in the recycle bin: the first stage is open to users; the second stage is only accessible by the site collection administrator.
Microsoft backs up current sites for disaster recovery only. It does not maintain snapshots, historic data or offline copies. Microsoft backs up data from SharePoint Online every 12 hours and retains full sites backups for a rolling 14 day period. In the event an entire site is corrupted or needs to be restored to a point in time, a site can only be restored back to 14 days from current date. If you need an entire site restored, please open an incident with EASI. Note that there may be a cost to recover. There is no SLA for this service.
Deleted sites are stored in a recycle bin for 93 days after which they are gone. Open a ticket to have your site recovered from the recycle bin.
Retention Policies: a site admin can implement retention policies at library or folder level and select how long to keep files. Files under a retention policy bypass the recycle bin (cannot be deleted). If a user tries to delete an item before retention period is reached, it goes into a preservation hold library (not deleted from site) and will stay there until retention period is reached. For more info see: https://uthrprod.service-now.com/sp?id=kb_article&sys_id=1d87a9b0dbc3f0d05fb27b603996199b
Records Management feature: Site Admin can implement records management on libraries. Declared records can be blocked for edit or deletion for added protection. For more info see: https://uthrprod.service-now.com/sp?id=kb_article&sys_id=924ef0321b6f6c10a98e54a51a4bcba6
Third-party back up: AvePoint is a third-party SharePoint backup solution that is being offered to backup SharePoint data permanently. Learn more here: https://utoronto.sharepoint.com/sites/SPLearn/SitePages/AvePoint-Cloud-Backup--Quick-Reference-Guide-for-Divisional-IT.aspx