Microsoft Office 365 does not need an introduction, as it is one of the most preferred SaaS that helps a lot of businessman/users to manage their work easier. The most crucial part for any organization is to save their data and protecting it from going into the wrong hands. Similarly, taking the regular Office 365 Data Backup is the essential task to follow.
There will be an immense benefit in taking Office 365 email backup for any business entity.
- Taking regular will ensure the complete protection of data.
- It will also clear up some space from the Office 365 account.
If we talk about the Office 365 cloud service agreement, it clearly states that Microsoft does not take responsibility to offers you a guarantee when it comes to data recovery. They directly encourage customers to use a third-party backup solution to ensure data safety. But before looking for the Office 365 data backup solution, let’s talk about the multiple reasons for taking Office 365 backup in detail.
Reasons to take Office 365 data backup
Microsoft Office indeed permits to work from anywhere; and at any time. But having this does not change the user responsibility for taking Office 365 data backup at regular intervals. Many threats can put the data at risk. Look at the given-below reasons which push users to look for a perfect solution for taking Office 365 mailboxes backup.
- Accidental deletion of data: Unintentional deletion of Office 365 data is replicated over the network. To be in a safer place, you need to look for Office 365 data backup solution.
- Security perils: The cloud is not invulnerable to cyber-attacks. Malware or ransomware can also infect your Office 365 files. If you have an air-gapped backup of your O365 files, you can recover before the ransomware infection if your systems are locked.
- Retention Policy: Microsoft retention policies are slightly limited and hard to manage, whereas the third-party backup tool will provide more data retention that is more extensive and open.
- Access data during outage: It is fact that Office 365 will also face outages many times, and these outages can last from several seconds to a minute. Using Office 365 backup solution will make you not suffer from these outages.
- Compliance and Governance: You must ensure that you can recover mailbox data during legal proceedings; to satisfy any regulatory enforcement requirements, depending on the country law. Examine your legal enforcement obligations, as well as the archive and recovery SLAs in your O365 terms; if you find any loopholes, you will need the added capability of third-party backup and archive.
- Managing Hybrid Deployment: Regardless of whether you are migrating to Office 365 or have a mix of on-premises Exchange and Office 365 users, all exchange data should be handled and secured in the same way, regardless of the source site.
How to take Office 365 mailboxes backup
The office 365 data backup process can be performed through a manual method using the eDiscovery method or using a third-party Office 365 email backup solution.
First, take a look at the steps required to take the backup of mailboxes from the Office 365 account through the eDiscovery method.
Content search eDiscovery method
- The first step is to log in to the Office 365 account with the username and password.
- Now, go to the admin section and then select Exchange.
- After that, on the left side, click on Permissions. Then Go to Admin Roles >> Discovery Management.
- Now choose the ‘+’ sign to add a role from the discovery management option.
- Under the role, click on the mailbox Import/Export option.
- Now go to the ‘Members’, after clicking the + sign button again, then click on the user’s name.
- After the completion of the required steps, then make a click on ‘Save’.
- Now, visit the Compliance Management, then click on in-place eDiscovery & hold, and after that, click on the New (+)
- Then mention the name from the In-Place eDiscovery & Hold dialogue box and click on Next.
- Now you can search all Office 365 mailboxes using ‘Search all mailboxes’ or can add selective mailboxes through ‘Specify mailboxes to search and add using ‘+’.
- Now make the filter set and then click on the Next button from the Search query screen.
- The In-Place Hold Settings dialogue box appears next, where you can determine the number of days the items will hold before being removed from the server. Then, click on Finish.
- Now a confirmation message will pop up where you need to click on OK.
- Then the search list will get displayed on the screen; after that, you need to click on export to .pst file.
Limitation of Manual method to import Office 365 data to PST
- The manual backup process is so tedious and time-consuming that it necessitates a lot of concentration. Minor errors will require you to repeat the procedure, and it can even result in the corruption of the Outlook data file.
- Emails, schedules, addresses, and all of their contents cannot get exported in their entirety.
- There are no filter options for exporting products.
- This manual approach is best suited for those with professional knowledge.
An Automated solution for Office 365 data backup
As we have gone through the limitations of using the native method for Office 365 data backup, the users can use Shoviv Office 365 backup tool. This tool is designed to backup Office 365 mailboxes into PST file format flawlessly. Kindly go through the below-mentioned features of the tool:
- This software has built with keeping users in mind to handle the back and restore process with ease. Even the tool has a user-centric feature that enables a novice user to perform Office 365 data backup process smoothly.
- This tool offers to take backup of Office 365 mailboxes and export them to PST file format even without losing the folder hierarchy and data integrity.
- It will provide you the option to take the backup of Archive mailboxes and public folders.
- For user convenience, this tool offers a job-based backup process in which users do not need to create the connection at all times to make and run jobs. You only need to establish a link once, after which you can proceed with the procedure.
- The tool grants the users to restore PST to Office 365 mailboxes. This procedure will not require users to be technically skilled.
- This tool allows users to create an HTML report of the backup and restore process after the task.
- Shoviv Office 365 Backup and Restore gets designed with cutting-edge technology; that allows it to work in sequence with other applications.
- This software has a beneficial filter option for preventing unwanted data from being backed up.
- The software comes with a free demo version, and through that user can backup and restore the first 50 items/folder.
Conclusion
In this blog, we have discussed manual ways to backup Office 365 mailbox (emails, contacts, calendars); and learn about the advantages of the third-party tool over native methods.
As multiple-step required for Office 365 data backup using the content search eDiscovery method, it is better to look forward to a professional third-party Office 365 backup tool. Now it depends on the users for turning upon which method to perform Office 365 backup process.
Read also – Export Exchange Online to PST
