Restoring mailbox messages interactively with the Mailbox Restore Browser

You can use the Mailbox Restore Browser to interactively restore a mailbox or items from a mailbox on an Exchange Server.

Before you begin

You must have role-based access control (RBAC) permissions to complete individual mailbox restore operations.

If you plan to restore mail or folders by using a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Server, ensure that you configure the SMTP Server before you start a restore operation. Set the configuration in Microsoft Management Console (MMC) by right-clicking Dashboard in the navigation tree and selecting Properties. Then, in the E-mail property page, enter the SMTP server and port.

Download and install the Exchange MAPI and Microsoft Outlook MAPI on different servers. Do not install Microsoft Outlook 2010 or 2013 on the same server that Data Protection for Exchange Server uses for mailbox restore operations. Conflicts might occur in the MAPI configurations.

About this task

You can restore an entire mailbox or selected mailbox items to the original mailbox, another online mailbox on the same server, or to a Unicode .pst file. When you restore a mailbox to the mailbox restore destination, Data Protection for Exchange Server automatically restores the mail items in the Recoverable Items folder.
- You cannot restore the Recoverable Items folder and subfolder hierarchy to a mailbox restore destination. You can restore only the mail items in the folders.
- The mail items that you can restore depends on whether the mailbox is enabled for mailbox restore operations.
- You can restore the Recoverable Items content for a public folder mailbox but not for each public folder in the public folder mailbox.
- You can exclude the mail items in the Recoverable Items folder in mailbox restore operations.
- You cannot create a subfolder in the Recoverable Items folder in a mailbox.
- The Mailbox Restore Browser displays folders that are normally hidden from view, for example, in the Recoverable Items folder. Folder names in the Recoverable Items folder are internal to Microsoft Exchange and are not translated by Microsoft. Therefore, if you use a language other than English, the folder names still display in English.
In Exchange Server 2013, you can restore a public folder mailbox database, a public folder mailbox, or only a part of the mailbox, for example, a specific public folder. However, you cannot restore individual messages in a public folder by using the Mailbox Restore Browser interface.
- To restore an Exchange 2013 public folder mailbox, the Exchange user must have the Public Folders management role.
- You can restore a public folder mailbox only to an existing public folder mailbox that is on the Exchange Server.
- You can restore a public folder only to an existing public folder. The public folder on the Exchange Server must have the same folder path as the public folder to be restored. If the public folder is deleted from the public folder mailbox on the Exchange Server, you must re-create the public folder with the same folder path as the public folder to be restored, before you start the restore operation.
- As a best practice, restore public folder mailboxes separately from user mailboxes. Select only one public folder mailbox to restore at a time if you want to restore a specific public folder in the mailbox, or if you want to restore to a different public folder mailbox than the original mailbox.
  If you restore multiple mailboxes in a single restore operation, and at least one of the mailboxes is a public folder mailbox, the mailboxes are restored only to their original mailbox locations. You cannot specify a filter or an alternate mailbox destination.
- You might restore to a different public folder mailbox than the original mailbox if, for example, the public folder is relocated after the time of the backup. Before you complete the public folder restore operation, ensure that the public folder exists with the same folder path in the alternate mailbox location.
If you restore multiple mailboxes, and you want to retain the recovery database after the restore operation is complete, ensure that all the mailboxes are in the same recovery database.
By default, Data Protection for Exchange Server restores the latest backup that is available for the specified mailbox.

Restriction: Only mailboxes within the same database can be restored in a single mailbox restore action.

Procedure

Start MMC.
Under the Protect and Recover Data node in the navigation tree, select Exchange Server.
On the Recover panel, click View > Mailbox Restore Browser.

In the Select Source window, specify the mailbox that you want to restore. Choose from the actions in the following table:

Table 1. Selecting mailboxes to restore
Task	Action
Browse mailboxes and select one to restore	From the drop-down list, select Browse Mailboxes. Select a mailbox. Click OK. Tip: Use the Search field to filter the mailboxes. You can also sort the mailboxes by columns.
Specify a mailbox to restore by name	In the Mailbox Name field, enter the name of the mailbox to restore. Click OK.
Restore a mailbox backup that was created at a specific time	In the Backup Date/Time field, click the default date and time to edit the details. To change the date, click the calendar icon, select a date, and press Enter. To change the time of day, use the 12-hour system convention such as 2 p.m. Click OK.
Review the mailbox backups that are available to restore before you complete the restore operation	From the drop-down list, select Browse Mailboxes. Select a mailbox for which backups exist. From the Available Database Backups list, review the backups that are available for the mailbox and select a backup version to restore. Ensure that the Backup Date/Time field reflects the time stamp for the selected mailbox backup. Click OK.
Restore a mailbox that was deleted or re-created after the time of the backup	In the Actions pane, click Properties, and on the General page, enter the temporary mailbox alias. Tip: If you do not enter the alias, the mailbox restore operation uses the administrator mailbox as a temporary storage location.
Browse all databases in a backup	From the drop-down list, select Browse Databases. Select a database. Click OK. Tip: Use the Search field to filter the databases. You can also sort the mailboxes by columns.

After the selected mailbox is restored to the recovery database, the restored mailbox and folders are displayed in the results pane.

In the results pane, browse the folders and messages that are contained within the selected mailbox. Choose from the following actions to select the mailbox, folder, or message to restore:

Table 2. Previewing and filtering mailbox items
Task	Action
Preview mailbox items	Select a mailbox item to display its contents in the preview pane. When an item contains an attachment, click the attachment icon to preview its contents. Click Open or save the item by clicking Save.
Filter mailbox items	Use the filter options to narrow the list of folders and messages in the result pane. Click Show Filter Options and Add Row. Click the down arrow in the Column Name field and select an item to filter. You can filter by folder name, subject text, and so on. You can filter public mailbox folders only by the Folder Name column. When you select All Content, the mailbox items are filtered by attachment name, sender, subject, and message body. In the Operator field, select an operator. In the Value field, specify a filter value. If you want to filter on more items, click Add Row. Click Apply Filter to filter the messages and folders.

In the Actions pane, click the folder or messages restore task that you want to run. If you click Save Mail Message Content, which becomes available only when a message is selected in the preview pane, a Windows Save File window is displayed. Specify the location and message name and click Save. The Restore Progress window opens and shows the progress of the restore operation. Data Protection for Exchange Server restores the mailbox backup to its original mailbox location.

To restore a mailbox or mailbox item to either of the following locations, complete the following steps. Choose from the actions in the following table:

Table 3. Restoring a mailbox to another mailbox or `.pst` file
Task	Action
Restore a mailbox or mailbox item to a different mailbox	On the Actions pane, click Open Exchange Mailbox. Enter the alias of the mailbox to identify it as the restore destination. Drag the source mailbox to the destination mailbox on the results pane. Restriction: You cannot drag mail items or subfolders in the Recoverable Items folder to a destination mailbox.
Restore a mailbox to an Outlook personal folders (`.pst`) file	On the Actions pane, click Open non-Unicode PST File. When the Windows File window opens, select an existing .pst file or create a .pst file. Drag the source mailbox to the destination .pst file on the results pane. Restriction: You can use the Mailbox Restore Browser only with non-Unicode .pst files.
Restore Public Folder Mailbox	Select this action to restore a public folder mailbox to an existing online public folder mailbox. You can filter the mailbox and restore a specific public folder to an existing online public folder. In the Folder to be restored field, enter the name of the public folder that you want to restore. If you are restoring a subfolder in a parent folder, specify the full folder path in this format: `parent_folder_name`/`sub_folder_name`. To restore all subfolders in a parent folder, use `parent_folder_name`/*. If the full folder path includes spaces, enclose the folder path in double quotation marks, and do not append a backslash character (\) at the end of the folder path. You can also restore all or part of a public folder mailbox to a different public folder mailbox than the original mailbox. In the Target public folder mailbox field, specify the destination public folder mailbox that you want to restore to.

In the Actions pane, the Close Exchange Mailbox and Close PST File tasks are displayed only when a destination mailbox or .pst file is opened.

Optional: Remove the recovery database by clicking Close Mailbox to Restore. This option is displayed only after a recovery database is created. Data Protection for Exchange Server removes the recovery database and cleans up the restored files. If you do not select Close Mailbox to Restore, the recovery database is not removed even if you exit MMC.
If MMC also detects a recovery database that is created outside of Data Protection for Exchange Server, it automatically connects to it. When you complete your mailbox restore tasks, you must manually remove the recovery database. You cannot use the Close Mailbox to Restore option.