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This guide explains how to restore Teams data from Druva backups, including channels, files, conversations, and settings.
Overview
Druva allows you to restore Microsoft Teams data when it has been accidentally deleted or lost due to malicious activities. You can restore entire teams, specific channels, files, conversations, or team settings to the same location or a different team.
Before You Begin
Ensure the following requirements are met:
The team and its SharePoint site must be enabled in Druva
At least one successful backup exists for the data you want to restore
The corresponding SharePoint site is configured for backup in Druva
Known Limitations
Be aware of these Microsoft API limitations:
Private Channel files can only be restored if the associated SharePoint site exists
Private Channel folders can only be restored in-place (not to different teams)
Shared Channels are only backed up when the hosting team is backed up
Backups created before shared channel support treated shared channels as standard. If deleted, restoring these teams will result in standard channels, but without recovering the channel members.
Conversations are restored as HTML files under the Files tab
Tabs can only be restored in-place
Understanding Restore Options
Restore Locations
Same Team: Restores data back to the original team. If the team was deleted after backup
Druva creates a new team with the same name in Microsoft 365 Teams.
When a team is deleted and a new team is created with the same name, inSync's Management Console will list both the deleted team and the new team concurrently after discovery. Both teams will maintain their own separate backup snapshots.
Different Team: You can restore to either:
Restore to another existing team: An existing team in your Microsoft 365 tenant
Restore to a new team: Create a new Team in Microsoft 365 tenant and restore data to this Team.
📝NOTE: Private teams are marked with a lock icon. You can restore data between private and public teams.
Restore Methods
In-Place Restore: Overwrites existing data with the backed-up version. Missing data is added back. Existing files are replaced with their backup versions.
📝NOTE: For a successful In-Place Restore, the file/folder hierarchy in the inSync snapshot must exactly match the existing Teams' Channel data hierarchy.
Restore as Copy: Creates new items without overwriting existing data:
Channels: Creates a new channel named
<channel_name>-INS-<count>at root level.Files/folders: Creates a new folder with timestamp
<inSync Restore datetimestamp>inside the channel
❗IMPORTANT : Private Channel folders only support in-place restore. Restore as copy is not available for the folder itself, but you can use it for files and conversations within the private channel. Restoring a Private Channel Site is not supported if it has been permanently deleted or moved to the Microsoft 365 tenant recycle bin.
How to Restore Teams Data
Sign in to Druva Cloud Platform Console
Navigate to Microsoft 365 > Teams
Click the team name you want to restore
On the team summary page, click Restore Data
Use the snapshot selector to choose the backup point you want to restore from
Browse and select the team settings, channels, or specific items you want to restore
Click Restore
Choose your restore location (same team, different team, or new team)
Select your restore method (in-place or restore as copy)
If restoring team settings, select which components to restore (Permissions are selected by default; you can also select Members and Apps)
Click Restore to start the process
📝NOTE: If a SharePoint Team Site or Private Channel is quarantined, the corresponding team's data is also quarantined. You cannot perform a full restore, restore, or download the data for a quarantined team or its associated team site.
Practical Restore Scenarios
The supported restore behavior varies by what part of Teams you are recovering:
Scenario | What You Can Restore & How
Items to Restore | Restore to the same team | Restore to the same team - in-place | Restore to the same team - as a copy | Restore to a different team | Restore to a new team |
Full Team | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Team Settings Only | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Standard / Shared Channels | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Files Folder | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Specific Files | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Private Channel Folder | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Tabs | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
✅ = Supported | ❌ = Not Supported
📝NOTE: Due to Microsoft limitations, members can be promoted to owners, but owners cannot be demoted to members during restore.
📝Considerations for Private Channel Restore
Private Channels can be restored (Channel and members) only if the same team exists in Microsoft Teams. Select the Members checkbox (Permissions are default) for successful restore. Private Teams have a lock icon. Entire or specific files and conversations within Private Channels can be restored as a copy.
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📝Considerations for Tabs Restore
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Special Considerations
Group Naming Policies
A restore first creates a Microsoft 365 group, which adheres to the Microsoft 365 groups naming policy, and then creates the team based on that policy. Refer to the Microsoft documentation for details on the naming policy. This applies when restoring to a new team or restoring a deleted team.
Custom Blocked Words: Blocked words in team names are appended with a three-digit random number (e.g., 'Development Sample' becomes 'Development Sample123'). For more information, see Custom block words in the Microsoft documentation.
Prefix-Suffix Policy: Defined prefixes and suffixes are automatically added to team names (e.g., 'Development Sample' becomes 'CompanyNameDevelopment SampleCostCode').
Team Name Requirements
Allowed characters: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, underscore (_), period (.), hyphen (-)
Periods must be surrounded by valid characters (not at start or end)
Maximum length: 256 characters (if exceeded, restore may fail)
If the team name exceeds 248 characters, 'Restore to a new team' restores only metadata, omitting conversation and Team site data.
Names with only periods ('...' or '....') are renamed to 'msteams_<timestamp>'
Names that begin or end with a period will be renamed, with the period being removed.
Archived Teams
Archived teams have limited restore capabilities:
If the team is archived in both Druva and Microsoft 365: You cannot restore it (download only)
If the team is archived in Microsoft 365 but active in Druva: You can restore to another active team only (not in-place or to other archived teams)
📝NOTE: Druva cannot backup Private Channels or Tabs for archived teams due to Microsoft API limitations.
Recovering Conversations
Conversations are restored as HTML files in the channel's Files tab under a folder named 'inSync Post Restore'. These HTML files include:
Plain text messages
Messages with attachments
Meeting attachments
Reference files and previews
Cards (Hero, Thumbnail, Connector)
📝NOTE: If a channel has more than 10,000 conversations, they are split into multiple HTML files with sequential numbers (e.g., inSyncPost_<ID>_1.html, inSyncPost_<ID>_2.html). Each file contains a maximum of 10,000 conversations.
❗Important: Conversations can only be recovered in Standard and Shared Channels. HTML files are not complete conversation sets due to Microsoft API limitations.
Monitoring Restore Progress
Use the Activity Stream in the Druva console to:
View real-time status of restore operations
Check completion details
Download logs for completed restores
Troubleshoot any errors
Troubleshooting
Common Issues
Restore fails with 'quarantined' error: The team or its SharePoint site is quarantined. You cannot restore quarantined data. Contact your administrator to resolve the quarantine status.
Tab restore fails: This happens when the file or link associated with the tab has been deleted. For example, a Document Library tab fails if its SharePoint site was deleted.
Private channel restore fails: Ensure the private channel's SharePoint site has not been permanently deleted or moved to the tenant recycle bin.
In-place restore creates duplicate items: Verify that the file/folder hierarchy in the backup snapshot exactly matches the existing structure in Teams.
Known Issues
Wiki Data Folder: After Microsoft deprecated Wiki for Teams, the Wiki Data folder still appears in the restore view but causes restore errors. Disregard this folder; it will be removed in a future update.