Data Protection Centre/Microsoft 365/How to Recover Deleted Teams Data

Categories

In this article

  • Recover a deleted team in Microsoft Teams
  • Recover deleted Teams channels
  • Recover deleted Teams files
  • Recover deleted messages in Microsoft Teams
  • Can you recover deleted tabs, bots, or connectors?
  • Recover deleted Teams data using SysCloud

Tools

  • Microsoft Teams Data Recovery Wizard

How to Recover Deleted Teams Data

22 Dec 2021
8 min read
Anju George

Microsoft Teams serves as a central hub for workplace conversations, teamwork, video chats, and document sharing. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Teams users over the last year, rising to 145 million users in April 2021, making Teams the fastest growing business app in Microsoft’s history. With the rapid growth of Microsoft Teams as the hub for collaboration, there is an increase in risk of data loss due to a wide variety of reasons.  

Restoring deleted Teams data can be a challenge given the diverse sources of data and data storage locations in Teams. To know how Teams data is stored across different apps in Microsoft 365, read A Guide to Microsoft Teams Data Storage Location. 

This article explores the different ways in which administrators can recover deleted Teams data.
Don't have time to read the whole article? Use our Teams Recovery Wizard to quickly navigate to the section that answers your questions!
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recover deleted teams data

1. How to restore a deleted team in Microsoft Teams

When a team is deleted, it is actually the Microsoft 365 group that is deleted along with all its associated content. A global or groups administrator can restore the group from the Microsoft 365 admin center or Azure Active Directory admin center, within 30 days of deletion.  
To restore a deleted team from the Microsoft 365 admin center, follow the below steps: 

  • Step 1: In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Teams and groups -> Deleted groups. 

  • Step 2: Select the group you want to restore and click Restore group.

restore a deleted team
To restore  a deleted team from the Azure Active Directory admin center, follow the below steps:

  • Step 1: In the Azure AD admin center, go to Azure Active Directory -> Groups -> Deleted groups.

  • Step 2: Select the group you want to restore and click Restore group.

recover deleted teams from Azure AD
Pro tip

If your team was deleted more than 30 days ago, it is permanently deleted (along with the channels, conversations, files, and the Microsoft 365 group) and cannot be restored, unless you have a third-party cloud backup solution in place. Use SysCloud backup for Microsoft 365 to effortlessly backup and restore Microsoft Teams.

2. How to restore deleted Teams channels

2.1. Restore a standard channel in Teams

If the channel was deleted within 30 days, the owner of the Team can restore the deleted data from the Teams app itself. Note that deleting a standard channel will only delete the channel messages; all the files that were shared in the channel can still be accessed from the SharePoint document library. 
Follow the below steps to restore a deleted channel in Teams within 30 days of deletion: 

  • Step 1: In the Teams application, click the three dotted lines next to the team name, then choose Manage team from the drop-down menu.

  • Step 2: Navigate to the Channels tab, expand the Deleted list, and select Restore on the channel that you’d like to recover. This will restore the channel exactly as it was before the deletion.

restore a standard channel

If the 30-day limit has been exceeded, then the restore process is not that simple. You’ll have to manually create a new channel, then restore the deleted data to the channel. Since Teams channel messages are stored in a hidden folder in the group mailbox in Exchange Online for compliance reasons (see A Guide to Microsoft Teams Data Storage Location), you will have to perform a content search in the Compliance center to discover the Teams channel data before restoring it. Note that deleted messages can be recovered this way only if a compliance retention policy or legal hold has been enabled for Teams messages.

Learn more about Teams data retention.

Learn how to perform content search using eDiscovery.

2.2. Restore a private channel in Teams

Unlike a standard channel, when you delete a private channel in Microsoft Teams – it deletes both the channel and the SharePoint site that is connected to it (and all the documents you had on this site). This means that you will no longer be able to access the files shared via the channel. 
The team owner or the private channel owner can restore the private channel (along with the SharePoint site and all the documents in it) from the Teams app within 30 days of deletion, following the same steps mentioned above. But, if you are outside the 30-day window for restoring the private channel using the Teams app, then there are a couple of additional considerations beyond the standard restore method discussed above. 

 To discover all the messages in a private channel using content search, you need to include the mailbox of a user on the private channel. (Since private channel messages are stored in user mailboxes rather than the group mailbox -  See data storage location for Teams channels) Since the channel files are also deleted, you need to include the SharePoint site collection connected to the private channel, in your content search. 

3. How to recover deleted Teams files

3.1. Files shared in a Teams channel

Files that are shared in a Teams channel are stored in the SharePoint site associated with that team. Therefore, for content recovery, all the rules that apply to files in SharePoint will apply to files in Teams. 
In SharePoint, deleted items are retained for 93 days. They stay in the first-stage Recycle Bin (site Recycle Bin) the entire time, unless someone deletes them from there or empties the Recycle Bin. In that case, they go to the second-stage Recycle Bin (site collection Recycle Bin) and stay there for the remainder of the 93 days unless: 
  • The site collection Recycle Bin exceeds its quota and starts purging the oldest items 
  • The items are manually deleted by the site collection administrator from the site collection Recycle Bin 
Pro tip

The data retained by default Microsoft retention is counted towards your Microsoft 365 storage quota, and you will need to purchase additional storage if you exceed the limit. Try SysCloud backup for Microsoft 365 to save on additional storage costs.

To know more about SharePoint data retention, read this article.

Deleted channel files can be restored within 93 days following the below steps:

  • Step 1: From the Files tab in the Teams channel, click Open in SharePoint. This will open the SharePoint document library for that channel.

restore deleted teams files

  • Step 2: Go to Recycle bin, select the files that need to be restored, and click Restore. If you cannot find a specific file in the first-stage Recycle Bin, go to step 3.

recover deleted teams files

  • Step 3: At the bottom of the first-stage Recycle Bin page, click Second-stage recycle bin.

second-stage Recycle Bin

  • Step 4: Select the file that needs to be restored and click Restore.

restore deleted teams files from second-stage bin

Note: Only administrators can access the second-stage Recycle Bin.

3.2. Files shared in a Teams chat

Files that are shared in a private or group chat are stored in the OneDrive for Business of the user who shared the file(in a folder called Microsoft Teams Chat Files), and are shared only with the people who are part of the conversation. Retention in OneDrive works similar to how it works in SharePoint. The user who shared the file can restore it within 93 days from the date of deletion, by following the below steps:

  • Step 1: Navigate to the Files tab in Teams, select OneDrive, and click Open in OneDrive.

restore deleted chat files

  • Step 2: In My files, open the folder Microsoft Teams Chat Files.

microsoft teams chat files

  • Step 3: Navigate to Recycle bin, select the files to be restored, and click Restore. If you cannot find a file in the first-stage Recycle Bin, click Second-stage recycle bin at the bottom of the page and restore it from there. (Requires admin access)

Beyond the 93-day retention period, deleted chat and channel files are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered, unless a compliance retention policy or legal hold is in place for these files. If compliance has been enabled for Teams files, an administrator can perform an eDiscovery search in the Compliance admin center to discover deleted items. Click here to know how to create a retention policy for Teams files.

Pro tip

Files that are retained by a retention policy or legal hold are stored in the Preservation Hold Library, and data in the Preservation Hold Library counts against your SharePoint storage quota. The total SharePoint storage limit per organization is set at 1TB plus 10GB x number of licensed Microsoft 365 users in your tenant. If you exceed the limit, you will have to purchase additional storage priced at $200/month/TB. To save on storage costs, you can opt for a third-party cloud backup solution, like SysCloud.

4. How to recover deleted messages in Microsoft Teams

Deleted chat or channel messages cannot be restored directly. An administrator can recover these from the Compliance center via eDiscovery search.
Pro tip

Legal holds are only available in Microsoft E3 and E5 plans, that cost $32/user/month and $57/user/month respectively. To save on licensing costs, you can opt for third-party cloud backup solutions like SysCloud.

4.1. How to run a content search for Teams messages

To run a content search for Teams messages from the Compliance center, follow the below steps:

recover deleted teams messages

  • Step 2: Enter a name and description. For search locations, select Exchange mailboxes since Teams messages are stored in Exchange Online. Click Choose users, groups, or teams to narrow down the search to specific mailboxes. For channel messages, you can select the group mailbox corresponding to the team. For chat messages, you can select the specific user mailboxes.

choose search locations

  • Step 3: Define the conditions on which you need to narrow down your search. Tweak your conditions to narrow the search as much as possible to get the most relevant results.

recover deleted teams messages-search conditions

Note: Under search condition Type, select Instant messages because conversations are stored in Exchange as Instant messages.

  • Step 4: Review your search and click Submit. 

Once your search has been completed, you can preview the results to determine if the item that you’re looking for is likely in there or not.

  • Step 5: To preview the result, open the search you created and click on Review sample.

review sample
On the left column, you can see the search results. When you click on an item, you can preview its content on the right column.

content search results-preview

Clicking on Download Original Item will open it in Outlook as an email message. From there, you can send the email to the team’s channel using the channel’s email address.

recover deleted teams messages -outlook mail
Instead of the above method, you can also copy the content from the preview displayed on the right column, and paste it back into Teams. There is no way to restore the message to its original location.

Note: To find a channel’s email address, click on the three dots next to the channel name and select Get email address.

4.2. Exporting the results

If there is a large number of messages to be restored, you can export all the results instead of downloading them one by one. To export the results, follow the below steps:

  • Step 1: Open the respective search -> Actions-> Export results.

export content search results

  • Step 2: From the list of available options, choose how you want the items to be exported, and click Export.

choose export options

You can see the status of the export by selecting the Export tab. The name of the export object will be in the format search name_Export, for example, test-teams_Export.

teams messages export status

  • Step 3: Open the export object that has been created, copy the export key, and click Download results.

copy export key

  • Step 4: You will be prompted to download an application called the eDiscovery Export Tool. Click Install.

eDiscovery export tool

  • Step 5: Paste the export key that was copied in step 3, and choose a location to store the downloaded files. The downloaded folder will have the same name as the export object.

recover deleted Teams-eDiscovery export tool

downloaded export object

  • Step 6: Open the downloaded folder. This will take you to another folder with the export name and time. Inside this folder, you can find the required files, including the export summary and search results. Within the Exchange folder, there is a PST file.

folder with export name and time

recover deleted Teams messages - export results

recover deleted Teams messages-PST file
This PST file can be imported into Outlook to view and search for messages. You can also send it back to the respective channel as an email message, using the channel’s email address.

  • Step 7: In the Outlook desktop app, click on File ->Open & Export-> Import/Export. This will start the Import/Export wizard.

importing export results into outlook

  • Step 8: Choose Import from another program or file. Select Outlook Data File (.pst).

import from another program or file

outlook data file

  • Step 9: Browse to the .pst file that needs to be imported and select one of the three options regarding duplicates.

open the file to be imported

  • Step 10: Select the folder to import from and click Finish.

import exported teams messages to outlook
Once the import process is complete, you will find a new folder in Outlook which contains all the messages that were returned in the content search that was performed before.
Pro tip

Recovering deleted Teams messages manually using content search is a tedious process. Using a third-party cloud backup solution like SysCloud, administrators can take unlimited backup of Teams channel messages and easily export them with the click of a button.

Quiz time! Which of the following helps you back up your data?
orage-gradiantblue-gradiant

5. Can you recover deleted tabs, bots, or connectors?

No, you cannot recover a deleted tab, bot, or connector in Teams. If a user deletes one of these from a chat (only supports tabs and bots) or a channel, it is permanently deleted. A tab, bot, or connector needs to be added back manually and reconfigured again.
A team owner can customize the team settings so that users can no longer delete them, but it also prevents users from creating or updating them. To customize teams settings, follow the below steps:

  • Step 1: Click on the three dots next to the team name, and select Manage team.

  • Step 2: Navigate to the Settings tab and disable the following settings.

prevent tab and connector deletion
Note that limiting a user’s ability to add and update tabs and connectors in Teams may prove to be counterproductive and too limiting. It might result in IT admins getting too many requests from the users for setting up simple tabs or connectors.

6. How to recover deleted Teams data using SysCloud

With SysCloud backup for Microsoft Teams, administrators will no longer have to worry about the 30-day retention period for deleted teams or channels; deleted teams can easily be restored even after the 30-day retention period, with all the app relationships intact.

Learn how SysCloud backup for Microsoft Teams works

Why you should use third-party cloud backup tools to back up and restore Teams data

6.1. How to recover deleted teams using SysCloud

  • Step 1: In the SysCloud backup application, navigate to Backup -> Archives & Restore -> TEAMS

  • Step 2: Simply search for the required team in the backup archives, click on the three dotted lines on the right, and click Restore. This will restore the deleted team along with all its associated contents.

restore a deleted team

6.2. How to recover deleted Teams files using SysCloud

  • Step 1: Open the required team from the backup archives and go to the Documents folder under SITE CONTENT.

  • Step 2: Open the channel in which you had shared the files, select the required files, and click ACTIONS -> Restore. This will restore the selected files.

restore deleted files in Teams

6.3. How to recover deleted Teams channels using SysCloud

  • Step 1: Open the required team and navigate to TEAM CHANNELS.

  • Step 2: Select the channels that need to be exported. Click EXPORT -> Selected Channel(s).

restore deleted teams channels

6.4. How to recover deleted channel messages using SysCloud

  • Step 1: Open the required team and navigate to TEAM CHANNELS.

  • Step 2: Open the channel which contains the messages that need to exported. Select the required messages and click EXPORT -> Channel Message(s).

restore deleted teams channel messages

Note: You have the option to preview the messages before exporting them.

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In this article

  • Recover a deleted team in Microsoft Teams
  • Recover deleted Teams channels
  • Recover deleted Teams files
  • Recover deleted messages in Microsoft Teams
  • Can you recover deleted tabs, bots, or connectors?
  • Recover deleted Teams data using SysCloud

Tools

Microsoft Teams Data Recovery Wizard

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