1293 - How to backup and recover Gmail

Modified on Tue, 5 Aug at 1:10 PM

If you're looking for a backup solution for Google Workspace (GWS), formerly known as G Suite (gsuite), you can find more information on our website, or start a free trial here.

 

Page contents

Introduction

What is supported?

How to add a backup set

How to modify a backup set

How to configure the backup schedule for a backup set

How to recover a backup set

How to delete a backup set

How to change a backup set's name

 

Introduction

Backup and recovery of Gmail forms part of our Google Workspace service offering. Watch our video to learn more.

Note:

  • To use the service, you need to be both a RedApp company administrator, and a Google super administrator for your tenant organisation. 
  • Google recommends creating a new super admin email address for this that is not specific to a particular user. Read more here.
  • Important: If a Google Workspace user leaves your organisation, do not delete the user. Redstor has no way of restoring a deleted user's Contacts or Calendar. Gmail can be restored to a different account. If you withdraw the departing user's Google Workspace licence, even if you do not delete the user, Google is under no obligation to retain that user's data. The data may appear to remain present but can be removed by Google at any time as part of cleanup. Consider assigning an archive licence or exporting the data for alternative storage instead.

 

What is supported?

Redstor currently supports the following:

  • Backup of messages (including archived messages, spam, trash and attachments)
  • Backup of labels
  • Recovery back to Gmail (new folder)
  • Single item recovery

 

Guides

Use the guides below to manage your Gmail backups.

 

How to add a backup set

Watch our video or follow the steps below.

 

1. On the RedApp home page, go to My Company or to the relevant customer company.

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2. To add a new backup set, go to Google Workspace in the sidebar.

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3. Click Add at the top right.

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4. Select Gmail and click Next

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5. On the permission card, click Next

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6. After logging into Google, you will see the following screen. Click on Get the Redstor app.

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7. You will be taken to the Redstor Cloud Backup page on the Google Marketplace. Click on Domain Install.

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8. Click Continue.

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9. Agree to the terms and conditions and click Allow.

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10. Click Done to exit the installation wizard.

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As shown here, you can access the app at any time by going to the App Launcher at the top right of the screen. (Scroll down until you see Redstor Cloud Backup.)

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11. Close the Google Marketplace tab in your browser to return to the RedApp. Our system will have picked up that permissions have been allowed and you will see a summary of your backup selection.

When a new backup set is created, we include all accounts by default. To make changes to your backup set, go to Backup selection > Edit.

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12. Select/deselect the relevant account(s) and click Save

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The Backup button will be enabled. Click to start your first backup.

You can customise which columns you see on the backup set home page by going to Customise display.

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You can also view an audit trail of key actions and which users performed them by clicking on the inspect icon at the top right of the page.

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How to modify a backup set

1. On the home page for the relevant Gmail backup set, click on Backup selection > Edit.

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2. Select/deselect the name(s) of the account(s) you want to add to/remove from this backup set and click Save. Click Backup to start a backup or Cancel to go back.

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3. The number of accounts selected will show under Backup selection on the backup set's home page.

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Note: Accounts that have been removed from the backup selection are still retained on the Storage Platform until you request that they be permanently deleted. Read more here.

 

How to configure the backup schedule for a backup set

1. On the home page for the relevant Gmail backup set, click on Backup schedule > Edit.

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2. You can retain the default of a single daily backup, or you can set your backups to only run on specific days (custom). In either case, use the drop-down menu to set the backup time. Set your preferences and click on the check mark.

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How to recover a backup set

To recover a Gmail account or backup set, watch our video or follow the steps below. 

Note: If you need the contents to be recovered to a newly created mailbox, please reach our to our support team for assistance. 

1. On the home page for the relevant Gmail backup set, locate the account you want to recover. Use the search field to help you if you have a large number of users. Expand the account menu (three dots) on the right and click Recover.

You can also select multiple accounts and then click Recover at the bottom of the list.

Note: If you need to recover multiple accounts, it is advised to recover them in bulk and not in sequence. It is not possible to queue a recovery while another recovery for the same backup set is in progress. 

To recover an individual item from an account, first click on the menu icon and select Open to expand the relevant account.

Then drill down and make your selection. Click Recover when you are ready.

You can also select a specific backup date to recover, and then select All to recover everything from that backup.

When recovering, you can choose between two options:

  • Different account recovers the items to a folder named Redstor Restores in another Gmail mailbox. You will need to specify the mailbox you want to recover to.

  • New folder recovers the items to a folder named Redstor Restores in the original mailbox.

You will need to authenticate before you can proceed with the recovery. 

Note: Recovery, especially for large mailboxes, may take a long time. This is because the entire backup selection needs to be indexed on the backend before it can be restored. Please wait for recovery confirmation before proceeding. Do not cancel the recovery and retry, as this will not speed up the process. 

Your recovered items can now be found in a folder named Redstor Restores appended with the backup date's timestamp.

Note: The folder/s into which the emails are restored, are based on the labels assigned to the emails. If an email has been assigned multiple labels, it will be restored to multiple folders. These emails are not duplicates and should not be deleted.

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How to delete a backup set

1. On the home page for the relevant Gmail backup set, click on the menu icon to expand more options, then click Remove.

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2. Confirm the deletion by clicking Yes.

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How to change a backup set's name

1. On the home page for the relevant Gmail backup set, click on the menu icon to expand more options, then click Rename.

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2. Enter the new name for the backup set and click Update.

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