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Backing up Teams Data in Office 365

Eric Christiansen

2 min read

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In response to the pandemic, firms have changed how they communicate internally and with their clients. In-person meetings in lavish conference rooms have been replaced with video conferences in home offices with children and pets in the background. Nearly everyone is using either Zoom or Microsoft Teams to communicate with colleagues or loved ones. While Zoom is used primarily for video conferencing, Microsoft Teams can be used for much more as it is a full collaboration tool. A team in Microsoft Teams can store not just group chat information, but documents and other content. With the explosion in use of Teams, more firms are starting to ask themselves: “How can I backup Teams data?

  ➡ Read our guide to Microsoft Teams for Law Firms

A while back I wrote an article about the importance of having an understanding of your cloud backups. As Microsoft’s Office 365 platform has grown over time, so has Datto Backupify, one of the products we recommend to clients for backing up Office 365 data. Datto now supports backing up Teams data in Office 365.

Like other Microsoft 365 services it can back up (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business), Datto will take multiple backups each day of select Teams data. Or, you can set it to automatically backup all Teams data. After the initial configuration of pointing Datto to your Microsoft 365 tenant, Datto will immediately start performing the initial backup.

Even Ugly Sweater Contests deserve to be backed up

There are currently some restrictions on restores. While content (documents, files, etc.) and calendars can be restored back into Teams, conversation history cannot. Conversations can be exported to html format for review.

Kraft Kennedy has been using Teams since its early days. In the beginning, it was mostly used for audio / video calls and IM, basically a Skype for Business replacement. Over time, our implementation has expanded to nearly 400 teams and it is now used to organize documentation, notes, and files. This data is considered production data, and backups are critical. Datto’s product fills that need nicely.

If you have questions about backing up Teams, please ask.


 

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