Restoring a Microsoft Exchange mailbox

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
A restored mailbox consists of all of the email that was contained in a user's mailbox when the recovery point was created. A recover mailbox is saved on the disk as a PST file.
You can use Microsoft Outlook to open and view the contents of the file. After a restored mailbox has been opened in Outlook, you can then drag email or folders back to their original locations.
Note: In many cases, it is easier to restore a user's entire mailbox than find a single message.
To restore a mailbox
  1. On the View menu, click Tools.
  2. Click Run Granular Restore Option.
  3. In the Open Recovery Points dialog box, open the recovery point for the last known time that the mail was present on the Exchange server.
    Use latest recovery points for this computer Opens a recovery point using the latest recovery points from the computer on which you work.
    Use alternate system index (.sv2i) file Opens a recovery point using its system index file.
    System index file name Lets you specify a path and a file name of a system index file that you want to use for recovery.
    Browse Lets you browse to a path that contains a system index file.
    For example, you can browse to an external (USB) drive, a network location, or to removable media to select a system index file.
    Use recovery points for another computer . Opens a recovery point that resides on another computer.
    Browse Lets you browse to a path that contains recovery points.
    For example, you can browse to an external (USB) drive, a network location, or to removable media to select recovery points.
    Computer Name Identifies the names of recovery point files and virtual disk files in the specified path of another computer.
  4. Click OK.
  5. On the Exchange Mail tab, from the list of mailboxes, select the mailbox you want to restore.
  6. Right-click the mailbox, and then click Recover Mailbox.
  7. Select the folder where you want to place the restored mailbox, and then click Save.
    Note: If the size of the mailbox is large, you may want to copy it to a shared folder.
See Restoring a Microsoft Exchange email folder.
See Restoring a Microsoft Exchange email message.