Microsoft Exchange 2000 or 2003: Restoring Deleted Items and Mailboxes with Exchange

Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003 enables some restores of deleted items and mailboxes through Exchange 2000/2003 itself. This can provide fast local restores, without using LiveVault Online Backup Service. When appropriate, we recommend using these Exchange 2000/2003 features. See the following procedures for more information:

• Restoring deleted items

• Restoring deleted mailboxes.

Note: You must have set up these features in Exchange 2000/2003 Server earlier. See Microsoft Exchange 2000 or 2003: Configuring Deleted Mailbox and Message Retention for more information.

Restoring deleted items

If your administrator has configured the Exchange 2000/2003 “keep deleted items” feature, then users can restore the messages which they have deleted from their Outlook Deleted Items folder. 

1. In Microsoft Outlook, select the Deleted Items folder.

2. On the Microsoft Outlook Tools menu, click Recover Deleted Items.

3. In the Recover Deleted Items From window, select the deleted messages that you want to restore, and click the Recover Selected Items button on the toolbar.

The selected items are restored to the user's Outlook Deleted Items folder.

Restoring deleted mailboxes

There are two ways to make an Exchange mailbox unusable: by deleting the mailbox with Exchange System Manager, or deleting the mailbox's user from Active Directory. This determines how you can recover the mailbox:

Recovering a Mailbox for a User Deleted from Active Directory

1. In Exchange System Manager, navigate to the mailbox you want to recover. Deleted mailboxes are identified by the icon.

2. Select the mailbox you want to recover. Then right-click on the selected mailbox and click Reconnect on the shortcut menu.

Related Information

Microsoft Exchange 2000 or 2003: Restoring Information Storage Groups
Restoring an Entire Computer
Microsoft Exchange 2000 or 2003: Configuring Deleted Mailbox and Message Retention