Creating Backups

How to create manual configuration backups

backupmanualconfigurationsnapshot

Creating Backups

Create on-demand backups of your Microsoft 365 configurations for disaster recovery, change management, and compliance documentation.

Starting a Backup

Navigate to Backup

Go to Backup in the sidebar
Click Create Backup
The backup wizard opens

Backup Configuration

Step 1: Backup Type

Select the type of backup:

Type	Description	Use Case
Full	All supported configurations	First backup, disaster recovery
Selective	Chosen resource types	Targeted backup
Incremental	Changes since last full	Regular maintenance

Start with a full backup, then use incremental for regular maintenance.

Step 2: Resource Selection

For selective backups, choose resources:

Identity & Access

Conditional Access Policies
Named Locations
Authentication Methods
Security Defaults

Directory

Groups (settings only)
Administrative Units
Role Assignments

Email & Collaboration

Exchange Organization Settings
Mail Flow Rules
Anti-Phishing Policies
SharePoint Tenant Settings

Security

Security Policies
Alert Policies
Data Loss Prevention

Step 3: Backup Options

Configure additional options:

Option	Description
Name	Descriptive backup name
Description	Purpose/context for the backup
Retention	How long to keep (plan default or custom)
Notifications	Notify when complete

Step 4: Review and Start

Review your selections
Confirm configuration
Click Start Backup
Backup begins immediately

Backup Progress

Monitoring

While backup runs:

Progress bar shows completion
Current phase displayed
Resource counts updated
Estimated time shown

Phases

Phase	Description
Initializing	Setting up backup
Collecting	Gathering configurations
Processing	Organizing data
Storing	Saving backup
Complete	Backup finished

Duration

Typical backup times:

Backup Type	Duration
Full (small tenant)	2-5 minutes
Full (large tenant)	5-15 minutes
Selective	1-5 minutes
Incremental	1-3 minutes

Backup Results

Viewing Results

When backup completes:

Click notification or go to Backup > History
Select the backup
View details

Backup Details

Section	Information
Summary	Date, type, status, size
Contents	Resources backed up
Statistics	Item counts by type
Metadata	Created by, duration

Contents View

Browse backed up configurations:

Backup: Full Backup 2024-01-15
├── Conditional Access (12 policies)
│   ├── Require MFA for Admins
│   ├── Block Legacy Auth
│   └── ...
├── Named Locations (5)
├── Mail Flow Rules (8)
└── Security Policies (3)