How to back up all files housed within Sharepoint

Mark Barasch 0 Reputation points
2026-04-30T10:19:56.02+00:00

Hello, I am trying to back up my company;s Sharepoint site including ll users amd files- I started a backup in Purview one week go today and it still sys "in process" with no estimated time of completion. can I cancel this if it is stuck And how can I actually back these files up? Is Purview the wrong platform to be using and if so what should I be using? I also want to back up ll email accounts but the Sharepoint and one drive files re most important - thanks !

Microsoft 365 and Office | SharePoint | For business | Other

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  1. Liora D 18,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-04-30T12:12:48.2433333+00:00

    Dear @Mark Barasch,

    I hope you’re having a good day.

    Thank you for taking the time to describe what you’re trying to achieve.

    Based on what you shared, you’re currently using Microsoft Purview to try to back up your SharePoint and OneDrive data. That does work for exporting content, but it’s important to clarify that it isn’t designed to function as a full backup solution.

    Purview is mainly built for compliance and legal scenarios (for example, searching across data, placing items on hold, and exporting specific content when needed for audits or investigations). When it performs exports, it processes large datasets in the background, which is why a job can remain “in process” for a long time without any clear completion estimate.

    So, the behavior you’re seeing isn’t unusual, but it does suggest that the current approach may not be the most efficient or appropriate for a full backup.

    Regarding your specific question: if the job appears to be stuck or isn’t giving you useful progress after a week, it’s reasonable to cancel it. More importantly, it’s worth reconsidering the approach, because even if the export completes, it won’t give you a structured or recoverable backup in the way you’re expecting.

    For what you’re trying to do, backing up SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange (email), there are more suitable approaches.

    Microsoft’s own direction is through Microsoft 365 Backup, which is specifically built to protect and restore data from SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange, with proper recovery workflows and policies. You can read more about that here: Overview of Microsoft 365 Backup

    User's image

    In practice, many organizations also use dedicated backup solutions such as:

    (This link is shared by community members for your convenience. It points to a third-party site that is not managed or verified by Microsoft. We can’t guarantee the quality, safety, or suitability of any content or software found there. Please review carefully and make sure you understand any potential risks before using it.)

    As a general principle, Microsoft’s native retention and compliance features help protect data, but they don’t replace a full backup strategy.

    If you need something immediate while you evaluate a proper solution, you could temporarily sync critical SharePoint libraries locally (via OneDrive sync) and copy them to a separate storage location. That can help in the short term, but it shouldn’t be considered a long‑term backup strategy.

    The same guidance applies to email as well, exporting mailboxes through Purview (for example to PST) is useful for compliance or migration, but it isn’t a sustainable backup method.

    I hope this information helps point you in the right direction. If you run into any issues while trying the steps, or if something still doesn’t feel quite right, please don’t hesitate to reach out again. I’ll do my best to support you however I can.  

    Looking forward to hearing back from you with any updates or additional details. 

    Warm regards, 

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  2. AI answer

    2026-04-30T10:20:28.01+00:00

    Purview is not the right tool for creating traditional backups of SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange. Purview focuses on compliance, eDiscovery, and governance, not operational backup/restore.

    For Microsoft 365 data (SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange), use Microsoft 365 Backup instead of Purview:

    1. Microsoft 365 Backup overview
      • Backs up selected or all SharePoint sites, OneDrive accounts, and Exchange mailboxes.
      • Provides fast backup and restore with full-fidelity rollback of sites and mailboxes to prior points in time.
      • Retention and recovery points:
        • SharePoint and OneDrive: 1-year retention; recovery points every 10 minutes for the last 2 weeks, then weekly snapshots for weeks 2–52.
        • Exchange: 1-year retention; recovery points every 10 minutes for the last 52 weeks.
      • Restore granularity:
        • SharePoint: full site restore; file-level restores via versions (coming soon).
        • OneDrive: full account restore; file-level via versions (coming soon).
        • Exchange: full mailbox or item-level (mail, contacts, calendar, tasks).
    2. Performance expectations
      • Backup: once a protection policy is activated, initial backup typically completes within hours, with about 15 minutes per 1,000 protection units initially or incrementally added.
      • Restore:
        • Up to 1,000 average-sized SharePoint sites or OneDrive accounts at 1–3 TB/hour.
        • Up to 1,000 average-sized Exchange mailboxes at 1–3 TB/hour.
        • Single-site/OneDrive express restore points can complete in 10–120 minutes depending on size.
    3. How to actually back up SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange with Microsoft 365 Backup At a high level:
      • Create protection policies that include:
        • The SharePoint sites to protect.
        • The OneDrive accounts to protect.
        • The Exchange mailboxes to protect.
      • Activate the protection policy.
      • Wait for the initial backup to complete (typically within the timeframes above).
      • Use the restore workflows to:
        • Restore SharePoint sites in-place (same URL) or to a new URL.
        • Restore OneDrive accounts in-place or to a new URL.
        • Restore Exchange mailboxes or individual items to the same mailbox or a new folder.
    4. If a backup/restore appears stuck
      • For SharePoint Server on-premises, canceling a restore in progress is not recommended because it can leave the database in an unknown state; the guidance is to let it run to completion. The same principle applies conceptually to cloud restore operations: interrupting a long-running restore can leave data in a partially restored state.
      • If a Microsoft 365 Backup operation appears to be running far longer than the documented expectations, open a support ticket with Microsoft 365 support so they can inspect the job state and cancel or remediate it from the service side if necessary.
    5. Alternative for on-premises SharePoint (if applicable) If the environment is SharePoint Server on-premises rather than SharePoint in Microsoft 365, use farm/site collection backup tools instead of Purview:
      • Use PowerShell Backup-SPSite to back up site collections: 
             Backup-SPSite -Identity <SiteCollectionGUIDorURL> -Path <BackupFile> [-Force] [-NoSiteLock] [-UseSqlSnapshot] [-Verbose]
        • -Identity is the site collection URL or GUID.
        • -Path is the backup file path.
        • -UseSqlSnapshot is recommended when using SQL Server Enterprise for more consistent backups.
      • Ensure required roles: securityadmin on SQL instance, db_owner on relevant databases, and local Administrators on the server.

    Summary:

    • Purview is not the correct platform for operational backups of SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange.
    • Use Microsoft 365 Backup to protect and restore SharePoint sites, OneDrive accounts, and Exchange mailboxes in Microsoft 365.
    • For on-premises SharePoint Server, use Backup-SPSite and related farm backup tools instead of Purview.
    • If a long-running restore/backup appears stuck, avoid force-canceling from the client side and instead involve Microsoft support.

    References:

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