There are times when the deletion of a user account or a mailbox needs to be undone. It could be that you accidentally deleted the wrong user or maybe you are not really sure what happened to a mailbox, but want to attempt a recovery. Regardless of the reason, we have created a troubleshooter that will guide you to the best possible recovery option (https://aka.ms/MailboxRecovery).
How it works
We will ask you few questions about the current state of the user and mailbox you want to recover, then we will provide a solution based on the answer provided. For the most part we provide a solution that can be handled by a Tenant Administrator, but there are a couple of instances where we recommend calling support.
Who Should Run this tool
We recommend that only administrators that are very comfortable with PowerShell run this troubleshooter. The mailbox recovery process can be pretty complex and while this tool helps streamline you to a solution, the process of solution discovery and remediation can be challenging.
Is this only for Hybrid customers?
No, this troubleshooter is meant for any customer using Exchange Online that find themselves in a place where they need to recover a mailbox. You can have Directory Synchronization in place or you could be running cloud only with no sync. We will walk you through the appropriate scenario with three simple questions.
Conclusion
The recovery of a user and their associated mailbox can be a hard thing to accomplish, especially considering most of us perform these operations infrequently. If it is done incorrectly the results can lead to account and or mailbox data loss. Following this guide will ensure that you are doing what you can to prevent those issues.
I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the development and publishing of this tool. Especially: Charlotte Raymundo, Jon Bradley, Murali Natarajan, and Timothy Heeney.