Restore a User's Account, Folders, or Emails

This article applies to recent versions of SmarterMail. View articles for SmarterMail 15.x and earlier.
On occasion, System Administrators may run into an issue that would require them to restore a user's account, restore a user's email folder(s), restore lost individual emails or to move large numbers of messages among folders or servers. This can be necessary if emails are mistakenly deleted or if a mailbox becomes corrupt. While SmarterMail does not perform any backups of the file system, if an administrator has a backup procedure in place, user data may be restored from within the Web interface without stopping the SmarterMail service. 
 
NOTE: Previous versions of SmarterMail required administrators to stop the SmarterMail service in order to restore user data. While this method may still be used for newer versions, SmarterTools recommends restoring user data from within the Web interface. For instructions on how to restore a user's mailbox in older versions of SmarterMail, please refer to the KB article Restore a Mailbox. 
 
Restore a User's Account
Before restoring a user's account, ensure the backup file is in the correct location on the server. By default, the path to a user’s account is C:\SmarterMail\Domains\domain.com\Users\username. Delete the user from within the web interface. Place the user's backup Mail folder back in place. Then, follow these steps to restore the user's entire mailbox:
 
  1. Log in to SmarterMail as a System Administrator.
  2. Click on the Manage icon.
  3. In the Domains section, click the Actions (...) menu to display your options and select Attach User.
  4. A modal will open. In the Email field, enter the full email address of the user that will be restored. 
  5. Click Restore.
 
Restore a User's Email Folder
Before restoring a user’s email folder, ensure the backup file is in the correct location on the server. By default, the path to a user’s email folder is C:\SmarterMail\Domains\domain.com\Users\username\mail. When your backup file is in place, follow these steps to restore the email folder to the user’s mailbox:
 
  1. Log in to SmarterMail as a System Administrator.
  2. Click on the Manage icon.
  3. In the Domains section, click the Actions (...) menu to display your options and select Attach Folder.
  4. A modal will open. In the Email field, enter the full email address of the user that will have their folder restored. 
  5. In the Folder Path field, enter the path of the folder within the Web interface. For example, if you’re restoring a subfolder that was created under the Inbox, the folder path would be “Inbox\Example Folder.”
  6. If the folder you're restoring includes any sub-folders, make sure the Recursive toggle is turned on. This will ensure all sub-folders are restored as well.
  7. Click Restore.
 
Restore a User's Emails / Move a Large Number of Messages
Restoring a user's emails and moving mass amounts of email among folders or SmarterMail servers requires the same process. It’s recommended to first create a new folder within the Web interface. In this example, the new folder created will be called “Temp.” Copy the backup .grp and/or .eml files to the new Temp folder on the server. By default, the path to the user’s emails is C:\SmarterMail\Domains\domain.com\Users\username\mail. When the files are in place, follow these steps to restore the user’s emails:
 
  1. Log in to SmarterMail as a System Administrator.
  2. Click on the Manage icon.
  3. In the Domains section, click the Actions (...) menu to display your options and select Rebuild Folder
  4. A modal will open. In the Email field, enter the full email address of the user that will have their emails restored. 
  5. In the Folder Path field, enter the path of the new folder within the Web interface. For example, if you created the Temp folder under the Inbox, the folder path would be  “Inbox\Temp.”
  6. If the folder you're restoring includes sub-folders, make sure the Recursive toggle is turned on. This will ensure all sub-folders are restored as well.
  7. Click Restore in the content pane toolbar. 
  8. When the emails are restored to the user's Temp folder, select them all and move them to the intended folder.
NOTE: There could be a UID conflict issue if you restore .grp files into an existing folder with existing .grp files. However, this issue would not occur when restoring .eml files into an existing folder with existing email. For this reason, SmarterTools recommends the method detailed above of creating a new folder to copy existing email files into.
 
For more information, please refer to the SmarterMail Online Help.
 
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Feedback

there's no 'Restore' after i clicked on 'manage' icon, i'm on v12.3 btw.
jeff mason (1/28/2015 at 2:40 AM)
Hi Jeff. This feature was released in version 13.x. For older versions, you'll need to follow these steps instead: http://portal.smartertools.com/kb/a2741/restore-a-mailbox.aspx
Andrea Free (1/28/2015 at 8:21 AM)
I have version 13.0 and I see no Restore button.
Terry Mann (5/12/2015 at 6:28 AM)
Hi Terry! Can you confirm you're logged in as the System Administrator? As the Sys Admin, you'd see the following menu icons: New, Domains, Manage, Reports, Settings, Security. To see the Restore button, you'll need to click on the Manage icon (looks like a wrench). If you're still not seeing it, can you send a screenshot to sales@smartertools.com?
Andrea Free (5/13/2015 at 8:22 AM)
In Version 14 it asks for "Folder Path"But then will not allow you to build an actual path : "Must not contain / : * ? | < > ""How are you to build a path without a colon ?
And why isn't there a browse button ?

Curtis Kropar www.HawaiianHope.org (7/6/2015 at 4:47 AM)
The folder path is referring to the path of the folder within the SmarterMail interface, not the system files. Because of this, a colon isn't necessary when writing out the path. For example, if you have a folder nested within your inbox, the folder path would be "Inbox\Subfolder". If you have a folder as its own root folder, the path would be "ExampleFolder".
Andrea Free (7/6/2015 at 8:33 AM)
I am using SM Enterprise Edition 16.3.6782 and the steps outlined here are not available for me. The Manage Icon (says Manage), there is no wrench. After logging in as System Administrator, if I click on Manage, you log in as the Postmaster. Looking under Domain Settings, I do not find Rebuild Folder, Attach User or anything except General, Accounts, Events, Folder Auto-Clean, Shared Resources, Signatures, Spam Filtering, Content Filtering, and Chat Search. I need to restore a users email files. Each of the emails have a .grp extension. How do I accomplish this?
Benjamin Breedlove (2/27/2019 at 8:10 AM)
Hi Benjamin. The Manage icon looks like a wrench in SmarterMail 15.x and earlier versions. In 16.x and in the Current Build, the Manage icon looks like a globe. You'll find the restore options in the same place you would go to add a new domain. In the Domains section, you'll find an Actions (...) button. That's where you'll find Attach User, Attach Folder, and Rebuild Folder. We've added an image for better clarity.
Andrea Free (2/27/2019 at 8:22 AM)
Using v16.3 free and trying to Rebuild Folder. The full email address seems not being accepted (indicated by a red color) and the Restore button remains grey (not active).
I use SM only as a local server for my pc's and smartphones (a gateway sending email to smtp servers and collecting email via POP). The domain name is short like "xyz" and the full email address is like "name@xyz".
I don't understand what's going wrong ?

Tom (9/10/2022 at 3:39 PM)
Nobody having a hint how to resolve this issue ?
Tom (9/15/2022 at 7:47 AM)
Still nobody having a hint how to resolve this issue ?
Tom (9/29/2022 at 1:08 PM)
Solved by stopping the SM service, restoring the backup .grp files, deleting the mailbox.cfg and restarting the SM service.
Thanks to Matthew Leyda @ https://portal.smartertools.com/community/a92353/is-there-a-way-to-rebuild-all-folders-for-all-domains.aspx

Tom (10/1/2022 at 1:15 PM)