Restore limitations for SharePoint Online

The limitations for the restore of SharePoint sites and data restore are described in the following table:

Table:

Limitations	Description
Point-in-time restore of metadata.	The point-in-time restore of metadata for site collections, sub-sites, and lists is not supported because it maintains a single copy of their metadata. Exception: This limitation does not apply to individual items.
Point-in-time restore of permissions.	Point-in-time restores of permissions are not supported as it maintains a single copy of permissions.
Restore of site and site collection settings.	Backup and restore of the following site and site collection settings are not supported: Site collection and Site search settings. Sort order within Regional settings. Workflow settings under Site Administration. The language settings are restored only for the following scenarios: If the Site collection is created during the restore. If the Site collection already exists, at least one language is selected under the Language settings > Available languages section in the Site settings.
Restore of the order in Quick Launch links.	When a site or sub-site is restored to a new location, the order of links in the Look and Feel > Quick Launch settings is not retained.
Recreation of Visio sites.	Recreating Visio sites from scratch is not supported.
Restore of missing SharePoint Group descriptions.	SharePoint Group descriptions are not restored when a site collection is restored to a new location.
Restore of the Managed metadata and Lookup Columns.	When a list is recreated, Managed Metadata and Lookup column types are skipped, and the data for these columns is not restored. If the original column exists in the destination list with identical customization and the same name as in the backup, the data for these columns can be restored to the list.
Backup and restore of the List view.	List views are not included in the backup and restore process. When lists are recreated, the columns that are displayed in the default view at the time of backup are retained.
Restore of the Column in List.	The order of columns is not maintained when a list is restored from scratch, especially for calculated columns.
Restore of User References in List items.	When restoring list items with fields containing user references, the SharePoint app is displayed instead of the original user. It occurs with fields like a document or item's Author/Editor field, the Reply By field of a discussion item, and so on. The following scenarios may occur: If the original user is not available in the directory. If the user is external, sharing is disabled at the restore destination site.
Backup and restore of the advanced settings of the Lists.	Backup and restore of the following advanced settings of Lists are not supported: Opening Documents in the Browser Dialogs Order of Survey questions
Restore of Location-Related Columns.	All location-related columns (for example, state, city) are created during restore.
Restore of the Access permissions.	In the case of SharePoint and OneDrive, you can restore the direct-access permissions that are assigned to users but not the link-based access permissions. The restore of link-based access is not supported.
Restore of Wiki and Web Part pages.	Wiki and Web Part pages are not supported for backup and restore. If they do not exist at the destination, they are restored as empty pages. Also, restoring the Web Parts of the Pages is not supported.
Restore of Home.aspx.	Restore of Home.aspx is not supported.
Restore of comment's versions.	Backup and restore of the versions of comments and approval comments in the document is not supported.
Restore of Workflow activation.	The restore process does not turn off workflows during restore, which means the restore can initiate unintended workflows.
Restore of the redirected Lists, Folders, or items.	For the redirected lists, folders, or items being restored to another site, SharePoint default group roles are not applied to any SharePoint object.
Restore of the Discussion Board Reply.	On the Discussion board, when a response to a message or reply is restored, it appears as a reply to the original discussion thread.
Restore of the unchanged OneNote files.	Any new OneNote file that is not backed up earlier remains unchanged and is not removed, even if the Overwrite items option is selected.
Tenant-to-Tenant Restoration.	An Access denied message is displayed when restoring a site collection to a different tenant's location. To resolve this error, disable the DenyAddAndCustomizePages permission on SharePoint Online for the site collections. This allows the necessary customization and configuration of the restored site collection in the new tenant's environment.
Restore of the Web Part page access.	When restoring a Web Part Page to a destination location, an Access denied message can be displayed. To resolve this error, disable the DenyAddAndCustomizePages permission on SharePoint Online for the site collection.
Restore of the duplicate items in site collection.	When restoring a site collection to another site collection, duplicate items are created at the destination due to metadata mismatches with default items in the Reusable Content list.
Duplicate Values error.	When restoring a list item, the error can be displayed due to the Enforce unique values setting from one of the list columns. To restore the item manually download the item to your local computer.
Sub-site and list creation errors.	Sub-site and list creation can fail with errors. It may refer to a non-existent file or folder. It may also refer to a valid file or folder that is not on the current web. When it happens, the location in which the error has occurred needs to be restored again.
Identically Named Lists and sub-sites conflicts.	Restoring the sites that have more than one list or sub-site with the same title is not supported. During the restore operation, all the identically named lists and sub-sites are placed onto a single list and sub-site at the destination.
Restore of the reserved Column Names.	SharePoint Online reserves specific column names for its internal use. The restore process may fail if the reserved names are used as custom column names in a list.
Restore of the Default Site page.	When restoring a default site page over an existing site, the first published version is created.
Restore of the Image Column.	The list is restored when you restore an individual list with an image column to an alternate location. The images within the list are not restored because they have a dependency on the Site Assets document library. When you perform a complete site restore to an alternate location, the image columns within the sites are restored as expected.
SharePoint index.	The backup and restore of the SharePoint index is not supported. When restoring items the SharePoint indexer will index the restored items in the background.
Information Protection Management setting enabled items	The files with the Information Rights Management (IRM) setting enabled should be restored to the same library or list at the time of the backup. The IRM setting of the library should be unchanged, otherwise the file cannot be opened after its restore. Note: The SharePoint files for which the IRM setting is enabled at the time of backup cannot be opened after their download.
Restore of Sensitivity labeled items.	For the items with Sensitivity labels configured for encryption, only restores from scratch for a single version can be performed. Restoring multiple versions and overwrite restores are not supported, as SharePoint does not allow the creation of a new version on top of such items.
Restore of the list items to lists which have publishing and approval requirements	Items are not published or approved if Restore all versions is not selected. Items will be published and/or approved based on the following conditions: The destination list must have either of these options enabled in SharePoint Online; the Create major and minor (draft) versions option for publishing, or the Content approval option for approval. The version number of the item restored must be a major version. NetBackup cannot retain the original author and date when restoring items to lists that require approval. The Modified By field will display the SharePoint App. To address this, NetBackup adds a comment indicating the original author and date.

Restore limitations for SharePoint Online

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