How to Enable Single Item Recovery In Exchange 2013? Complete Solution

Summary: This write-up will guide users and provide complete procedure on how to enable single item recovery in Exchange 2013 for single as well as multiple users.

Users can use the EMS (Exchange Management Shell) to enable the single item recovery in the Microsoft Exchange Server 2013. When a mailbox is created in Exchange Online, the single item recovery is enabled, whereas in Exchange 2013 the single item recovery is disabled when the mailbox is created. When the recovery is enabled then all the purged messages stored as well as retained in the Exchange mailbox recoverable items folder.

All the deleted Exchange mailbox items retained is retained till the retention period of mailbox items get over. Then the Exchange admin or users can recover the hard or permanently deleted messages. When you enable single item recovery Exchange 2013 for the database then the replica/copy of the actual data items are retained in just a case if the message is changed by the user or process.

The Microsoft Exchange provides this wonderful feature that recovers Exchange EDB mailbox data item. Also, this task can be achieved in a small amount of time.

Pro Tip: If users don’t want to use the single item recovery feature in Microsoft Exchange then, in that case, they can go for the SysTools Exchange EDB File Repair Tool which provides Advance scan option that easily recover deleted mailbox after retention period along with data items without any data loss and export the recovered items directly to the Live Exchange Server 2016 / 2013 / 2010 / 2007 / 2003 mailboxes.

Working Of Single Item Recovery In Exchange

Deleted Exchange mailbox data item is moved to the deleted items folder and when users empty this folder then there is a message pop up and ask for confirmation weather you want to permanently delete all items along with sub folders that is in the deleted item folder. If the users choose to purge all the data items then they moved to the recoverable items folder.

User should keep a note of it that recoverable item folder is crucial for single item recovery. You cannot access the folder from MS Outlook that is exist in the mailbox. The folder is stored in the mailbox non IPM sub tree which isn’t appeared in Outlook.

Important Points to Remember Before User Enable Single Item Recovery Exchange 2013

1. It is important to provide the required permission before starting the single item recovery process
2. Exchange 2013 mailbox use the default retention of deleted data items which is 14 days and user can modify the settings as per mailboxes
3. To disable or enable single item recovery Exchange 2013 users cannot use the Exchange Admin Center
4. In Exchange Online the default retention period of deleted data item is 14 days and you can change this settings upto 30 days maximum
5. It take only 2 minutes to complete the process

How to Enable Single Item Recovery In Exchange 2013 By Using Exchange Management Shell?

1. Use the command given below to enable the single item recovery process for single users:

Set-Mailbox -Identity “Roman” -SingleItemRecoveryEnabled $true

Here this cmdlet is used to enabled the single item recovery in MS Exchange 2013 for the user named “Roman”.

2. Set deleted item retention and Enable single item recovery for single users

“Set-Mailbox -Identity “Mrorris” -SingleItemRecoveryEnabled $true -RetainDeletedItemsFor 30”

This command set the deleted Exchange mailbox item retention period upto 30 days and enable single item recovery for “Morris” mailbox.

3. Insert the following cmdlet to enable single item recovery for multiple user Exchange mailbox’s

The given command enable single item recovery Exchange 2013 for all the users in the company or organization.

4. Set the deleted item retention period and enable single item recovery for multiple users

It set the retention period of deleted data item to the 30 days and enable single item recovery for all users mailboxes in the organization

Final Step

When all the cmdlet successfully implemented, then it is important to check that the single item recovery is finally enabled and the value of deleted Exchange mailbox data items is set properly. You have to use the command given below by using Exchange PowerShell.

Note: It requires users to have in-depth knowledge, hands-on experience, and technical skills to use as well as handle the Exchange Management Shell. If you are new to the Microsoft Exchange environment then use the solution properly, other even a single mistake leads to data loss of Exchange mailboxes and its data items.

If there is any loss of data occurred during the process, in that case, you can use the Exchange EDB Repair Software provided by SysTools that easily recover corrupted / unhealthy / damaged Exchange database file along with mailboxes without losing any data. It offers two scan mode options i.e. Quick and Advance scan that repair EDB file and recover permanently deleted mailboxes as well as data items from offline/dismounted Exchange database file automatically in a simplified way.

For this users don’t want any technical knowledge to use the recovery manager for Exchange database tool. The dual scan mode option easily repair Exchange mailbox from corruption and export it to the Exchange Server, Office 365, and various file formats.

Bringing It All Together

If the user accidentally deleted their Exchange mailbox items then they can recover it by using the single item recovery feature in Microsoft Exchange. For that, this write-up provides entire information about how to enable single item recovery in Exchange 2013. Now users can use the solution mentioned here by using the Exchange Management Shell. To avoid the complexity of the manual method users can use the trustworthy third-party tool described in the above section which easily recovers hard deleted mailboxes and items from offline EDB file with no data loss and export it into the Live Exchange Server mailboxes after recovery.