We’ve all deleted records by mistake in Dynamics. It’s easy to accidentally check an extra box or get an import wrong and then you discover some records have disappeared.
Restoring lost data in Dynamics, isn’t straightforward – there’s no undo and no recycle bin*
*Since publishing this, Microsoft have released a new feature for Dataverse (the database behind Dynamics) which creates a Recycle Bin for your data. It’s a preview feature and not recommended for use on a live system. If you want to know more, take a look at the new feature here
So how can we restore data?
Use the Dynamics 365 audit log
Every entity (things like contacts, orders etc) can have auditing turned on. This means that every change to each field is recorded. You can look through the audit record (the audit log) and find where values have been changed or records deleted.
The log shows when a field was changed and what the value was changed to
Our guide to the Dynamics audit log shows you how to find and restore deleted records and edited fields
That seems easy – what’s the catch?
Auditing every record on every entity takes up a lot of storage space, so your system administrator may not have enabled it for the entity you’re looking at.
Some Dynamics systems fill their audit log storage space after as little as a year. This is a problem for system administrators. When the storage is full you can either increase your storage space or delete old logs.
See better ways to manage your Dynamics storage in our guide – My Dynamics 365 Storage is Out of Capacity, What Can I Do?
Use XRMToolBox
For power users we recommend using XRMToolBox – it’s a great suite of free applications to help with Dynamics 365 administration. Look for two apps which both restore deleted Dynamics records and data
These tools can quickly find your missing data and restore it. They’re a lot faster than looking through the audit log and making manual adjustments.
Again, there’s a downside. These apps only work on entities that have auditing enabled. If auditing is disabled, then you’re going to have to go to a lot more effort to restore your data.
Use system restore
This option is only for power users. If you’re not a power user, then please contact your Dynamics support and ask about data restore options
Your entire Dynamics 365 database is backed up continuously and the backups are stored for up to 28 days. You can change the backup retention period using Microsoft’s instructions here
You can restore backups from any point in the past which you have backups for. However, it’s all or nothing. You can only restore the entire database over an existing database.
For this reason you cannot restore a backup on top of your existing production environment – Microsoft don’t allow this. You must restore to a sandbox environment.
It’s easy to restore the database to a new environment. Just follow the instructions here
After the data is restored to your sandbox, you have two choices.
- Look at the newly restored sandbox environment and see if you can find the deleted record(s), you could export them or manually recreate them on your production environment
- Overwrite all data from your sandbox environment to your production environment. Bear in mind that all data changed since the backup will be lost
Again, there are catches
- You’ll need a lot of storage space to restore your database copy to. If you are currently over your storage limit, you’ll not be able to start a restore
- Many of your connected apps and services will break. You’ll need to manually fix this. See this Microsoft article for details.
- You’ll have to set up Dynamics app sharing again
- These restores can take up to 3-4 hours
Recommendations
- Turn Auditing on for your important entities (tables). This will make restoring simple for many instances. Keep an eye on the size of the log database. Microsoft will tell you when you go over size.
- Consider blocking users from deleting records using role permissions. Instead train people to deactivate records, rather than delete. Again, regular housekeeping will stop the database size getting out of hand.
- Look at your system retention backup frequency. It’s a good idea to set it to 28 days for production environments. The size does not count towards your overall Dynamics storage space.
FAQs
Where is the recycle bin in Dynamics?
There isn’t one! So be careful when making changes or deleting records. We recommend turning on the audit and limiting record deletion permissions to only to power users
How do I bulk delete in Dynamics?
This is easy. When you’re viewing a list of records, select the ones you want to delete and click delete in the command bar. You can also click the checkbox above the first record to select all (up to 1000 records), or click and hold the shift key to select a range.
How do I delete a record in Dynamics?
Only delete a record if you’re absolutely sure that it isn’t needed any more. You can delete a record in a list by selecting it and pressing Delete, or choosing Delete whilst you’re viewing the record. We recommend making records inactive if you’re not sure.
How do I free up storage space in the audit log?
You can either buy more storage space or delete any information which you don’t need anymore. Read our guide about managing storage space
