IT Admin Backup Checklist: Gmail, Drive, and Microsoft 365
A one-page operational checklist for protecting mail and files across Google and Microsoft — inventory, schedules, restore tests, offboarding, and ownership.
- List systems, owners, and restore owners — tools without names fail at 2 a.m.
- Define RPO/RTO per workload before you argue about vendors.
- A backup job that has never restored is an unverified hope.
- Offboarding must include token revoke, hold/backup, then delete — in that order.
1. Inventory (day one, then quarterly)
- Google accounts, Shared Drives, and super-admins
- Microsoft 365 mailboxes, shared mailboxes, and global admins
- Local PST/OST archives and file shares that still matter
- Who is allowed to delete Shared Drives or retention policies
2. Objectives
See Office 365 Email Backup
Reliable mailbox backup and recovery for Microsoft 365 environments.
Learn moreFor mail, Drive/OneDrive, and calendars, write:
- RPO — how much data you can afford to lose
- RTO — how fast a restore must complete
- Where restored data lands (live mailbox vs isolated folder)
3. Controls that are not backup
- MFA everywhere
- Google Vault / Microsoft retention — documented as compliance, not restore SLA
- Least privilege on sharing
4. Independent copies
- Gmail and Drive: local or dedicated Workspace backup
- Microsoft 365 mail: dedicated mailbox backup
- PST intake path for leftover Outlook archives
Start points: Google Drive Backup (free), Gmail Backup, Google Workspace Backup, Office 365 Email Backup, Import PST to Office 365.
5. Schedule and monitoring
- First full run off-hours
- Incrementals nightly for active stores
- Alert on last-success older than 48 hours
- Review token expiry monthly
6. Restore drill
Each quarter: one mailbox, one Drive or OneDrive folder, one calendar week. Restore to a side location. Record time and who signed off.
7. Offboarding order
- Place holds / confirm backup job succeeded
- Revoke app tokens and forwarding
- Transfer Shared Drive / mailbox ownership
- Only then delete or convert the account
8. Ownership
Name a primary and a deputy. Put this checklist in the wiki next to admin credentials procedures — not only in someone’s head. For deeper reading, see backing up Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and Contacts and why Microsoft 365 retention is not a backup.
Recommended next step
Explore Google Workspace Backup
Domain-wide Gmail, Drive, Calendar & Contacts backup — plans from $19.
