Google Workspace Limitations

Cove Data Protection (Cove)'s backup for Google Workspace protects supported Google Workspace data using Google Workspace APIs. Because backup and recovery depend on Google service availability, permissions, API capabilities and service limits, some data or metadata may not be available for backup or may not be restored exactly as it appeared in Google Workspace.

During the Public Preview of Google Workspace protection, functionality, supported scenarios and limitations may change as the product is updated. Public Preview functionality is provided for evaluation and is subject to the applicable N-able agreement terms for evaluation or beta software. Under those terms, evaluation/beta software is not for production use and is provided “AS IS” without Support or warranties as specified in the agreement.

Cove Data Protection (Cove)'s Google Workspace backup solution has limitations that must be taken into consideration.

General Public Preview limitations

During public preview the following limitations apply:

  • Backups do not run continuously:
    • Gmail, My Drive and Contacts are scheduled for four backups per day
    • Calendar is scheduled for six backups per day.

    Items created and permanently deleted between successful backup sessions may not be protected, and not every intermediate change becomes a recovery point.

  • Backups cannot be manually triggered; backups run automatically.
  • Large environments may take longer. Initial backup and large backup or restore operations may require additional time to complete.
  • Backup and restore operations depend on Google Workspace APIs and may be affected by Google service availability, permissions, quotas and throttling.
  • Protection is limited to 100 users per Google Workspace organization. There is no limitation on number of selected Shared Drives for protection.
  • Backup data for US customers is stored in the US and cannot be changed.
  • Backup data for customers outside the US is stored in the EU and cannot be changed.
  • Protected Google Workspace backup data is currently configured with a seven-year retention period.
  • Public Preview functionality is subject to the applicable N-able evaluation/beta terms and is not intended for production use.

User and account limitations

  • A selected user must have the corresponding Google service enabled. If a supported Google service is unavailable to the user, that service cannot be protected for that user.
  • Suspended and archived users are not backed up while inactive. Previously protected data remains available according to the configured retention period.
  • Deleted Google Workspace users are no longer backed up. Previously protected data remains available according to the configured retention period. Restore to a deleted original account is not possible until an appropriate supported destination exists.
  • Cross-user restore is not supported during Public Preview.
  • Guest and external accounts are not protected as Google Workspace users.

Gmail limitations

Cove protects supported data in personal Gmail mailboxes of selected users.

The following limitations apply for Gmail:

  • Draft, Spam and Trash messages are not protected.
  • Messages categorized by Gmail as Social, Promotions or Updates are not protected. A message carrying one of these excluded categories is not protected even when it also has Inbox or a custom label.
  • Google Chat and Spaces content is not protected as part of Gmail backup.
  • Gmail mailbox configuration is not protected. This includes filters, forwarding configuration, signatures, delegates, vacation responder settings, POP/IMAP configuration, blocked senders and other mailbox-level settings.
  • During Public Preview, Gmail data can be restored only to the original mailbox, provided the user still exists and has an active Gmail license.
  • Restore creates new copies of messages and does not overwrite existing messages. Repeating a restore may therefore create additional copies.

Google Drive and Shared Drives limitations

My Drive

  • My Drive protection is owner-based. A file shared with a protected user is not protected through that user's backup. It must be owned by a protected user or belong to a protected Shared Drive.
  • Files owned outside the protected Google Workspace organization are not protected, even when a protected user can access them through Shared with me.
  • Google-native files are exported to supported formats for protection and restore. Google-specific formatting, functionality, comments, suggestions, scripts or other features may not be preserved.
  • Google Drive API export limits apply to Google Workspace-native documents. Google currently limits content returned by the Drive files.export method to 10 MB. Files that cannot be exported through the Google API cannot be protected in the exported format and backup of these will fail.
  • Google Drive itself permits blob files up to 5 TB, subject to Google's account, storage and API limits. Google also limits uploads and copies to 750 GB per user within a 24-hour period across My Drive and Shared Drives. This may affect the time required to complete large restore operations.
  • Backup and restore remain dependent on Google making the file content downloadable through the API.
  • Sharing permissions, link-sharing settings, original ownership and Google Drive revision history are not restored.
  • Shortcuts depend on the referenced content being available and protected. Some shortcuts, including cross-drive references, may not be restorable.

Shared Drives

  • All Shared Drives available through the configured Google Workspace authorization can be selected for protection.
  • A Shared Drive must be accessible through the configured authorization and have sufficient Google Workspace permissions for supported backup and restore operations.
  • Shared Drive membership, roles, permissions and drive-level settings are not backed up or restored.
  • During Public Preview, Shared Drive data is restored to the original Shared Drive; restore to another Shared Drive or My Drive is not supported.

Calendar limitations

  • Cove protects supported primary calendar data for selected users.
  • Calendar-level settings and sharing permissions are not protected.
  • Appointment schedules and booking pages are not protected.
  • Calendar attachments reference Google Drive content. The referenced file is protected only when it is independently covered by Google Drive backup.
  • Calendar data is not restored directly to the original calendar. Cove creates a separate calendar named Restore_ in the original user’s account and restores the selected calendar data there.
  • Some Google-specific event metadata or behavior, including meeting and conferencing details, may not be recreated exactly during restore.
  • Duplicate events appear on the calendar after restore. The restored event is treated as a new meeting, so both the original and restored copies can coexist on the organiser's calendar.
  • Duplicate copies can be included in future backups if not removed. Any restored duplicate left on the primary calendar may be picked up by subsequent backup runs and restored again.

Contacts limitations

Cove protects contacts stored in Google Workspace's My Contacts.

  • Other contacts, Google Directory contacts, shared or delegated contacts, and contacts in Trash are not protected.
  • Contacts are restored in place. Google account and API limits may prevent individual contacts from being restored when Google rejects the data or account limits are reached.

Ignored items and backup status

Ignored identifies items that were not processed during the current backup session because a backup prerequisite was not met. An Ignored item is different from a Failed item: Cove did not attempt to process it because the required conditions were not met
  • An Ignored item is different from a Failed item as a Failed item was attempted to be backed up but could not be processed successfully, whereas an Ignore item was not processed because the required conditions were not met.
    • An item may be Ignored because of configuration, eligibility, licensing, or other backup requirements. For example, a selected user may not currently have access to the Google service required for that data source.
  • If the underlying configuration, licensing, or eligibility condition is resolved, the item can be processed again during a subsequent backup.
  • An item may have been successfully protected previously and later become Ignored, for example if the required Google service or license was present during a backup but is then removed. Existing recovery points remain available according to the configured retention period, but protection is not up to date while the item continues to be Ignored.
  • Ignored items are reported separately from Protected and Failed items, allowing customers to distinguish items successfully processed in the current backup, items not processed because requirements were not met, and processing failures.

Restore limitations during Public Preview

  • Restore is supported to the original user or original Shared Drive only. For user data, the original user must still exist and have access to the corresponding Google service.
  • A date and time can be selected for restore. During Public Preview, the available date/time range is estimated based on the workspace creation time and the latest common successful backup time for the selected users or drives. The range does not guarantee that a recovery point exists for every moment within it.
  • For newly added workspaces, earlier restore points may not yet be available. If a backup has already completed, the latest available backup point can still be used even when the workspace was added less than 24 hours ago.
  • If no restorable data exists at the selected time, the restore may not complete successfully. In this case, select a later point in time and try again.
  • Cross-user and cross-Workspace restore are not supported.
  • Granular item-level restore and search are not supported. Restore operates at the currently supported data-source scope.
  • Google Workspace backup data cannot currently be exported or downloaded from Cove to formats such as MBOX, PST, ZIP, ICS, or VCF.
  • Existing Gmail and Drive content is not overwritten. Restored content is created separately from existing content.
  • Metadata, permissions, and Google-specific functionality may not be preserved during restore.