Action Restore Group MBOX backup to Google Groups (Collab inbox) issues

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Joe Kong

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Dec 8, 2021, 5:19:51 AM12/8/21
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Hi All,

I'm trying to transfer an existing general company email (in...@companyname.com) which I've backed up into MBOX format.  I've tried using the action restore group command:

gyb --email group...@company.com --action restore-group --service-account--use-admin admin...@company.com --local-folder "/Users/name/Documents/emailexport/INBOX.mbox/mbox"

But I get a message return saying:

Groups supports restore of messages up to 26214400

Nothing seems to happen. I've checked the inboxes and nothing has been imported.

For reference, my MBOX backup file is 526mb and I've removed all emails larger than 15mb in size from the original email inbox.

Please advise what I'm doing wrong. Many thanks.

Joe Kong

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Dec 9, 2021, 9:33:25 AM12/9/21
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Hi All,

I've re-tried multiple variables and I've noticed that when I run the action-estimate, it does start getting the message IDs, however, it is reading from the ad...@company.com inbox used for the "--use-admin" command.  It is not looking at the local folder's MBOX file.  Any ideas please?

Thanks.

Joe

Jay Lee

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Dec 9, 2021, 9:45:50 AM12/9/21
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Is archiving enabled for your group? If not the messages will migrate to Groups but have no where to go...


-action estimate is always going to look at a user mailbox to estimate, it's not a good way of testing that groups migration is working.

Since you already ran the migration once with archiving off you'll need to add --noresume to re-run the migration.

Jay Lee


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Joe Kong

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Dec 9, 2021, 10:29:39 AM12/9/21
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Hi Jay,

Thanks for replying.  When you mention Archiving, did you mean Conversation History?  This is enabled already.

I've tried running the command without --action-estimate, but it just gives a message saying "Groups supports restore of messages up to 26214400" and goes back to the command prompt. Nothing happens.

Is there something else, I've missed?

Jay Lee

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Dec 9, 2021, 10:34:53 AM12/9/21
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Yes, 2 names for same setting.

Did you append --noresume to the command?

Jay Lee


Joe Kong

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Dec 9, 2021, 10:46:30 AM12/9/21
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Ah thanks!  I just tried that and it actually started to restore from the correct MBOX file and completed......but when I look into the Group inbox, there's nothing there.

Joe Kong

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Dec 10, 2021, 5:01:12 AM12/10/21
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Hi Jay,

Sorry to be a pain, the restore process shows as completed, but there are no emails at all in the group inbox.  Do I need to change some other settings in Google Workspace?  Thanks!

Jay Lee

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Dec 10, 2021, 8:13:44 AM12/10/21
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Where are you looking at the groups inbox? Can you share screenshots?

Joe Kong

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Dec 10, 2021, 8:17:20 AM12/10/21
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It's on the Groups page:

5f0582fb-b797-438c-b343-c68468218e4a.png

Jay Lee

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Dec 10, 2021, 8:19:31 AM12/10/21
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That's your list of groups, where the inbox of the group itself? If you send an email to the group do you see it in the inbox?

Joe Kong

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Dec 10, 2021, 8:28:24 AM12/10/21
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I haven't switched over the domain to go live with the email address yet because I can't get the import to work.  But shouldn't the restored emails show here?

913dec72-9a37-44e2-a2a9-0baabe1be762.png

Joe Kong

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Dec 10, 2021, 11:39:24 AM12/10/21
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I've tried with a fresh backup using a new group inbox and different email address mbox backup.  For some reason now, even with adding --noresume command on, I still get the error:  Groups supports restore of messages up to 26214400.

My syntax:

gyb --email gro...@company.com --action restore-group --local-folder "C:/GYB/BACKUP/INBOX.mbox" --service-account --use-admin ad...@rcompany.com --noresume

Does it require a complete fresh install of GYB?

Joe Kong

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Dec 16, 2021, 7:51:05 AM12/16/21
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Hi Jay,

Any advice please?  I can't seem to get anywhere and can't find any other solution.  Been stuck with this problem for a few weeks now.  Does anyone have any other suggestions for alternative methods?

Many thanks!

Jay Lee

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Dec 16, 2021, 8:20:47 AM12/16/21
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I've tried but have had no luck reproducing your issues. Without more details or a way to reproduce the issue there's not much I can do here.

Joe Kong

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Dec 16, 2021, 9:00:03 AM12/16/21
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Is my syntax of the command correct?  I've tried both on a Mac and Windows 10 system and get the same message back so I'm not sure if it's the format of the MBOX backup or my syntax causing a problem.  I used Mac OSX built in Mail app to create the export MBOX.

Thanks.

Jay Lee

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Dec 16, 2021, 9:10:03 AM12/16/21
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There's what I was missing, Mac Mail does not export to MBOX format, it exports to it's own undocumented format. You'll need to find a way to convert those Mac Mail exports to true MBOX format.

Jay

Joe Kong

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Dec 16, 2021, 11:02:47 AM12/16/21
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Oh that's strange.  I was referred from the Google Workspace forums to this article on how to export from Mac Mail to MBOX format:


Are there any other email clients which can do this on Windows?

Thanks again!

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