Sometimes you need to turn back the clock. Maybe a bulk edit went sideways, an import made a mess, or an upgrade did not agree with your site. Restoring a backup puts your site's database back the way it was when that backup was made.
Before you restore
One important thing to understand: restoring overwrites your site's current database with the backup. Anything you added or changed after that backup was made will be gone. That includes new items, metadata edits, exhibit changes, users, and settings.
If you have done meaningful work since the backup, consider creating a fresh manual backup first. That way you have a copy of today's state too, just in case you want to come back to it.
Restore a backup
Open your site and click Backups on the left. Find the backup you want in the list (each row shows the platform version, size, and date, so the date is usually your guide) and click its Restore button.
You will be asked to confirm before anything happens. This is your moment to double-check that you picked the right backup.
The reinstall checkbox
In the confirmation step you will see an optional checkbox that reads something like Reinstall version v4.2.1 of Omeka S?, matching the version your site was running when the backup was made.
Leave it unticked and only your database is restored. Tick it and we also reinstall the platform files for that backup's version. That is useful in two situations:
- Rolling back an upgrade. If you upgraded your platform and something is not working, restoring a pre-upgrade backup with this box ticked takes both your database and the platform itself back to the earlier version.
- Damaged site files. If your site's files have been broken somehow, this gives you a clean, matching set of platform files along with the restored database.
For everyday restores, like undoing an accidental delete, you can leave the box unticked.
After the restore
Click Confirm. The database is restored while you wait, so when the window closes, it is done; the Activity list on the site's dashboard notes the restore. If you ticked the reinstall box, the platform files are reinstalled in the background over the next few minutes.
Visit your site and look around. Your items, exhibits, and settings should match the day the backup was made. Remember that uploaded files are stored separately from the database, so they are unaffected by a restore. See how backups work for more on what a backup does and does not include.