Restoring from Backup
How to restore an Odoo service from a backup.
If something goes wrong — accidental data deletion, a failed upgrade, or any other issue — you can restore your Odoo service from a previous backup.
#How restoration works
A backup contains everything needed to restore your Odoo instance:
- The database with all your business data
- The filestore with all uploaded files and attachments
Restoring replaces the current state of the service with the backed-up version.
#Restoration options
#Create a copy from backup
The safest approach is to create a new, independent service from a backup. The original service remains untouched.
#1. Open the Backups tab
Navigate to the service and open the Backups tab.
#2. Click Create Copy
Find the completed backup you want to use and click Create Copy on that row.
#3. Choose neutralization
In the modal, decide whether to Neutralize sensitive data. When enabled, passwords, emails, and other sensitive data will be sanitized in the copy.
#4. Confirm
Click Create Copy to start. A new service will be provisioned and the backup restored into it.
The new copy appears in the Copies tab of the original service once provisioning and restoration are complete.
#Direct restoration
For urgent situations, you can restore directly to the existing service.
#1. Open the Backups tab
Navigate to the service and open the Backups tab.
#2. Click Restore
Find the completed backup and click Restore on that row.
#3. Confirm the restoration
Read the warning carefully and click Yes, Restore to proceed.
The restore process will:
- Create a safety backup of the current state
- Stop the service
- Replace the database and filestore with the backup
- Start the service again
Direct restoration overwrites the current database. Any data created after the backup was taken will be lost. Consider creating a copy first if you're unsure.
#Upload & Restore
You can upload an external Odoo backup file (.zip) and restore it directly into the service. This is useful for migrating from another Odoo instance or restoring from a locally stored backup.
#1. Open the Backups tab
Navigate to the service and open the Backups tab.
#2. Click Upload & Restore
Click the Upload & Restore button in the header.
#3. Select the backup file
Upload an Odoo backup file (.zip) and optionally add a description.
#4. Confirm
Click Upload & Restore. The file will be uploaded to your backup destination, then the restore process begins — including a safety backup of the current state.
This will stop the service temporarily and overwrite the current database and filestore. Any data created after the uploaded backup will be lost.
#Downloading a backup
If you need to restore manually or move data to a different system:
- Go to the service's Backups tab
- Find the backup you want
- Click Download to get a temporary download link
- The download contains the database dump and filestore archive
Download links expire after a set period for security. Generate a new link if the previous one has expired.
#Best practices
- Test your backups — Periodically restore a backup to a copy to verify it works
- Keep multiple backups — Don't rely on a single backup; use scheduled backups with retention
- Back up before changes — Always create a manual backup before major operations