Managing Backup Policies in the Dashboard

In order to manage your backup policies please sign into your account at https://account.carbonite.com/smb/policy/ or with the button below.

Sign In

Within your account, you can view and manage any backup policies that exist on your account.

On this screen you will be able to create, view, edit, duplicate, and delete backup policies.

• How to Add, Duplicate, Edit or View a Backup Policy
  • Setting a Name
  • Selecting the Default Backup Selections
  • Including Folder Paths into the Backup
  • Excluding File Types from Being Backed Up
• How to Delete an Existing Policy

How to Add, Duplicate, Edit or View a Backup Policy

There are many ways to get into a policy and make changes or set them up. By default you can only view or duplicate the Carbonite Default policy as it is the policy that the Carbonite software will use should you not wish to make a custom policy for your end users. You can always edit and adjust backup policies at any time and change a computer's backup policy.

• Adding a New Policy - You can add a new policy by clicking the Add a new policy button in the Manage Backup Policies page of your account.
• Duplicate a Policy - Any policy listed in your account can be duplicated if you want to make changes to it but keep complex folder paths and/or excluded file types. To duplicate a backup policy, click the Duplicate link for that specific backup policy.
• View or Edit a Policy - You can view or edit a policy by clicking either the View or Edit link for an existing policy. You will be unable to edit the Carbonite Default policy unless you make a duplicate of it and edit the copy.

In all of these cases, you will be able to then adjust the backup policy and set it up in the appropriate manner for your environment. After you have decided on how to proceed, you will see a page containing the settings for the backup policy.

Setting a Name

As with most things, you need to set a name for your policy. It needs to be at least two (2) characters but no longer than 100. We recommend that the name you choose be descriptive of either some specific policy setting or group of end users you wish to associate with the policy. You can use letters, numbers or underscore (_) when naming the policy.

Type a name into the What do you want to call this policy? textbox.

Once you have named the policy you can select the folders that will be backed up by default.

Selecting the Default Backup Selections

The next thing you can modify is which folders under the C:\Users folder that you wish to include in the backup by default. This includes all users on the computer and not just the one who logs in (e.g. C:\Users\USERNAME\Folder Name) Simply mark or unmark the checkbox for the corresponding icon to add or remove that folder from the policy. A user can manually add any allowed file or folders they want to back up manually even if the folder is not originally selected.

The options listed here are only folders and do not represent types of files. For example, if there is a picture file on the Desktop and the Desktop Folder option was unmarked, but the My Pictures Folder was marked, then that picture file as well as any other file on the Desktop will not be included in the backup by default unless the end user manually selects it for backup.

Note: The Outlook Data Folder listed above is the default Outlook location for the software.

Including Folder Paths into the Backup

After you have selected the folders you wish included, you can now include other paths into the backup. You can use this option to select folder paths that aren't normally located in a folder already selected for backup.

If you have a specific folder that you want to associate with this policy, you can add the path in the available textbox. For example, if you wanted to add the QuickBooks company files to the backup and you deselected everything else from being included, you can use type the following into the textbox:

C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files\

This will add the contents of the Company Files folder to the backup should this policy be used. You can add multiple locations and use an asterisk * as a wildcard. If you knew that everyone, by company policy, was supposed to keep their saved critical work documents in a folder off the root of the D: drive, then you can add that folder path.

You should only have one path per line. If you need to add another path, click the Add another to make another textbox appear where you can add another path.

Note: If you select for a file type to be excluded in the next section, it will not be backed up even if the folder itself has been selected.

Excluding File Types from Being Backed Up

The final part of the policy is the file exclusion. In this section you will be able to exclude file types by their extension. By default, Carbonite doesn't include system or temporary files into your backup. For a full list of what is excluded by default, please view this article.

Note: If you select for a file type to be excluded, it will not be backed up even if the folder itself has been selected.

To exclude a specific file type from your backup simply type a period followed by the the file extension (.XYZ). You can add multiple file extensions by separating them by commas (.xyz,.abc,.123,...). You can also press one of the buttons to exclude most common Music, Photos, and/or Video file types as well.

How to Delete a Policy

If you create a policy that you no longer plan on using, you can delete them easily through your account. Within the Manage Policies page, you can see all the policies that have been created as well as the Carbonite Default policy that comes with the account. You will be able to delete any policies that have been created with the exception of the Carbonite Default policy.

To delete a policy, click the Edit link associated with the policy.

Scroll to the bottom of the policy and click Delete this policy.

You will be prompted with a pop-up to confirm you wish to delete this policy. If you are currently using this policy on any of the computers, you will be prompted to select a backup policy to replace the one you are deleting.

To delete the backup policy, either select a policy to switch the backups to from the drop-down menu and click Change computers and delete or click Yes, delete this policy.

The policy will then be removed from your account and if you changed the backup policy for any computers, they will take effect within 24 hours.

Note: If the computer is not turned on, then it can potentially take longer than 24 hours due to no connection being made to the Carbonite software installed.

If you are not already signed into your Carbonite Safe Pro account, please sign in with your administrator email address and password at https://account.carbonite.com.

Sign In

Once signed into your account, you will see all computers on your account where you have Carbonite installed. Any computer that has a backup policy associated with it will have a drop-down menu that lets you view and adjust the attached backup policy.

To change a backup policy, simply select the drop-down menu and choose one of the available backup policies that are listed.

Once you change the backup policy it will go into a pending state to be updated within 24 hours. Within the next 24 hours the Carbonite software will contact the servers in order to update the policy and make any backup adjustments as needed. If the computer is off or not connected to the Internet, it could potentially take longer than 24 hours to update the policy as it can only happen when the computer is turned on and connected to the Internet.