What Is File History and How to Enable File History Windows 10

What Is File History Windows 10

Windows 10 File Historyis a backup utility that continuously saves and protects personal files on the Desktop, Documents, Videos, and Downloads folders. It scans regularly (once every hour by default) for changes in the file system and copies the changed files to another location.

Whenever any of your personal files is changed, a copy of it will be stored on the dedicated internal or external hard drive. Over time, the File History will establish a complete history of changes made to any personal file.

How to Enable File History Windows 10

How to turn on File History in Windows 10? Follow these step-by-step guides.

Step 1.Click the Windows "Start" button. Then, go to "Settings > Update & Security".

Step 2.Click "Backup > Add a drive". Then, choose a local or an external hard drive as the destination. You can even use a network location as the File History backup drive.

How to Configure Windows 10 File History

After selecting a drive to back up files, you can configure more backup Settings.

Step 1.Click the "More options" under "Add a drive".

Step 2.On the Backup options screen, you can set the frequency of backup. You can set how often File History backs up your files by choosing an option from "Back up my files". You can also click "Keep my backups" to decide how long to save backups.

Step 3.Under Back up these folders, click "Add a folder" to back up more folders in addition to Desktop, Pictures, Documents, Downloads, Videos, etc.

Step 4.Under Exclude these folders, you can also remove the folders you don't need to back up by clicking "Add a folder".

在这些settings, Windows 10 File History will start to back up your data automatically.

How to Restore Files from Windows 10 File History in 2 Ways

When you need to restore deleted or lost files from Windows backup, here are two ways to do it.

1. Restore Files from File History Window

Step 1.Click the Search box and type文件历史. Click "Restore your files from File history" from the search results.

Step 2.然后,您将文件历史窗口。你can see all the backup files there. Choose the one you need to restore and preview it.

If there are multiple backup versions, you can switch to a different backup version by clicking the left and right arrows at the bottom of the window. You can also search directly in the search box to quickly find files.

Step 3.Select the files you want to restore, and then click the green arrow to restore the files. You can click the gear icon near the upper right corner of the window and select "Restore to" to save the file to a customized path.

Step 4.If there is a naming conflict when you restore files, you can choose "Replace the File in the Destination Folder", "Skip This File", or "Compare Info for Both Files".

2. Restore Files from Previous Versions Option

Another way to restore files from Windows 10 file backup is by applying the "Restore previous version" feature.

Step 1.Go to find the folder that contains the lost files. Right-click it, then select "Restore previous versions".

Step 2.On theProperties window, you can see all the available backup versions. Select a backup file and click the "Restore" button to restore files.

How to Recover Deleted Files When There Is No Backup File from File History

Some users reported that they encounteredthere are no previous version availableproblem even they have enabled the Windows protection.

In this case, how to recover deleted or lost files without backups? No worry. You can use an advanced file recovery software -ob欧宝官网 .

Now, free download this professional data recovery software to help you restore deleted files with ease.

Step 1.Choose the exact file location and then click the "Scan" button to continue.

Step 2.After the process, select the "Deleted Files" and "Other Lost Files" folders in the left panel. Then, you can apply the "Filter" feature or click the "Search files or folders" button to find the deleted files.

Step 3.Click the "Recover" button and save the restored files – ideally, it should be different from the original one.

To Sum Up

Windows 10 File History is a very easy and useful backup tool for users to protect any important files. And it's 100% free. You can also create a Windows 10 system image by using the Windows backup feature. With these two backup options enabled, you can quickly get back to work from a restore point if your computer encounters a system crash or file loss.

If you haven't turned on any backup feature and want to retrieve deleted, formatted, or corrupted files, stop using your computer and immediately use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. EaseUS data recovery software can restore hundreds of lost files in various data loss situations.