Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Restoring Previous Versions of Files

Windows 7 tracks changes in files and folders using Previous Versions. When you configure System Protection for a disk, System Protection creates previous versions of files and folders automatically as part of restore points. Any personal file or folder that was modified since the last restore point is saved and made available as a previous version.

Typically, restore points are made once a day. If you modify a file more than once in the same day, only the version of the file that was current at the time of the restore point is saved as a previous version.

Previous versions are created for pictures, music, videos, email, documents, and other types of personal files. Previous versions are not created for files and folders that the operating system uses.

You can use previous versions of files to restore files that were inadvertently changed, deleted, or damaged. Although System Protection creates previous versions daily for all drives being monitored by System Protection, only those versions of files that are actually different from the current version are stored as previous versions. You can enable or disable previous versions by enabling or disabling System Protection on a particular drive.

Accessing previous versions of files and folders is a snap. To view previous versions of a file or folder, right-click the file or folder and then select "Restore previous versions." This opens the file or folder's Properties dialog box to the Previous Versions tab. Your computer will then search the available restore points and applicable backups for previous versions of the selected folder or file. When previous versions are available, the Previous Versions tab lists the previous versions of a file by name, date, and location and previous versions of folders by name and date. Select the previous version you want to work with and then click:

• Open to open the selected previous version. By opening the file you can ensure it's the version you want to restore.
• Copy to create a copy of the selected previous version. By copying the file, you can keep the current version and the selected previous version.
• Restore to revert the file or folder to the selected previous version. By restoring the file or folder, you overwrite the current version. The restore cannot be undone.

Although you can restore previous versions of files from backup locations, you cannot restore previous versions of folders from backup. Additionally, only the Restore option is available with previous versions of files that are in backup locations. You cannot open or copy files created by Windows Backup.

If no previous versions are found, you'll see a message stating this. In this case, you may need to check your computer's configuration to ensure that System Protection is monitoring the related disk. Keep in mind that System Protection does not create previous versions of offline files cached on your computer or system files. For offline files, previous versions may be available on the server where the file is stored. Changes made to system files are tracked as part of restore points, and you must recover the computer to the restore point to go back to a previous state.

If the folder in which the file was stored has been deleted, you must open the Properties dialog box for the folder that contained the file or folder that was deleted. Use this folder's Previous Versions tab to restore the folder and then access the file or folder to recover the previous version of the file you are looking for.