Beginner’s Guide: How to Use File History in Windows 10

I'd like to start with a story.

Midway through a semester, I had lost the final draft of my research paper. I had spent weeks working on it, and now it was gone, possibly forever. Or so I thought. I went to File History, typed in 'research paper,' and to my amazement, there it was! I clicked to open it, only to discover that the file seemed corrupted. But with a little editing, I was able to salvage my paper just in time.

Has File History ever restored a backup and saved your skin? We totally get it – when you accidentally delete a file or fall victim to a computer virus, File History can be a lifesaver. Today, we're going to talk about File History in Windows 10 and how it saves copies of your files and folders to a backup drive. It's easy to overlook the importance of a file backup system until you really need it. By the end of this guide, you should be able to choose the best way to back up your Windows 10 files and other important stuff.

I. How File History Works in Windows 10

In short, File History is a free backup feature that first appeared in Microsoft's Windows 8.1 and is still available in Windows 10 and Windows 11. It automatically backs up your files and keeps a record of all changes. However, it's important to note that **File History only backs up the "Documents," "Music," "Pictures," "Videos," "Desktop" folders, as well as offline copies of OneDrive files on your PC**. In essence, File History creates a snapshot of files and folders associated with your user account. Over time, you'll have a complete history of your files.

Tip: Previously, documents, music, pictures, videos, and desktop files were organized and collected in Libraries. A library is one or more folders and their contents on your computer. It helps you keep all your files in one place. So when File History refers to backing up your libraries, it might also include the Library folders.

Whenever you add, change, or delete a file at its original location, File History creates a copy of it and stores it in a separate location called a backup drive. That way, if you need to recover a personal file from an earlier date, you can easily do so using the File History tool.

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How to Enable File History in Windows 10

File History is turned off by default in Windows 10, so you'll need to set it up before using it. Also, for File History to work, you'll need to have a USB external drive or network drive connected to your PC at all times. Here's how to set it up and configure it on your Windows 10 computer or laptop:

The first step.

Users can access File History from the Control Panel or Settings. The images below clearly show how to reach it from both entry points.

Figure 1: Accessing File History in Windows 10 via the Control Panel

Figure 2: Accessing File History in Windows 10 through the Settings app

To have more control over your backup settings and configuration, open the File History window by going to Control Panel > File History. The top of the window shows when File History last ran and where your backup files are stored.

The second step.

If you haven't set up a backup drive, you'll see a message that says “File History is off.” Click the Turn on button to enable File History. Windows will prompt you to select a location to save your backups—this can be an external hard drive or a network drive. Choose your location and click OK to begin backing up your personal files.

To change the backup location at any time, just click the Choose drive link in the File History window. We'll show you other options for setting the backup location later on.

III. Configuring File History Settings

There are several settings you can adjust for File History to suit your needs. To access these, go to Control Panel \> File History, and then click the **Advanced settings** link. First, let's adjust the **backup frequency and retention policy** to control how much storage File History uses.

In the “Advanced settings” window, you'll see many options that you can change. Let's explore them one by one.

The first step.

First, you can change the frequency at which File History runs its backups. By default, it runs every hour, but you can set it to any interval between 10 minutes and 24 hours. We strongly recommend selecting a backup interval of every 6 or 12 hours, which helps ensure a good backup frequency while minimizing disk space usage.

The second step.

Next, you can change how long backups are kept. By default, File History keeps them as long as possible (“Forever”), but you can change this to any time span you want. A good option is “When space is needed.”

The third step.

By default, File History backs up files in the "Documents," "Music," "Pictures," "Videos," and "Desktop" folders. However, you can click the "Exclude Folders" link in the File History window to choose which folders to exclude yourself. For example, you might want to exclude .tmp or .log files, since these are often temporary files that can be recreated if deleted.

Here's another hint: below is a list of items I attempted to exclude from the backup and the reasons why:

• Downloads: Typically, this folder holds programs that you've downloaded from the web, which you can re-obtain from their source if needed. Trust me, these programs are usually huge, and you shouldn't sacrifice precious disk space for “renewable resources.” • Music, Videos, and Pictures (Camera Roll): Aren't multimedia files the most valuable? Yes, so they deserve more protection than just File History. A cloud backup solution is more convincing than File History backups. • OneDrive: It's a backup and sync plan in itself—why spend extra time and space on it?

In the new window that pops up, add here any folders or libraries you don't want to back up, if any. Click on “Add,” select the folder you don't need, and then click on “Select Folder.” Double-click on the folder to exclude its subfolders as well. You can only add one folder at a time to the exclusion list. Repeat this process several times if you want to skip over multiple folders. Here, I've excluded the Pictures, Music, and Videos folders. Click on “Save Changes” for them to take effect.

The fourth step.

In addition to using an external USB drive as a backup location, you can add a network drive to save File History backups. To do this, click on “Select Drive,” and then press the “Add a network location” button.

The system will prompt you to enter the path for your network drive – this can be a local network drive or a shared folder on another computer. Enter the path and click “OK” to add the network drive as a backup location.

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Once you've set everything up, File History should run smoothly on your computer, monitoring changes to your main folders and saving previous versions for safekeeping.

IV. How to Restore an Earlier Version of a File from Its Version History

If you accidentally delete a file, or make changes to a file that you later regret, you can use File History to restore an earlier version of the file. Here's how to recover previous versions of certain files:

The first step.

Open File History, and click the "Restore your files" tab on the left menu.

Alternatively, search for "File History" and click on "Restore your files with File History" in the results. This will open the recovery window without going through the previous steps.

The second step.

In the File History window, you can browse through different versions of all your backed-up files. To view a file, just click on it.

To restore a file, click the "Restore" button at the bottom of the window. The file will be restored to its original location.

You can also right-click the green arrow button and select "Restore To" to restore files elsewhere. This is useful if you want to keep a copy of the file, but don't want to overwrite the current version.

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V. How does the File History feature fare? Pros and Cons

If you're looking for ways to back up your files, you might be wondering if File History is a good option. When deciding if File History is right for your backup solution, there are several factors to consider.

Product:

One of the main advantages of File History is how easy it is to use. The interface is very user-friendly, and even beginners should have no trouble navigating it.

Another advantage of File History is that it integrates seamlessly with Windows 10. This means you can access your backups directly from the operating system without having to install any additional software.

✔ File History also offers some flexibility in how often it backs up your files. By default, it creates a new backup every hour, but you can change this to suit your needs.

Drawbacks:

The biggest downside to File History is that, by default, it only backs up individual files within your user account. This means that if you want to back up your entire system – that is, your entire Windows installation – it won't cut it.

Another downside of this built-in backup tool is that it cannot back up open files. This means that if you are editing a file when the backup is created, that file will not be included in the backup.

Lastly, be aware that File History can take up a significant amount of space on your hard drive. Since it saves multiple versions of each file and lacks differential or incremental backup features, backups can accumulate quickly and consume a lot of space.

All in all, File History is a good choice for users looking for a simple and easy-to-use backup solution. However, it has its limitations that might not suit more advanced users.

If you need a more comprehensive backup solution, you might want to consider using a third-party free backup software, such as the excellent Todo Backup tool, which works as a great File History alternative for Windows computers. This software allows you to back up your entire system and hard drive (including open files), and offers additional features like file compression and encryption, greatly increasing the safety of your backups – something basic tools like Windows 10's File History simply can't provide.

There is a video on YouTube featuring the top 5 free Windows backup software, and Todo Backup is rated as the best.

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Next up: Common Issues and Solutions for Windows 10 File History.

In Windows 10, users might encounter several common issues with File History. These issues could involve File History not functioning properly or taking up too much space on the hard drive. In this section, we will explore some of the most frequent File History problems and their respective solutions.

Issue 1: File History feature not working

If File History isn't working as expected, try these steps first: make sure that it's turned on by going to Settings > Update & Security > Backup and checking the On option.

Step 1. If File History is enabled but still not working, you might need to restart the File History service. To do this, open the Start menu and type "services.msc" in the search box.

2. Right-click on the “File History” service and select Restart.

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Problem 2: File History uses too much space

Another common issue with File History is that it can take up a significant amount of space on your hard drive. This is because File History saves multiple versions of each file, which can accumulate quickly. If you find that File History is taking up too much space, there are steps you can take.

Step 1: First, try replacing a smaller backup drive with a larger one to increase the space available for File History. To do this, go to Settings > Update & Security > Backup, and then click More options. Under Back up to another drive, click the **Stop using drive** button.

Then back at the Backup window, click Add a drive and choose a larger disk to serve as your backup location.

Before you can add a new backup drive, you must stop using the current backup drive. This does not remove any files from the current backup drive.

Step 2: You might also consider deleting older historical versions. If you've been using File History for a long time, this option can help free up a lot of disk space. However, if you've been using File History for less than a year, cleaning up might not be a viable solution because we don't let you delete versions that are more than a year old.

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Question 3: File History didn't back up all my files

Occasionally, users report that they don't see any backed-up versions of their protected folders in the library. It looks like File History hasn't been backing up all the files they added.

There are a few ways to address this issue. First, try turning off File History and then turning it back on. This will force File History to restart. Additionally, remove the folder from the included list and then add it back again.

VII. Differences Between File History in Windows 10 and Windows 11

If you've upgraded to Windows 11 and noticed that File History is missing, you're not alone. Quite a few users have reported this issue, and it can be frustrating. Did Microsoft really remove File History in Windows 11?

The first difference is that File History is still available in Windows 11, but Microsoft has removed it from the Settings app. This is one of the most significant changes you'll notice in Windows 11. As mentioned earlier, in Windows 10, we could access File History through the Control Panel or the Settings app. However, in Windows 11, you can only find File History in the Control Panel.

Difference 2: Another change in File History on Windows 11, not necessarily for the better, is that you can no longer add folders outside of the default set of folders that File History protects.

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All in all, File History has gradually lost its ability to protect users' personal files in Windows 11, and we don't expect to see significant improvements to the feature in the next generation of the Windows operating system. But data is power, and it needs protection! If you don't take steps to safeguard your information, scammers will do it for you.

Or, it might be time to look for a more advanced backup tool for Windows 11. If you're a Windows 11 user who values your data, we recommend using the aforementioned best free Windows 11 backup software, Todo Backup. It has features File History doesn't, making it an excellent choice for safeguarding your data. The free version alone will meet most basic backup needs. Download and try it now.

• Whole system backup: Back up your operating system, settings, apps, and files.
• Unlimited file backup: Back up all kinds of personal files on your computer hard drive, external HDD, USB flash drive, or SD card.
• Entire disk/partition backup: Choose the entire drive you want to back up, and freely back up your OS, files, apps, settings, and anything in them.
• Incremental and differential backup: Back up only files changed since the last backup, saving time and storage space.
• Bootable Rescue Media: Create a bootable rescue disk to restore your system when Windows fails to start.

VIII. Conclusion

And that's it! This is your comprehensive guide to using File History in Windows 10, including how to set it up, how to choose or exclude what gets backed up, how to restore previous backups, and how to manage backup drive space by removing old backups from your computer. We've also compared the features of third-party backup software with those of File History in Windows 10 and Windows 11, highlighting the nuances to consider when choosing a backup solution. We hope this guide gets you started on backing up your data!

If you're looking for a file history option that can switch to being a full system backup solution, backing up everything on your computer and not just the files associated with a user account, feel free to download Todo Backup and keep your data safe.