Windows 10: Backup Files and Folders with File History in Windows 10

How to: Backup Files and Folders with File History in Windows 10

How to Manually Create a File History Backup in Windows 10


Information File History was first introduced in Windows 8, and has been improved in Windows 10.

You can use File History to automatically back up versions of your files on a schedule to a location you select to save to. You can select to save backups to an internal hard drive, externally connected drive (ex: USB drive), or you can save to a drive on a network. You can add, remove, and exclude folders to be backed up by File History.

The default folders in your "C:\Users\(user name)" profile folder are added by default to be backed up by File History.

Over time, you'll have a complete history of your files. If the originals are lost, damaged, or deleted, you can restore them. You can also browse and restore different versions of your files.

When you your files on demand.

This tutorial will show you how to manually create a back up of your files and folders on demand with File History in Windows 10.



Warning Making new backups with File History is no longer supported starting with Windows 10 build 16215.

You can still restore files from an existing File History backup though.

File History will eventually be replaced by a new feature called Timeline.

Update: File History is back in Windows 10 build 16226.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Manually Create File History Backup in Settings
• Option Two: To Manually Create File History Backup in Control Panel

OPTION ONE [/i] To Manually Create File History Backup in Settings
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Update & security icon.

2. Click/tap on Backup on the left side, and click/tap on the More options on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3. Click/tap on the Back up now button. (see screenshot below)



4. File History will now create a new backup version of your files from your added folders. (see screenshot below)



5. When finished, you can close Settings if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] To Manually Create File History Backup in Control Panel
1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the File History icon.

2. Click/tap on the Run link under your selected drive. (see screenshot below)



3. File History will now create a new backup version of your files from your added folders. (see screenshot below)



4. When finished, you can close the File History control panel if you like.


That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Reset File History to Default in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off File History in Windows 10
• How to Select a File History Drive in Windows 10
• How to Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove Folders to be Backed Up by File History in Windows 10
• How to Change how Often to Save File History in Windows 10
• How to Change how Long to Keep File History in Windows 10
• How to Restore Files or Folders using File History in Windows 10
• How to Delete Older Versions of File History in Windows 10
• How to Recommend File History Drive to Homegroup in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove a Windows Backup and Restore context menu in Windows 10
• How to Add History to Context Menu in Windows 10
• How to Create File History shortcut in Windows 10

:)

 

Backup These Folders in File History

My Pictures and My Videos folders are inside the My Documents folder. In File History all three folders are listed in the Backup These Folders list. Does this mean that because of this, files in Pictures and Videos are backuped twice? Once when backing up
My Documents and once when backing up My Pictures and My Videos (included in My Documents)

 

Backup files that Windows creates with file history

You should be able to use File Explorer to browse the folder on the NAS share that you selected. You can find out the share that's in use in:
Settings > Update & Security > Backup > More options.

Select Drive for File History in Windows 10 | Tutorials

But to see what is held in File History and (if necessary) restore the files, see 'Step 3. To Open File History and Restore Previous File Version from Control Panel' in this tutorial.

Restore Files or Folders from File History in Windows 10 | Tutorials

 

How to remove folders from File History

• I had the same problem, and I solved in this way:
  Control Panel -> System and Security-> File History -> Turn off
  Settings -> Update & Security -> Backup -> More options -> Stop using this drive
  Delete the File History folder in your external drive.
  Start using File History again.
  After performing these steps, I can easily add folders to "Excluded Folders" and they remain excluded. I checked in the actual files and folders saved on the external disk, and it works.
  I did not modify the default settings about how often and how long backup is saved, File History is working ok now. So I guess it is important to click "Stop using this drive" in order to reset File History.
  Hope this will be helpful

 

file history folder

Hi Carolyn,

There are many factors we can consider on why the file history folder is missing. The cause will vary on how you created your backup. For better assistance, please answer the following questions.

• Is this the first time that you're trying to create a backup? If yes, how are you trying to perform the task?
• If not, how did you create your last backup?
• Was the external drive removed?

In the meantime, you may follow the steps provided in this
article to try backing up your files again.

Feel free to contact us if you need assistance with Windows.

 

How to remove folders from File History

That did it - Thank you Mila!