Windows 10: How to remove folders from File History

Running out of space on my external drive where I keep File History. So I want to delete a very large folder (Pictures) from History since I have it backed up another way. I removed the folder from File History Backup Options (Settings>Update & Security>Backup>More Options>Backup these folders), and then ran File Cleanup (Control Panel>File History>Advanced Settings>Clean up versions).

As I understand it, that should remove all versions older than the selected time frame AND all folders no longer in the noted in the File History Backup Options (where I removed my Pictures folder). But the Pictures Folder is still in File History.

What is the best/easiest way to delete it from File History?

:)

 

Unable to remove folders from File History backups

Yes, the culture is **** there now. I live in Redmond and used to work there (Amazon now) and they have destroyed the company from within. I know several people that have gone running from there to Amazon because of their ridiculous culture. QA is dead.
They have no testers anymore. Devs are responsible for testing now - brilliant idea right?! PMs are gone as well. So devs get to create the requirements, develop the product and then test their own code! Perfect! What could possible go wrong there??

There's a reason why no complains about Amazon, because their #1 leadership principle is 'Customer Obsession' which is observed throughout their experience. Where do you see that these days with MS? Aside from the Xbox division (finally back on track there)
and a few other spots, you don't really see this any more. This is a major, important feature of the OS (data backup!!!!!!!!) and it's been broken for a year and they just don't care. Sad.

 

Unable to remove folders from File History backups

I have revisited this issue, having abandoned File History for Windows 7 Backup some time ago. It seems like my original issue with File History has been fixed.

Steps I took:

• Switch off File History in Metro Control Panel
• Click "More options"
• Click "Stop using this drive" (Control Panel shuts down at this point)
• Delete all files on backup drive
• Click "Add a drive" in File History in Metro Control Panel and choose your backup drive
• Turn off File History
• Click "More options"
• Remove all folders that aren't Libraries (one by one - tedious). Typically this will be everything except Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Camera Roll and Saved Pictures
• Click the back arrow
• Enable File History
• Click "More options"
• Click "Back up now"

File History will get busy backing up at this point, and "More options" will not load. However once the the backup has completed, "More options" will load, and all the non-library folders will not be re-added. Success!

Similar instructions were posted previously but they did not resolve the issue for me at the time. However, they do now, so it must have been updated.

I have found one important remaining issue: if all folders are removed from the backup, the libraries will be automatically re-added. This in itself is not an issue. What is an issue is that when the folders are automatically re-added, incremental backups
are disabled and every time a backup is run, a full copy of every library will be made and the backup drive space will be exhausted very quickly. This (new) issue needs to be fixed.

 

Hello ALN, *Smile

You could exclude the folder from File History to no longer have it included on the backup.

https://www.windowsphoneinfo.com/threads/exclude-folders-from-file-history-in-windows-10.4373/

That's correct, you can use File History Cleanup to select to "delete all but the latest one".

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5...dows-10-a.html

 

Thanks Brink for the quick reply! I had no problem removing the folder from the list of items to be backed up in the the Backup Settings. However, the folder was already backed up and now resides in the backup files on my external drive - that is where I am trying to delete them.

 

After excluding the folder, you could manually create a new File History backup, then use File History Cleanup to select to "delete all but the latest one" to no longer have the folder in a backup.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5...dows-10-a.html

 

OK, I did that, but the Pictures folder is still in the backup on the external drive. First, I deleted the Pictures folder from the list of folders to be backed up, and then did a manual backup, and then did the File History Cleanup and selected "delete all but the latest one." Pictures folder was still there in the back up. I then checked the list of folders to be backed up, and noticed that the Pictures folder was included again - even thought I deleted it prior to the manual backup. I then deleted it again, closed Settings and re-opened Settings and, sure enough, the Pictures folder re-appeared in the list of folders to be backed up. Seems like Windows will not let me delete it from the list, even though it appears to do so. So next, I added the Pictures folder to the Exclude list and did the manual backup/History Clean up routine - same results: still have the folder in my back up. Any other ideas?

 

Under "Back up these folders" in Settings, you should be able to click on the Pictures folder, and click on Remove like below to prevent it from being included in future backups.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5...a.html#option2

 

• 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

 

That does not work. Even though I do the delete from the "Back up these folders" from the list, it still backs it up - and when I close out of Settings and then go back in, the folder re-appears in the list.

However, Mila's suggestion worked. Is it possible that folders in my Library cannot be removed from the "Back up these folders" list?

 

That did it - Thank you Mila!