One useful feature of Microsoft Windows is the ability to restore previous versions of files and folders. Windows creates and stores these previous versions, called "shadow copies," automatically. There is no need to manually set up this feature.
Restoring previous versions of a folder
Restoring previous versions of a file
Restoring previous versions of a folder is mainly useful for recovering deleted files. There's no way to only restore one individual file, though, so if you need any files that were added after the file you're trying to restore was deleted, make sure those files are saved elsewhere.
- First, navigate to the folder you want to restore. If you're looking to recover a particular file, this would be the directory that contained that file.
- Right click anywhere in the folder and select Properties.
- Click the Previous Versions tab at the top of the new window.
This list contains all of the shadow copies created by windows, as well as the date it was modified.
- Choose the version you would like to restore. You can see what files the directory had in it at the given time by selecting an option and pressing open.
- Once you've found the directory you would like to revert to, click Restore. You will receive a confirmation prompt, and after accepting the previous directory will be restored.
Similarly, we can restore previous versions of a particular file rather than a whole folder.
- First, navigate to the folder that contains the file that you want to revert to the previous version.
- Right click on the file and select Restore to previous version
- You will be provided with a list of shadow copies of previous versions of the file.
- You can click on Open to review the file. Once you have found the version you would like to restore, press Restore...
- There will be a prompt reminding you that the current version of the file will be lost.
After this, the file will be reverted to the previous version.