File History regularly backs up versions of your files in the Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, and Desktop folders and the OneDrive files available offline on your PC. 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. For example, if you want to restore an older version of a file (even if it wasn't deleted or lost), you can browse through a timeline, select the version you want, and restore it.

Before you start using File History to back up your files, you need to first select where your backups are saved. You can select an externally connected drive, such as an SD card, USB drive, or you can save to a drive on a network. There are other choices, but these two provide the best options to help protect your files against a crash or other PC problems.

If you're going to use a new external drive, connect it to your PC. If you see a notification asking if you want to configure the drive for File History, tap or click it, and then turn on File History on the screen the appears.

Otherwise, follow these steps to choose either a network drive or an external drive that’s already connected to your computer.

1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search. (If you're using a mouse, point to the lower-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, and then click Search.)
2. Enter File History settings in the search box, and then tap or click File History settings.
3. Tap or click Select a drive, and choose the network or external drive you want to use.
4. Turn on File History.

This section of the guide assumes you are restoring your files to a new computer. If you wish to restore a single file from your backup, you can browse the file chooser presented and select any files to restore.

1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Search (or if you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search), enter File History in the search box, and then tap or click File History.
2. On the left pane, tap Select drive.
3. Tap your SD card in the drive list.
4. Check the box labelled I want to use a previous backup on this File History drive.
5. In the Select an existing backup pane, tap your old backup and click OK.
6. Click Restore personal files in the left pane.
7. You can choose which backup to restore using the arrows at the bottom of the window. Find the point in time you wish to restore (probably your most recent one).
8. Click the green restore button at the bottom of the window to restore your files.
9. Wait while the files are copied. If you are asked to replace files, choose the option to replace them.

After restoring your files with this method, your PC will continue to copy File History to your drive.

1. Set up a drive for File History
2. Restore files or folders using File History
3. What if something goes wrong in File History?