File History can help you backup important files at regular intervals. Here's how you can enable File History in Windows 10 and set it up to backup files.

No matter who you are, it is very important that you simply backup all of your important files to a separate disk or perhaps to cloud storage. That will help you with this, Windows has a built-in feature called File History. One of the best things about File History is that it saves versions of the files. So, if you ever need to restore personal files or all of the files, it is simple to do this through the File History interface.

Within this quick guide, let me share the steps to enable the file history feature and configure it to backup your files on schedule.

Prerequisites

To make use of the File History feature, you'll need another hard disk. Because the File History is a backup tool, it won't backup files towards the internal hard drive(s) as they are not too secure when it comes to survivability in the event of any mishaps.

Steps to enable file history in Windows 10

To enable File History in Windows, stick to the steps given below.

1. First, plug-in your external hard drive. The hard drive could be in FAT32 or NTFS format.

2. After connecting the hard drive, open the Settings app. It can be done by pressing the "Windows key + I" shortcut. Next, visit the "Update & Security → Backup" page.

3. Here, click on the "Add a drive" button underneath the "Back up using File History" section.

4. Windows will scan for connected external hard drives and displays them. Select the drive in the flyout menu.

Once you select the drive, the File History feature is turned ON automatically. Automatically, Windows will back up all the user folders like desktop, downloads, pictures, videos, etc. You can also add custom folders to the backup. To do that, check the third section.

Should you open the external hard drive in File Explorer, you will see a new folder called "File History" where all the files are backed up.

Change File History frequency

Automatically, File History will auto backup the files every hour so long as the external drive is connected. As needed, you are able to change the backup frequency to satisfy your needs. For example, you can change it out from One Hour to Daily.

First, connect the external hard disk and open the Settings app. Within the Settings app, visit the "Update & Security → Backup" page. Around the right panel, click on the "More options" link.

Now, select the backup frequency of your choice in the "Backup your files" dropdown menu.

If you wish to, you can also configure how long Windows will keep the backups in the "Keep my backups" dropdown menu. In my case, I allow the defaults be. i.e, Windows will not delete any backups and I have to delete old backups manually.

Add folders to File History

In addition to the default user folders, you may also add custom folders to the backup. That way, you will not lose any important files.

First, connect the external hard disk and open the Settings app. In the Settings app, go to the "Update & Security → Backup" page. On the right panel, click the "More options" link.

Now, click on the "Add a folder" option under the "Back up these folders" section.

Choose the folder you need to backup and click on the "Choose folder" button.

The chosen folder will be instantly added to their email list of folders to backup. The next time Windows performs a backup, it'll include the new folder. If necessary, click on the "Backup now" button at the very top to trigger the backup right now.

Disable file history & take away the external drive

Should you no longer need the File History feature, you can disable it and even detach the linked hard drive. Here's how.

First, connect the external hard disk and open the Settings app. Within the Settings app, go to the "Update & Security → Backup" page. Here, turn off the "Automatically support my files" option.

If you wish to detach the drive, click the "More options" link. Next, scroll down and then click the "Stop by using this drive" button.

Restore files from File History

Should you ever have to restore files supported with File History, adopt these measures.

First, connect the external hard disk and open the Settings app. Within the Settings app, go to the "Update & Security → Backup" page. Here, click on the "More options" link around the right page.

Scroll all the way down and click on the "Restore files from the current backup" link.

Now, choose the folder or file you want to restore within the browse window and then click the "Restore" icon (saving money icon) at the bottom.

Once you click the button, Windows will restore the latest form of the files in the File History backup. With respect to the folder/file size, it can take some time to complete the procedure. After restoring the files, you are able to close the File History window and the Settings app.

Important Notes

Though the File History feature is pretty easy to use, there are a couple of things you should know.

First, the supported files are unencrypted. Which means that anyone with access to your external hard drive can see and access those supported files.

When you switch off and detach the hard drive from File History, it might not delete the backup files. So it's essential that you delete them manually, if necessary.

For automatic backup to work, you need to have the external hard disk connected to the system. When the drive isn't connected, File History cannot run the backup.