Get Your Files Back in Windows with Previous Versions

May 12, 2009
Written by Joanne Jennings

Panic usually sets in when the file that you carefully worked on all day suddenly is corrupt, accidently modified, or deleted. For Windows users, all is not lost though–the previous versions feature allows you to turn back the clock to restore an earlier version of the file.

The previous versions feature works off of shadow copies, essentially snapshots of files or folders that Windows saves at different times as part of a restore point for your computer. Windows Vista users can envoke this feature for files stored on their computers’ hard drives or on their OET network drives. Windows XP users can use this feature on any file stored on their OET network drives.

To restore a file to an earlier version in Windows Vista, right click on any available file and select Restore previous versions. In Windows XP, right click on any file stored on your OET network drive, select Properties, and the Previous Versions tab. You will see a list of any available previous versions and have an option to open, copy, or restore each file. To avoid accidently overwriting a file, OET recommends that you choose Copy and Make a New Folder to keep the restored file separate from any current file.

To restore a deleted file, right click on the folder that it was saved in and select Restore previous versions in Vista, or within XP, select Properties and the Previous Versions tab. You will restore an entire folder in this case, so choose Copy and Make a New Folder so that you do not overwrite the current folder with the restored version.