Restoring Files with Time Machine

In this lesson for macOS Mojave, I look at how to use Time Machine to recover files from a backup.

Entering Time Machine
You’ll want to install the Time Machine menu extra into the Menu Bar to have easy access to Time Machine. To do this, open System Preferences and select Time Machine. Then click on the checkbox for Show Time Machine in Menu Bar. Once it is installed in your Menu Bar, when you click on it, you will see Enter Time Machine. Select this to Enter Time Machine.

Viewing your Backups while in Time Machine
When you enter Time Machine, you will see the folder you are in stacked on top of each other. Each folder is a backup. To go back in time, just click on one of the windows in the background. You can also click on the arrows to the right of the windows. You’ll see the date of the backup to the right of the windows as well. You can select other folders while in Time Machine. Also on the right side of your display, you’ll see a number of horizontal lines, these also indicate backups. Just click on any one of them to go back to that backup.

Restoring Files and Folders from a Backup
Once you find the files or folders you want to restore, select it in the backup and then click on Restore at the bottom of the window. Your files or folders will be restored to the folder.

See this Lesson Action
To see this lesson in action, take a look at the video above.