How to Back Up Your Files Using File History in Windows 11

How to Back Up Your Files Using File History in Windows 11

Before we get started, if you’re using Windows 10 you can use File History to back up your files too. We have a tutorial for Windows 10 users here.

File History in Windows 11 is a great way to back up your files automatically.

Here’s how to turn it on:

1. Connect an External Drive:

File History requires an external drive to store your backups. Make sure you have one connected to your computer. We suggest you use a 1 TB external drive or larger.

2. Open File History:

Type FILE HISTORY in the taskbar search and click on “File History app” when it appears in the search results.

You can also open File History by typing CONTROL PANEL in the taskbar search to open the Control Panel. In the Control Panel, make sure the “View by” option in the top right is set to either “Large icons” or “Small icons.”Click on File History.

3. Turn on File History:

You should see a message in the File History window saying “File History is turned off”. Click the Turn on button.

4. (Optional) Configure Settings:

After turning it on, you can click on Advanced Settings on the left side to customize. (We recommend you leave these settings at their defaults changing only “How long to keep saved versions” to “Until space is needed”.)

— How often files are saved: (e.g., every 10 minutes, every hour, etc.)
— How long to keep saved versions: (e.g., forever, until space is needed, etc.) We recommend “Until space is needed”.
— Folders to exclude: You can exclude specific folders from being backed up.

Now you know how to set up Windows File History backup in Windows 11.