How to increase length of Previous Versions history?

Question

In Win 7 you can right-click a file or folder and access the Previous Versions.

I noticed a folder only went back about 3 months. How can I increase this to 1 year?

Solution

This is a function of System Protection and Restore Points. This feature only allows you to set the amount of storage you wish to use for restore points, not a time period. However, the more space you set aside, the further "back in time" you can restore.

To adjust the storage and other options -

Click Start - right click "Computer" --> Properties On left side, click "System protection" Select the drive you wish to change/verify System Protection storage for (only the C: drive is managed by default) Click the "Configure" button

You will see the current usage for the drive in question and a slider that allows you to change how much space is used for the restore settings.

Since this process uses a "first in, first out" (FIFO) model, as you make changes to files, the newer changes get stored and older changes get bumped out. Increasing the space allowed for the restore points will allow you store more changes going back further in time.

See the following -

Use Windows 7’s Previous Versions to Go Back in Time and Save Your Files

Comments

[Ramhound]

Have you checked to see if Windows Help documentation explains how to do this?