Previous versions from File Explorer
Right-click a file or folder in File Explorer and choose GBM AI: Previous versions to see every backed-up version of it, without looking for the job first.
You are looking at a file in File Explorer and want yesterday's version. Right-click it and choose GBM AI: Previous versions: GBM AI opens on that file's versions, from every job that backs it up. It works for folders too.
Opening it#
- In File Explorer, right-click a file, a folder, or the empty space inside a folder.
- On Windows 11, click Show more options first (or hold Shift while you right-click).
- Click GBM AI: Previous versions.
GBM AI opens (or comes to the front, if it is already open) on the Previous versions page. The menu item is in the language GBM AI was installed in. Setup adds it for every user of the PC, and uninstalling removes it. It is not added on Windows Server Core, which has no Explorer.
A file#
The page lists every version of the file, newest first. A version is listed once: every backup holds the file until it changes, so a version kept by several backups says in 12 backups, and Open opens the newest of them.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Saved | when the backup was made, how long ago, changed with the file's own date, and in N backups when several hold this version |
| Size | the file's size in that version |
| Job | the job that backed it up, with Deleted later when the file was deleted after that backup, or Drive not connected when its backup is on a drive that is away |
Click Open on a row: that backup opens with the file chosen, where you can preview it, see its versions and restore it.
The list comes from the same index as Find, so it shows files on drives that are not connected too. Restoring one of those asks for the drive. See Restoring from a drive that is not connected.
A folder#
A folder opens in the newest backup of the job that backs it up, at that folder. For a continuous job that is the restore timeline: step back to any moment, or put the whole folder back as it was.
When nothing shows#
- No backup job saves report.docx: no job's sources include the file, or the file is in a folder a job leaves out (its exclusions). Make a backup job of its folder, and its versions show here.
- No versions of report.docx yet: a job backs it up, but it has not run since the file was made. Run now (Save changes now for a continuous job) runs that job, and the page shows the version when the backup is done.
When several jobs back up the same file, the versions of all of them are listed, and All jobs above the list picks one job's. A folder opens in the job whose source is nearest to it.