How to Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10


File History was first introduced in Windows 8, and has been improved in Windows 10.

You can use File History to automatically back up versions of your files on a schedule to a location you select to save to. You can select to save backups to an internal hard drive, externally connected drive (ex: USB drive), or you can save to a drive on a network. You can add, remove, and exclude folders to be backed up by File History.

Over time, you'll have a complete history of your files. If the originals are lost, damaged, or deleted, you can restore them. You can also browse and restore different versions of your files.

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove folders to be excluded from being backed up by File History for your account in Windows 10.

File History adds 26 characters to each file name as it backs up. The maximum total full path length of any file that it backs up is 210 characters, including these 26 characters. Thus any original file with a full path length of 185 or more characters is ignored and will not be included in the back up.



Contents

  • Option One: To Add Folders to be Excluded by File History in Settings
  • Option Two: To Remove Folders from being Excluded by File History in Settings
  • Option Three: To Add Folders to be Excluded by File History in Control Panel
  • Option Four: To Remove Folders from being Excluded by File History in Control Panel






OPTION ONE

To Add Folders to be Excluded by File History in Settings


1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the Update & security icon.

2 Click/tap on Backup on the left side, and click/tap on the More options on the right side. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_exclude_folders_settings.png

3 Scroll down to the Exclude these folders section, and click/tap on Add a folder. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_add_exclude_folders_settings-1.png

4 Browse to and select a drive, folder, or library you want to exclude, and click/tap on Choose this folder. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_add_exclude_folders_settings-2.png

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 above if you want to exclude any other folders.

6 When finished, you can close Settings if you like.(see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_add_exclude_folders_settings-3.png






OPTION TWO

To Remove Folders from being Excluded by File History in Settings


1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the Update & security icon.

2 Click/tap on Backup on the left side, and click/tap on the More options link on the right side. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_exclude_folders_settings.png

3 Scroll down to the Exclude these folders section, and click/tap on an excluded folder you no longer want to be excluded. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_remove_exclude_folders_settings-1.png

4 Click/tap on Remove. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_remove_exclude_folders_settings-2.png

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 above if you want to remove any other folders from being excluded.

6 When finished, you can close Settings if you like.






OPTION THREE

To Add Folders to be Excluded by File History in Control Panel


1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the File History icon.

2 Click/tap on the Exclude folders link on the left side. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_exclude_folders.png

3 Click/tap on the Add button. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_add_exclude_folders-1.png

4 Browse to and select a drive, folder, or library you want to exclude, and click/tap on Select folder. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_add_exclude_folders-2.png

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 above if you want to exclude any other folders.

6 When finished, click/tap on Save changes to apply. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_add_exclude_folders-3.png

7 You can now close the File History Control Panel if you like.






OPTION FOUR

To Remove Folders from being Excluded by File History in Control Panel


1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the File History icon.

2 Click/tap on the Exclude folders link on the left side. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_exclude_folders.png

3 Select an excluded folder you no longer want to be excluded, and click/tap on Remove. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_remove_exclude_folders-1.png

4 Repeat step 3 above if you want to remove any other folders from being excluded.

5 When finished, click/tap on Save changes to apply. (see screenshot below)

Exclude Folders from File History in Windows 10-file_history_remove_exclude_folders-2.png

6 You can now close the File History Control Panel if you like.


That's it,
Shawn