How to delete older versions of File History on Windows 10

On Windows 10, File History is a feature that allows you to create periodic incremental backups of your files on an external drive or network folder. The only problem is that every time files change, new copies are created, and over time the storage can grow large causing to run out of space on the drive saving the backups.

If you ever start running out of space, File History includes a clean up tool to delete old versions of files and folders keeping only the most recent versions. 

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to delete older files and folders using the File History Cleanup versions option on Windows 10.

How to delete older versions of files on File History

To delete old versions of files and folders in File History, use these steps:

1. Open Settings on Windows 10.

2. Click on Update & Security.

3. Click on Backup.

4. Click on More options.

   

5. Under the “Related settings” section, click the See advanced settings option.

   

6. Click the “Advanced settings” option from the left pane.

   

7. Under the “Versions” section, click the Clean up versions options.

   

8. Use the drop-down menu to decide files that you want to delete from the backup. Options available, include:

   • All but the latest one.
   • Older than 3 months.
   • Older than 6 months.
   • Older than 9 months.
   • Older than 1 year.
   • Older than 2 years.

   

9. Click the Clean up button.

Once you complete the steps, File History will delete older copies of files and folders depending on the option that you specified.

If File History contains some files that you don’t wish to keep, but you don’t want to use the clean up tool as it may remove other files, then you can manually delete individual files from the backup using these steps.