Restore Older Versions of Files

KDE Linux automatically takes snapshots of files in your home folder so you can restore older versions — even without an off-device backup.

Snapshots are periodically pruned so that only a maximum of 19 are retained, to avoid using too much disk space. Old versions of files are kept for up to 2 months; after that, their snapshot is pruned.

Restore an older version of a file

  1. Open Dolphin and navigate to the file.
  2. Right-click on the file.
  3. Select View snapshots….
  4. Select the version of the file you’d like to restore.
  5. Copy the file.
  6. Leave the snapshots view.
  7. Paste the file.
  8. In the dialog window that appears, click Overwrite.

Restore a file that was accidentally deleted

  1. Open Dolphin and right-click on the folder which contained the deleted file.
  2. Select Browse snapshots…
  3. This takes you to a view showing all the available snapshots sorted by date.
  4. Enter the desired snapshot and navigate to the place where the deleted file used to be.
  5. Copy the file.
  6. Leave the snapshots view.
  7. Navigate to the place where you’d like the file to be restored
  8. Paste the file.

Manually take a new snapshot

The system automatically takes a new snapshot every hour, but you can do it manually, too. There are two options, depending on the desired lifetime of the new snapshot:

1. Pruned automatically on the standard schedule

Use a terminal window to run snapper --config home_$(id -u) create --cleanup-algorithm timeline.

2. Pruned only when you do it manually

Use a terminal window to run snapper --config home_$(id -u) create --description [desc].

Replace [desc] with some text to remind yourself of why you made this snapshot!

Manually prune a snapshot

First see the list of snapshots for your user by using a terminal window to run snapper --config home_$(id -u) list.

Then prune the desired snapshot: snapper --config home_$(id -u) delete --sync [id].

Replace [id] with the number of the snapshot you want to delete, or multiple IDs separated by spaces (for example, 1 6 27), or a range (for example 25-157).

Turn the snapshot system off and on

To turn the snapshot system off, use a terminal window to run systemctl disable --now snapper-timeline.timer.

To turn it back on again, run systemctl enable --now snapper-timeline.timer.

More information

Article contributed by under the CC-BY-4.0 license.