Viewing and Restoring via the Finder:

Before restoring anything, be sure to quit any app that uses the data you want to restore. 

There's a demonstration of two ways to find and restore in the Time Machine Tutorial. 

Or, open a Finder window to the appropriate place (a particular folder, your home folder, your internal HD, your Computer, etc.), and Enter Time Machine by clicking the Time Machine icon in your Dock, or select Enter Time Machine from the TM icon in your menubar.  The first display is titled Today (Now) at the bottom, and shows the current contents of the folder, drive, or whole system that was selected in the Finder window when you started.

Note that what you see once you're in Time Machine depends on how your Finder window appeared before you clicked the Time Machine icon.  If you were on your Desktop, you'll see a Finder window showing only your desktop;  if on your home folder, when you get into Time Machine, that's what you'll see.  Once there, you cannot add a sidebar for other selections, or the toolbar (you may need the "gear" or "action" icon if you’re on Leopard) by clicking the lozenge in the upper right.  If you need these, select them before entering Time Machine.

Note the timeline ... this account didn’t exist (so of course wasn’t backed-up), at the time of the backups shown faded out, above the arrow, instead of white or pink, so you can't select those backups (sorry, it’s a bit hard to see in the sample here;  see question #15A for details).

Search for the item you want, by entering search terms in the search box at the upper-right corner of the Finder window.  Use the arrows and/or Time Line on the right to browse through the backups:  the search will be performed in each window you select.

Or navigate to the backup you want to restore from via the "cascade" of Finder windows, or the forward/backward arrows, or the TimeLine. 

If you don't know where to look for what you want, see question #28.

Once you find what you want, select it, click Restore in the lower right, and Time Machine will put the selected item in the same place it was saved from (if possible;  see below).

Most data can be seen or restored via the Finder, but there are special, easier to-use-displays for some applications under some circumstances.

If you're new to the Time Machine browser (the "Star Wars" display), review the Finder section below first, as the displays and procedures are similar.   If you have trouble understanding or navigating the display, including finding the ~/Library folder (the Library folder inside your home folder), see question #15A. 

(Note: if you got here from a link saying something like:  "see the <colored> box in #15 ...), those boxes have been replaced by links, as noted below):

Then see the appropriate links below for details on the special displays:

If you want to restore to a different location, select the item(s),

but instead of the Restore button, control-click (right-click) the item (on Leopard, click the "gear" icon in the toolbar).  That will produce a "contextual" menu something like this (the contents vary depending on what's selected, and whether you're on a backup, a Local snapshot, or the Today (Now) window:

Select the "Restore <item> to ..." option. 

You’ll then see a window to choose the desired location.  See Question #16 for details.

8/25/13

Copyright © 2013 James Pond.  All rights reserved.