Restore
Restore files from backup with file-level precision, point-in-time selection, and cross-device recovery.
File-Level Restore
BackupEngine lets you restore individual files or entire folders without downloading your full backup. The GUI's Restore tab is the full-featured browse-and-pick experience. As of v1.12.2 the CLI runs a real end-to-end restore — list manifests, pick a version, restore the whole set to a target folder.
- •Open the desktop agent and go to the Restore tab.
- •Select the backup set. If multiple destinations exist, choose which copy to restore from.
- •Browse the folder tree or use the search bar to find specific files. Click the Name, Size or Date modified column header to sort the list (click again to reverse it).
- •Check the files or folders you want to restore.
- •Choose a destination: original location (with optional overwrite) or a new folder.
- •Click Restore to begin downloading and decrypting the selected files.
# List all restore points (manifests) for a backup set.
# Each row shows the millisecond timestamp ("Version") you can pin in restore run --version.
backupengine restore list Documents
# Restore the newest version of every file in the set to a fresh folder.
backupengine restore run Documents --output "C:\restore\documents-now"
# Restore a specific historical version (timestamp from the list above).
backupengine restore run Documents \
--output "C:\restore\documents-2026-05-03" \
--version 1777841762448
# JSON output for scripted recovery jobs.
backupengine restore list Documents --jsonℹ Note
--output preserving the original folder layout. Throttled progress prints once per 500 ms. Press Ctrl+C to abort — files already written stay on disk so you can re-run the restore and pick up where you left off.⚠ Warning
Point-in-Time Restore
Every backup run creates a timestamped snapshot. You can browse your files as they existed at any previous backup point and restore from that exact moment. This is essential for recovering from accidental edits, deletions, or file corruption.
- •In the Restore tab, use the timeline slider or calendar picker to select a date and time.
- •The file browser updates to show the state of your files at that point.
- •Select and restore files exactly as they were at the chosen moment.
- •Compare versions side-by-side before restoring to make sure you have the right one.
ℹ Note
restore list + restore run --version <ts> (v1.12.2+) covers point-in-time selection too — list returns one row per backup run with a millisecond timestamp, pass that timestamp to --version to restore that exact moment.💡 Tip
Version History
Right-click any file in the Restore tab to view its complete version history. Each version shows the backup timestamp, file size, and whether the file was added, modified, or renamed.
- •See every version of a file across all backup runs.
- •Download any previous version directly.
- •Compare file sizes to identify when significant changes occurred.
- •Versions are deduplicated at the chunk level, so storing many versions is storage-efficient.
ℹ Note
Cross-Device Restore
You can restore backups made on any computer in your account — when migrating to a new computer, recovering after hardware failure, or fetching a file from another office. Sets that belong to another computer appear in the Restore tab's Source list with an Other device chip; their cloud destinations can be browsed and restored here (Local PC and network-folder destinations stay on the computer that owns them). Each computer encrypts its backups with its own key — even if you used the same passphrase on both, the keys differ — so the first time you open another computer's backup, Backup Engine tells you which computer made it and asks for that computer's encryption passphrase. The key is kept in memory for this session only: it is never saved, it is cleared when you lock the app, sign out or quit, and this computer's own encryption setup is not changed. On a computer without its own encryption, you can tick Also use this key for this computer's backups to make it this computer's setup.
- •Install Backup Engine on the computer you are restoring to and sign in with the same account.
- •Open the Restore tab. Backups from your other computers are listed with an "Other device" chip.
- •Click Browse (or Restore VMs / Restore Databases for server backups). When asked, choose "Enter that computer's encryption passphrase" and type the passphrase of the computer that made the backup.
- •Select files and restore as usual. "← Back to backups" (or Alt+← / Esc outside the search box) returns to the list.
# The command line cannot take another computer's passphrase yet: # "restore list" counts that computer's backups as locked. # Restore them from the app's Restore tab, or run the CLI on the computer that made them. backupengine restore list Documents
⚠ Warning
Live Restore Status (v1.11.9)
While a restore is running you get a live view of progress in three places at once: the Restore screen itself shows a progress bar with bytes / files / transfer rate / ETA, the Dashboard banner shows the set name + percent, and the system tray icon animates the same way it does during a backup. Hovering the tray icon shows “Backup Engine — Running restore...”.
- •Restore screen: live percent + bytes/files/rate/ETA + the file currently downloading.
- •Dashboard banner: "Restore in progress — <set name> — N%".
- •Tray icon: 8-frame pulse animation; tooltip distinguishes backup vs. restore vs. both.
- •Cancel button on the Restore screen stops the run at the next file or chunk boundary (typically <1s).
ℹ Note
⚠ Warning
Selecting Files in the Tree (v1.11.10)
The folder picker on step 2 cascades selection to every descendant when you check a parent folder. Checking a top-level folder visibly checks every sub-folder beneath it; un-checking removes the entire subtree. The “N files selected” counter reports leaf files only, so it stays accurate even when many intermediate folders are checked.
💡 Tip
Searching Inside a Backup (v1.37.0)
On step 2 the file browser has a search box, so you no longer have to know where a file lived. Type at least two characters and the right-hand pane turns into a flat list of matches; the folder tree stays on the left. Each match shows the file name with the matched part highlighted, the folder it is in, its size and when it was modified. Clear the box, or press Esc, to return to the folder view with everything you ticked still ticked.
- •Choose the backup set, date and time as usual, then click the search box (or press Ctrl+F).
- •Type part of the name: "invoice" finds Invoice-2026.pdf. Use * and ? for patterns, for example "*.pdf", "file*.pdf" or "test*.*", and [ab] or [a-f] for one character from a set ("[ab]*.pdf"). Several words must all match; "*.pdf|*.docx" or "invoice OR receipt" matches either; a leading - or ! leaves matches out ("report -draft", "-*.tmp"). Put a phrase in quotes to match it exactly. The ? button next to the box lists these tips.
- •Include a backslash or slash to match the path as well, for example "Projects\2025" or "photos/2024".
- •Use the scope switch to search everywhere in the backup or only in the folder you are viewing. Clicking a folder in the tree while searching narrows to that folder.
- •Open Filters to limit to files or folders, to document, image, video and audio, or archive types or your own extension list, and to a modified-date range. Filters work with or without words in the box: choose Images with the box empty to list every image in the folder you are viewing (switch the scope to Everywhere for the whole backup). Clear filters returns to the folder view.
- •Tick matches to add them to the restore, or use Select all. "Show in folder" jumps to where a file lives. The list shows the first 500 matches and the true total; add a word, an extension or a folder to narrow a large result.
# Search is in the app. From a script, pick the restore point and restore # the set or a folder; the app shows the same restore points. backupengine restore list Documents backupengine restore run Documents --output "C:\restore\documents" --version 1792694186164
ℹ Note