How to Remove Specific Items from a Time Machine Backup

3:06 PM, Dec. 19th, 2011 · by Jim Tanous · MGG Answers

Question:

David writes: I have been doing some work for a company and keeping their files on my Mac. The files were backed up with Time Machine along with everything else on my Mac. Now that the project is over, I’d like to delete the files, but don’t want them to be retained in my Time Machine backup. How can I delete just these specific files from Time Machine?

Answer:

Using Finder, go to the parent folder that contains the files or folder you want to delete. Then enter Time Machine by using the dock icon or the menu bar.

Delete Time Machine Backups

Use the Time Machine interface to selectively remove items from your backup.

Once the Time Machine interface has loaded, highlight the files or folder you want to delete from the backup and click the widget icon in the Finder’s toolbar.

Choose “Delete All Backups…” and once you give permission they will be removed from your Time Machine Archive!