Time Machine browse interface not showing older files

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Level 1

5 points

Time Machine browse interface not showing older files

Why does "Browse Timemachine Backups" not show any older files to be restored - what am I doing wrong?

I had a data file that became corrupted and thought, no problems I will restore a recent one from Time Machine. I opened the folder where it was located and went to Browse Time Machine backups. The interface changed with the timeline down the RHS. However, as I 'went back in time" there were not available files. I found one from a year ago but nothing from today, yesterday, last week, last month. I was starting to panic.

I then looked at my timemachine disk and opened it in finder and could see all the dated snapshots from from today, yesterday etc. I opened up one from yesterday and drilled down to the location of my damaged file and lo and behold there was a nicely backed up copy that I could just copy to my desktop. Panic over.

So WHY could I not see these snapshots displayed in the normal TM interface?

I am running an M1 Mac Studio under Sequoa 15.6.1

Mac Studio, macOS 15.6

Posted on Dec 3, 2025 1:25 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

iamshivam

Level 2

152 points

Dec 4, 2025 1:30 AM in response to David White1

The TM interface only shows snapshots for the folder exactly as it exists today.

If the file or its parent folders were renamed, moved, or deleted at any point, the UI can’t map the old path to the current one, so it looks like nothing exists in the past. The backups are still there, as you saw when you opened the snapshot directly, but the TM browser basically loses the breadcrumb trail and refuses to surface them. It’s a long-standing quirk, especially on APFS-based backups in Sequoia. In cases like this, opening the snapshot in Finder is the reliable fallback.

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