Usage
Opening the view
Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) and run Time Machine: Open view. The Time Machine panel opens in the right sidebar.
The panel automatically displays snapshots for whichever file is currently active. When you switch to a different file, the view updates automatically.
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| Time Machine: Open view | Opens the Time Machine panel in the sidebar |
| Time Machine: Force file recovery snapshot for current file | Immediately creates a File Recovery snapshot for the active file, bypassing the interval timer |
Browsing snapshots
When a file has multiple snapshots with differences from the current content, a timeline slider appears at the top of the panel.
- The left end of the slider is the most recent snapshot
- The right end is the oldest snapshot
- Drag the slider to select a snapshot
- The selected snapshot’s date and relative time are displayed below the slider
- Edge labels show the dates of the newest and oldest available snapshots
When there is only one snapshot with differences, the slider is hidden and the diff is shown directly.
Source indicators
Below the date display, a source indicator shows where the selected snapshot comes from:
- Git branch icon with commit short hash, message, and author name – for git commits
- Clock icon with “File recovery” – for File Recovery snapshots
This helps you identify which source each snapshot originates from when both File Recovery and git snapshots are present on the timeline.
Snapshot filtering and deduplication
Snapshots that are identical to the current file content are automatically hidden. When multiple snapshots from different sources have the same content, only the most recent one is kept. This means:
- The snapshot count in the header reflects only unique snapshots with actual differences
- If you save your file and all snapshots match the current content, the view shows “No snapshots found”
- When you edit the file and re-open the view, previously hidden snapshots may reappear
- A git commit and a File Recovery snapshot with identical content will appear as a single entry (the newer one)
Reading the diff
The diff view shows what changed between the selected snapshot and your current file content.
- Lines with a green background and
+prefix are additions (present in current file, not in the snapshot) - Lines with a red background and
-prefix are removals (present in the snapshot, not in current file) - Lines with no highlight are context lines (unchanged)
When a line is edited rather than added or removed wholesale, only the changed words are highlighted (stronger green/red) within the line, so small edits to a long paragraph no longer show the whole paragraph as removed and re-added.
Each group of related changes is displayed as a hunk with a header showing the line range (e.g., @@ -10,5 +10,7 @@).
The diff label indicates the source:
- “Commit a1b2c3d (2026-02-11 14:30)” for git snapshots
- “Snapshot (2/11/2026, 2:30:00 PM)” for File Recovery snapshots
Restoring content
There are two ways to restore content from a snapshot:
Restore entire version
Select the Restore entire version button at the top of the diff view. This replaces the entire file content with the snapshot’s content. A confirmation dialog will ask you to confirm before proceeding.
Restoring from a git snapshot works the same way as restoring from a File Recovery snapshot – the file content is updated via Obsidian’s vault API. No git operations are performed.
Restore individual hunks
Each hunk has a restore button (rotate icon) in its header. Clicking it applies just that specific change to your current file, without affecting other parts. Hunk restores apply immediately without a confirmation dialog.
Empty states
The panel shows contextual messages when it cannot display snapshots:
- “Open a file to see its history” – no file is currently active
- “No snapshots found for this file” – the file has no snapshots from any source (or all snapshots are identical to the current content). The hint text notes that snapshots come from File Recovery and git commits.
- “File Recovery core plugin is not enabled” – shown only when File Recovery is disabled and no snapshots were found from other sources (e.g., git). Enable File Recovery in Settings -> Core plugins.