You must have encountered the situation that while copying files to your Mac, a pop-up asked you whether to replace the existing version or not. And it is the same while editing files, and you pressed "Command" and "S" keys. Generally, we’re very likely to click "Replace" since we know what we’re doing and the current files we’re operated on, right? However, due to the self-confidence, we may make mistakes by replacing the current files. That’s the reason why we need to learn how to recover a replaced file on Mac with/without Time Machine.
Accidentally replaced file how to recover on Mac? like recover replaced files on Mac with Time Machine, make full use of the AutoSave to retrieve the replaced files, and scan for the replaced files on Mac as well. Here in the following, let’s learn the details for all the ways available for how to undo replace file on Mac.
While search at Google.com, you can see many people are asking "how do I recover a replaced file on Mac?" I guess the reason they asked is that they may have not enabled the Time Machine backup feature before they replace the files on Mac. Actually, it’s OK if you know how to make full use of the internet and software available. By using the data recovery software, you can scan for all the invisible files and recover deleted files on Mac, including the replaced files on your Mac.
There are many Mac file recovery software for you to recover replaced files on Mac without Time Machine available on the internet. Here, I’d like to recommend you try iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac. The reasons are very simple, check them out:
Click the download button to get the latest version of the best recovery software for Mac. It’s fully compatible with all the macOS. Feel Free to download and install it. Please note that since Apple officially does not allow any recover replaced file Mac tool to download available at App Store, so you need to download it from here. And please set up the preferences of your Mac to install apps from trusted sources and App Store. Install the program on your Mac as you do with the other software. Then, follow this guide for how to recover replaced files on Mac without Time Machine.
Launch the replace file recovery Mac software and in the main window, select the file types the replaced files belong to. By default, all supported files are selected. By only selecting the needed file types, it will short the whole scanning process. Click "Start" to let the software begins to work.
If the replaced files are in an external hard drive on your Mac, you need to connect it with your Mac. You can see all hard drives, including the ones connected with your Mac are there. Please make clear where the replaced files once existed and select the target drive, click "Scan". After then, the software begins to scan for the replaced files on your Mac.
Last, be patient for the software to finish the whole scanning process. After then, you can see the found files are sorted into categories, listing on the left panel. Select target file types in the left panel and preview the files on the right side. When finding the replaced files, select them and recover them to your Mac.
You can see the "Deep Scan" option in the result window. If you haven’t found the replaced files on Mac using the default mode "Quick Scan", please try the "Deep Scan". It’s more powerful than the Quick Scan mode, helping you find and recover more files on Mac.
Time Machine is a built-in feature for Mac users. It enables users to back up chosen files at a regular time. If you had enabled the Time Machine feature before you replaced the needed files on Mac, you can try to recover the replaced files with Time Machine. The steps are very simple:
Step 1. Run Time Machine on your Mac from the Dock. After then, you need to distinguish which are the replaced files since there are many files. You filter the files with the last time modified, file names, and so on.
Step 2. Find and select the files which were replaced, click the "Restore" button to recover the replaced files on Mac. The recovered files will be put back to where once they were before the replacement.
No matter Windows OS or macOS, there is a useful feature named "AutoSave". The AutoSave feature on Mac saves all the versions of your documents. It does the backup every hour and every time when you open, revert, modify, rename or save it. Here are the steps for how to undo replace file on Mac, but AutoSave.
Step 1. First, please open the file in which the system asked you to replace the existing one. After then, please click the "File" menu on the top left side and select "Revert to" > "Browse All Version".
Step 2. In the list of all previous versions of the file, select the target one and click "Restore" get the recover overwritten files on Mac without time machine.