Taking a snapshot

To take a snapshot, drag-and-drop items (files/folders) onto the Folder Snapshot Utility dock icon.

Advanced users may also wish to avail the ‘Take Snapshot’ option in the Finder’s ‘right-click’ menu.  This can be enabled or disabled in Folder Snapshot Utility’s preferences window.

About the snapshots…

The snapshots will be saved in your destination in a structure like:

Accounts Screenshots.snapshots/2021-06-10-at-17-57-02.snapshot

These directories, and all the files within, are read-only.  This is to preserve the integrity of the backup – to help guard against accidental modification.

To restore items from a snapshot, just copy them out of the snapshot.  Then, in Finder, right-click and choose Get Info.  Under ‘Sharing and Permissions’ in the Info panel, set the owner privileges to ‘Read & Write’.

If the item you restored is a folder, click on the gear drop-down menu in this panel and choose ‘apply to enclosed items’.

Now the snapshot is restored and unlocked for use.