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How Do I Restore a Programme Using Time Machine?

How do I restore programmes using time machine? Such as word for Mac. I am using the latest version of MacOS Mojave as of April 2019 10.14.5 It is a iMac 2015
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Dwain Thomas

Comments: One Response to “How Do I Restore a Programme Using Time Machine?”

    5 years ago

    First, I would consider whether you really need to restore the app from your backup. Typically, when you uninstaller an app the best way to put it back on your computer is to reinstall it the same way you installed it before. For instance, if you bought it from the Mac App Store, just grab it from there again. Once you have purchased an app, then you can always re-install it from there.

    In the case of Microsoft Word, if you may have gotten it from the Mac App Store. Or, you may have purchased it directly from Microsoft and installed it as part of a Office 365 subscription. If so, you should be able to get it from Microsoft's site again using the account you have there. But you may want to consider the Mac App Store again as you should be able to grab it there (for free) and log in with your Microsoft account when you run the app. That is a pretty recent thing and not everyone realizes you can download from the Mac App Store and use your Microsoft account inside the "free" app.

    If you have an older version of Word, then where did you get it from? Can you log into your Microsoft account and see the purchase? If so, it may let you download it again or offer update options if it is a very old version.

    If you really want to try to restore the app from Time Machine, you should be able to do it the same way you restore any file. Go to the folder, in this case the Applications folder (system level, not user level most likely) and then enter Time Machine. Then go back in time in the Time Machine interface to when the app was last there. Then select it and Restore.

    Of course if there is more to the app, like files in the Library folder, you would need to restore those too. Unless they are still there or running the app would simply trigger those files to be recreated. Hard to know without trying.

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