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Undo a restore

What you'll do: get back the version of a file that a restore (or a rebuild) replaced.
What you need: nothing: the replaced versions are on your computer.
How long it takes: 2 minutes.

Before a restore replaces anything, Deucalion moves the current version into the undo folder, Deucalion-before-restore in your home folder. Each restore gets its own folder, named after the date and time, and inside it the full path of each file:

$ find ~/Deucalion-before-restore
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091110
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091110/home
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091110/home/alex
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091110/home/alex/Documents
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091110/home/alex/Documents/Notes.txt
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091135
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091135/home
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091135/home/alex
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091135/home/alex/Documents
/home/alex/Deucalion-before-restore/2026-10-12_091135/home/alex/Documents/Budget 2026.ods

So ~/Documents/Budget 2026.ods, replaced by a restore, is in ~/Deucalion-before-restore/<date>_<time>/home/alex/Documents/Budget 2026.ods.

  1. Right after a restore, click Open Replaced Files: the Files app opens that restore's undo folder. (Later, open your home folder in the Files app, then Deucalion-before-restore and the dated folder.)
  2. Go down to the file (home › alex › Documents).
  3. Drag it back to its original folder (or copy it there) and choose Replace when asked.

Move the file back with mv, using the dated folder shown by find instead of <date>_<time>:

mv ~/Deucalion-before-restore/<date>_<time>/home/alex/Documents/"Budget 2026.ods" ~/Documents/

Other undo folders

A rebuild uses the same folder: …-paths, …-desktop and …-crontab folders hold settings files, desktop settings and the crontab it replaced. /etc files are kept in /var/backups/deucalion/ instead.

If a file couldn't be moved into the undo folder (for example it is on another disk), it is kept next to the original as name.before-restore-<date>, and the restore says so.

Deucalion never deletes the undo folder. Delete old dated folders yourself when you no longer need them (it is never backed up).

What you have now: your previous version back.