Deleting Files from Time Machine Backups

Apple has done a not-so-great job in documenting how to properly delete files from a Time Machine backup: Time Machine's online help doesn't explain how to do this, yet the solution is mentioned shortly on Time Machine's product page on the Apple website (it's under "Back up only what you need"). No wonder that, even though this topic has been addressed on several websites already, people keep asking how this works. Here's the answer to that question -- yet again.

Aaaaaaand Action Menu!

The features you're looking for are located in the Action menu in the Finder's toolbar: after launching Time Machine with the Finder in the foreground, find the files that you would like to delete, select them, and open the Action menu.

To delete just the version of these files specific for the date you are currently looking at, choose "Delete Backup". All other versions of these files -- both older and newer -- will not be touched and remain in the Time Machine backup. To completely delete all versions of the files from Time Machine, choose "Delete All Backups of <...>".

By the way, there's another useful command in the Action menu: "Restore <...> to…". Unlike the Restore button in the lower right corner of Time Machine's full-screen window, which restores files to their original location, you can use this menu command to save the restored files to another folder or even another hard drive.

Note that, unlike in the "normal" Finder, the functionality found in the Action menu while in Time Machine is not available in a context menu, so you must have the Action menu installed to access the Time Machine features explained here. If the Action menu is missing from the Finder windows on your Mac, simply re-install it via the Finder's View > Customize toolbar… menu command.

Mo' Safer Backup Deletion

In case you would like to securely erase sensitive data that has ended up in your Time Machine backup, deleting them as described above is just the first step: as with any file deletion in the Finder, only the deleted files' entries in the hard drive's directory are removed -- the actual data is still on the drive and can possibly be retrieved with utilities like TechTool Pro. To prevent that from happening, use the "Erase Free Space" function in Disk Utility after you've deleted the files from Time Machine.

Have you found any other not-as-obvious-as-they-should-be features in Time Machine? Let's hear 'em in the comments!