Cannot delete backed-up files in Time Machine

One can't delete backed up files in Time Machine from the Finder. It must be done from within the Time Machine app. One must enter Time Machine, find the item you want to delete, Control (right) - click on it and select Delete All Backups of "xxxx" from the contextual menu.

Once you do than you can click on the Cancel button to exit Time Machine but the deletion will continue.

The following screenshot illustrates how one can delete an entire external HD's backups from Time Machine.

1 - mount the EHD and open it.

2 - enter Time Machine.

3 - select all items on the EHD in Time Machine

4 - Control (right) - click on the selected item and choose Delete all backups ofd xxx items

5 - once that's done you can hit the Cancel button to exit TM and the deletions will continue.

It will also work for any individual file one would like to remove all backups of.

I have this exact issue. Although I am running 10.14 Mojave. I'd like to point out that the screen shot is taken from within Time Machine (not the finder) so the accepted response was not an accurate answer.

I'd like to add that I previously deleted the folder in question from my desktop, then decided it wasn't needed in the backups to take up space. When I enter Time Machine and navigate to the folder I want to delete, I don't have the ability to select 'Delete All Backups of...' it just isn't an option.

Thanks in advance, any thoughts??

I'm having the exact same problem as justbrock and jpdemers.

I'm also an Apple certified technician and can confirm that the option to delete all backups is simply not there in Mojave 10.14.1. I have a large file I need to remove and I can't even do it manually let alone in the Time Machine app.

Note: This is on High Sierra, so I hope it applies to Mojave too.

When you launch Time Machine, you see the current view with all the archived backup views stacked behind it.

As far as I can tell, the "Delete All Backups" option only appears on the current and most-recent-backup views.

Here's a tricky situation: Last month you had a folder called "ABC", which you've since deleted. You can't delete its backups from the current view, because there's no longer any folder to click on.

I suspect you have to first restore it from last month's backup, then "Delete All Backups" from the current/most-recent view.

(I tried creating a new, empty folder with the same name and "Delete All Backups" on that, but it didn't work—Time Machine correctly recognized it as a different folder even though it had the same name.)

Also, it seems that "Delete All Backups" appears on the current and most-recent views, and "Delete Backup" appears on just the most-recent view.

Update: Now I see the delete options appearing sporadically on older backups, too. Not sure if there's some obscure behind-the-scenes logic dictating which folders can be deleted, or if it just takes a while for Time Machine to load the metadata that enables deletion. (Time Machine can take a while to load everything on a large backup.) In any case, the current/most-recent trick seems reliable for me.

Yes it appears that Mojave screwed up this feature. Cannot delete files or folders from Time Machine anymore.

Apple please do quickly fix this!!!!