Reading transient data into EnSight is essentially the same as reading static data (see Read Data for more information). By default, the last time step will become the current time step. This behavior is based on the assumption that the last step will contain the largest dynamic range of the variable data so that variable palettes will be initialized properly.
However, you can override this by clicking the Specify Starting step toggle and entering the desired time step under the Time options tab in the File → Open... dialog.
Note: For some data formats, you can also monitor the dataset for new timesteps as described in Solution Time.
For many data formats, some type of "results" file supplies the necessary time information, including number of steps, actual solution time at each step, and how to access the dynamic variable and geometry files. However, some formats supported by EnSight include this information in the same file that contains other geometry or variable data. EnSight 6 and EnSight Gold formats have a casefile which contains solution time information and how this is tied to each variable and the geometry. The manner for each format can vary widely enough that we refer you to Reader Basics, Native EnSight Format Readers, and Other Readers.