Backup and export

Getting your work out, and getting it back.

Project backup

A backup is a complete copy of one project as a file you keep: every record, every chapter, the relations between them, the custom fields and the images.

It streams rather than being assembled in memory, so the size of the project does not matter.

Restoring

A backup restores into a project. The file is capped at 20 MB on the way back in, and a restore is rate-limited — it is a heavy operation and not one you should need often.

A restore is not a merge. Be deliberate about what you are restoring into.

Manuscript export

For the text rather than the workings: DOCX, PDF, Markdown or EPUB, covered in the manuscript view.

Use a backup to protect the project. Use a manuscript export to send the book somewhere.

Duplicating a project

A project can be duplicated — useful for a second draft you want to diverge, or a template you reuse. Limited to a few an hour, because it copies everything.

Your account's data

You can ask for a copy of everything associated with your account, or ask for the account to be erased. Both are handled by writing to us; see account and security.

What we do

Independently of your backups, the database is backed up and the restore procedure is rehearsed rather than assumed. That protects against our failures; a project backup protects against yours, and the two are not substitutes.