Backups, snapshots & recovery

Keep a dependable backup routine

1. Export a full World copy at meaningful milestones and before large reorganizations.
2. Keep media with the World file. Store at least one copy away from the app’s current working storage.
3. Give dated backups recognizable names and keep more than the latest copy.
4. Periodically open a copy in a separate location and check chapters, entities, and media. A file that has never been checked is an unverified backup.

What Snapshots provides

Select a World in the Library and show its inspector: the Snapshots section lists checkpoints and lets you take a named snapshot. Structural changes can create automatic snapshots; a manual label helps identify a moment you care about.

The snapshot list is intentionally a history view, not a whole-World Restore button. Do not assume clicking a listed snapshot will replace the World or recover a deleted local browser database. Export remains the practical way to keep an independent copy.

Use the right safety tool

• Text undo repairs recent typing in the current editor history.
• Structural Undo repairs supported organizational actions through the app’s feedback.
• Chapter versions preserve alternative drafts inside the same World.
• Snapshots record World checkpoints, but the visible list does not offer whole-World restoration.
• A downloaded/exported World is an independent copy only if you keep it outside the current working storage.

Recover without overwriting the only copy

1. Stop destructive actions. Don’t clear storage, sign out of the browser app, or overwrite the only World file.
2. If the current World is readable, export it before attempting recovery—even if it is incomplete.
3. Open or import a known good backup separately. On desktop, extract packaged media and use Open folder; use Import World for a standalone .plotscribe file.
4. Compare the copies and carry over missing work deliberately. Importing a backup is not an automatic merge with the latest draft.