Restore Backup

To restore a backup, top on the “More” tab, then the “Restore Backup” button.

Notebooks and pages from the backup will be added to what you already have in the app. Restoring does not delete anything.

Is it safe to restore from the same backup more than once?

Yes. You will not get duplicates of page scans or notebooks.

What happens to notebooks and scans I already have when I restore?

Data from the backup is merged with the state that’s already in the app.

If you have the same notebook in the app and in the backup, and you’ve scanned pages since you took the backup, you will end up with all of the pages from the backup and also any pages you added since you made the backup.

If you have notebooks in the app that don’t exist in the backup, or vice versa, you will end up with both sets of notebooks.

Can I use backups to copy data to multiple devices?

Yes. Use backup and restore as often as you like to synchronize notebooks and pages between any number of devices.

What if I scanned a page, and then restore a backup that has a scan of the same page taken at a different time?

You will keep both scans. If the page has a number then the most recent scan will show up as the “current” version of the page. The older scan can be found by selecting the “Show history” option for that page.

What if recreate a notebook after a wipe, and then I restore a backup that has the old version of the same notebook?

Usually Paper Notebook will not create duplicates of a notebook when you restore a backup. But there are scenarios where you can end up with two notebooks in the app that represent the same physical notebook. Here’s how that can happen.

Scenario 1: You made a backup, and then your notebooks were deleted from your phone somehow. Before restoring the backup you created the same notebook again. Then you restored the backup.

Let’s call the copy from the backup the “old notebook” and the other one the “new notebook”. You will see two notebooks in your bookshelf. The old notebook will have pages you scanned before making the backup. The new notebook will have pages you scanned after data was wiped from your phone.

Scenario 2: You create notebooks on two different phones that represent the same physical notebook. Then you set up multi-device sync later.

The app doesn’t know the notebooks created on the different phones are supposed to be the same notebook. You end up with two copies, one that has the pages you scanned on the first phone, the other has the pages you scanned on the second phone.

I have a feature planned to merge notebooks in case you end up in one of the scenarios where you have duplicates. If you find yourself needing this please vote here.

Safe scenarios: There are flows to make sure you end up with one copy of your notebook after restoring from backup, and after multi-device sync:

• Set up your notebook on one phone, and set up multi-device sync before scanning to that notebook on other phones.
• If you are restoring from backup, get your old notebook from the backup instead of setting it up again by hand.