About This Feature
Reading Forest automatically backs up your data while you edit. If your data becomes corrupted or you accidentally delete something, you can restore from a previous backup.
How Automatic Backup Works
Reading Forest automatically backs up your data at the following times:
- 5 minutes after editing - After you make changes, a backup is created 5 minutes later
- When switching tabs - When you switch to another tab or minimize the browser
- When closing the page - When you close the browser or tab
Backups are stored in your browser's IndexedDB. Up to 50 backups are kept, with older ones being deleted first.
Note: If you clear your browser data, backups will also be deleted.
How to Restore from Backup
-
Click "Help" in the menu bar
Open the "Help" menu in the menu bar at the top of the screen. -
Click "Restore Backup"
Select "Restore Backup" with the icon. -
Select the backup you want to restore
Backups are displayed in two sections:- Current File - Backups from the currently open file
- Other Files - Backups from other files (if any exist)
- Date/Time - When the backup was created
- Time Ago - "5 minutes ago", "2 hours ago", etc.
- Books - Number of books in the backup
- Lines / Chars - Total memo lines and total memo characters
-
Click the "Restore" button
Click the "Restore" button on the row of the backup you want to restore. -
Confirm in the dialog
A confirmation dialog will appear asking you to verify the data was restored correctly.
Restoring will overwrite your current data. Consider saving your current data to a separate file before restoring.
After Restoring
After restoring a backup, automatic backups are temporarily paused. This allows you to try another backup if the restored data isn't what you expected.
If the data was restored correctly
- Click "Data is correct" in the dialog
- Automatic backups will resume
- Save your file if needed
If the data is still not correct
- Click "Try another backup" in the dialog
- The backup list will appear again
- Select an older backup and try restoring again
While automatic backup is paused after a restore, the dialog shows "Backup is paused". Backup won't resume until you click "Data is correct".
Frequently Asked Questions
How long are backups kept?
Up to 50 backups are kept. When this limit is exceeded, the oldest backups are deleted. Depending on how often you edit, this typically covers several days to weeks of backups.
What if there are no backups available?
If no backups appear in the list, either no backups have been created yet, or your browser data has been cleared. If you have files saved to Google Drive or locally, you can restore from those instead.
Can I restore backups from another browser or device?
Backups are stored per browser product (Chrome and Edge are separate, but multiple Chrome windows share the same backups). Therefore, you cannot restore from a different browser product or device. To share data across devices, use Google Drive for storage.
Can I create backups manually?
Yes. Use [Edit] → [Save State] (shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+S) to manually backup the current state. We recommend doing this before making major changes.
Tips for Protecting Your Data
- Save to cloud regularly - Saving to Google Drive protects your data even if browser data is lost
- Keep local backups too - Download important data to your local storage as well
- Manual save before big changes - Before deleting many books, manually save the current state, or save to local/cloud storage