Back Up to a Cloud Drive

Save WonderPen’s Zip backups in a third-party cloud drive’s local sync folder to keep an off-device copy. If your computer is damaged or lost, you can still retrieve backups that finished uploading.

WonderPen creates backups on your computer; the cloud drive client uploads them. To continue writing across devices, use WonderPen’s Cloud Sync.

Add a Cloud Drive Backup Location

1. Install and sign in to your cloud drive client. Confirm that its local sync folder is readable, writable, and able to upload files.
2. Open Settings → Backup in WonderPen.
3. Under Extra Backup Directories, click Add and choose a backup folder inside the cloud drive’s local sync folder.
4. Make sure Enable auto backup is checked and set the backup interval as needed.

Use a cloud drive folder as an additional backup location

The screenshot uses a Dropbox folder as an example; choose the sync folder for your own cloud drive. Each time WonderPen creates a backup, it saves a copy here, organized by Library name inside a WonderPen.backup folder.

You can keep internal backups and multiple additional backup locations. After changing computers or reinstalling the operating system, add the cloud drive location here again; WonderPen does not automatically discover previous backup locations. See Backup and Restore for permission troubleshooting and other backup options.

Check the Backup and Upload

1. Open the Library you want to back up, click its name at the top left of the main window, and choose Backup and Restore.

2. Click Backup Now at the top right of the panel and wait for it to finish. If the app reports partial backup success, check the message and resolve the issue first.

   

   Backup Now at the top right of the Backup and Restore panel

3. Check the cloud drive client to confirm that the corresponding Zip file has finished uploading.

A local file alone does not confirm that a cloud copy is available. The cloud drive client must run and complete the upload. Paused uploads, a lost network connection, or insufficient cloud storage may leave new backups waiting to upload.

Sync Backups; Do Not Directly Sync the Library

WARNING

Do not directly synchronize an active Library folder (.wplibrary) through a third-party cloud drive.

WonderPen 2.5 and earlier primarily stored Library data in multiple JSON files. Starting with version 2.6, WonderPen switched to SQLite databases for better performance and more complex queries. Directly syncing a Library through a cloud drive, as users could do with older versions, is therefore no longer suitable for the current version.

Directly syncing an active Library introduces several problems:

• Frequent changes can increase synchronization overhead. Database files are updated frequently while you write, so even a small text edit may trigger an upload. The amount transferred depends on features such as incremental synchronization. If the cloud drive needs to upload the entire database file again, data usage and waiting time can increase substantially.
• Synced files may not form a complete, consistent copy. A cloud drive detects and transfers file changes, but those changes alone do not tell it whether the database and its related files form a consistent whole. If the database is still being written to, or related files have not all finished syncing, another device may receive an incomplete copy that cannot be opened correctly.
• Changes from different devices may overwrite each other. If two devices edit the same Library separately, a cloud drive generally handles conflicts at the file level. It cannot merge chapter and text changes inside the database. This may produce conflict files, overwrite one set of changes, or corrupt the database.

WonderPen reads Library data and packages it into a Zip backup. Once completed, that file no longer changes as you write, giving the cloud drive a stable file to upload. Use a cloud drive to store these backups and WonderPen’s Cloud Sync for everyday editing across devices, rather than directly syncing the active Library through a third-party cloud drive.

Keep Important Versions

WonderPen deletes older backups according to Backup Space settings. Those deletions may also synchronize to the cloud. To keep an important version long term, copy its Zip file to a folder outside WonderPen’s automatic cleanup.

Restore from a Cloud Drive

Importing a full Library backup overwrites the current Library’s contents. Restore into a new Local Library first if possible. If you choose an existing Library as the target, back up any data you want to keep before importing.

1. Download the entire Zip backup from the cloud drive to your computer. Do not extract it.
2. Preferably, create a new Local Library to receive the backup contents.
3. Click the Library name at the top left of the main window, choose Restore Library from a Zip file, select the downloaded Zip file, and review the prompt before importing.
4. Check chapters, text, memos, whiteboards, and Assets before continuing to use the Library.

See Restore from a Zip File for details.