Backup & restore

Delete a whole Type’s worth of Books by mistake, lose a laptop, or lose the key to a workspace, and a backup is what gets your notes back. Sync alone is not a backup, because it carries a deletion or an unwanted change to every device.

Note

Everything on this page works in the desktop app. The mobile apps can export the workspace as one JSON file through the share sheet but cannot import it. The browser app can’t yet save or import a whole-workspace export, so protect a browser workspace as described in Install & availability.

Settings → Backup & restore has four parts: Export workspace, Import a backup, Automatic export, and Local database backups.

Choose the right kind of backup

Backup	What it holds	Encrypted?	Protects against
Export workspace	Every Object, Type, and body, plus original attachments	No	Device loss, a lost key, moving to a new device
Automatic export	Every Object as Markdown, HTML, and JSON files, without attachments	No	Losing access to Lar entirely
Local database backups	Recent restore points of this workspace’s database, on this device	Yes, with the workspace key	Mistakes and damage on this device

Local database backups use the same key as the workspace, so they can’t help if the key is lost. Keep an export for that.

Export the whole workspace

1. Open Settings → Backup & restore.
2. Under Export workspace, choose Export.
3. Save the suggested Lar workspace <date>.lar-export outside the workspace’s own folder. It is a folder bundle that includes your original attachments.
4. Copy it to storage that fails independently, such as an encrypted external disk.

The job list shows progress. When the export finishes, Reveal shows it in your file manager.

Caution

The export is not encrypted. Anything that can open it can read every note, so store it as carefully as the notes themselves.

A workspace export is different from exporting one Object to Markdown or PDF. Use it when you want Objects, Types, and bodies back together; see Import & export for the other formats.

Import a backup

1. Open Settings → Backup & restore and, under Import a backup, choose Import…. Double-clicking a .lar-export bundle also starts an import.
2. Pick the export and confirm Import workspace data?.
3. Watch the job list. Cancel stops the job, but Objects already imported stay. Reveal opens the import report.

Import merges the backup into the current workspace; it doesn’t replace it, and it can’t be undone. Conflicts resolve automatically instead of asking you to choose. Let indexing finish before you judge the result, and try an unfamiliar file in a disposable workspace first.

Restore a local database backup

Lar keeps up to five recent restore points of each workspace’s database on this device. It takes at most one a day, when the workspace closes, and checks each copy before keeping it. They appear under Local database backups with a date and size.

1. Choose Restore… next to the backup you want.
2. Read Restore the backup from ?. It lists how many changes you would lose. Restoring replaces this workspace’s data and permanently discards every change made on this device after that date. Nothing is merged back.
3. Choose Continue, then confirm again when your system asks.

Lar saves a safety copy of the replaced data in the workspace’s backups folder, then reloads the workspace. It keeps the newest safety copy and removes older ones after 30 days or once there are more than five, so copy out anything you want to keep.

If sync is on, changes already sent to other devices or the server can arrive here again after a restore.

Schedule automatic exports

Automatic export is off by default.

1. Turn on Automatic export.
2. Choose a Frequency: Daily or Weekly.
3. Under Destination folder, choose Choose Folder….
4. To run it right away, choose Export Now.

Each run writes every Object as plain Markdown, HTML, and JSON files, without attachments, and Lar keeps the three most recent complete exports in the folder. The files are not encrypted, and Lar warns you when the folder looks like it syncs to a cloud service.

Before destructive troubleshooting

• Don’t delete local workspace data or security credentials to “start fresh.”
• Don’t clear browser site data unless you have a copy you trust, such as a recovery code plus a synced account.
• Keep the files from a failed recovery intact so the problem can be diagnosed.
• Trash, deleted-workspace recovery, and backup restores solve different problems; pick the one that matches what went wrong.

Next: Import & export for moving content between tools, and Troubleshooting for failure-specific checks.