Canto
Tulip
opsty
subtankBackups, history and the Trash
Canto keeps several layers of copies, each for a different kind of mistake: Undo for the last minute, version history for a note you changed, the Trash for a note you deleted, and backups for everything else. Backups are free on every plan, and they're off until you turn them on.
Getting a note back#
If a note is missing or wrong, stop editing it, then try these in order:
- Undo. ⌘Z takes back recent typing, and a whole change Ask made in one step.
- The Trash, in the sidebar's Library. Deleted notes, canvases and chats stay there for 30 days by default. See The Trash.
- Version history. ⇧⌘Y on the note lists its earlier versions and the checkpoints before each AI edit. See Version history.
- Search. ⇧⌘F searches notes, chats and files, in case the note just moved.
- Backups, if you turned them on. See Restore from a backup.
- The copy Canto made before an upgrade, if the note went missing right after updating. See Upgrade copies.
Still missing? Write to support@lonelyduck.io before you change anything else.
Version history#
Canto keeps a version of each note every 30 seconds while you write and when you leave it, up to 50 per note. ⇧⌘Y (or ⋯ › Version history…) opens them: All versions with Restore this version…, and AI edits with Go back to before this edit…. Restoring keeps your current text as a version first. More in Writing notes.
Versions stay on this Mac; they don't sync, and they go when you delete a note forever. In Settings › Sync & storage › Version history you can turn Keep earlier versions of notes off, see the Space used, and Clear all versions….
The Trash#
Deleting a note, canvas or chat moves it to the Trash. Restore puts it back where it was; a deleted folder isn't listed, but its notes are, and they go back to the nearest folder that still exists. Items are deleted for good after 30 days: choose 7 days, 30 days, 90 days or Never in Settings › Sync & storage › Trash. Deleting a note forever also deletes its own chats and its versions. More in Organize your notes.
Backups#
Turn them on in Settings › Sync & storage › Backups:
| Row | What it does |
|---|---|
| Back up automatically | Off: Canto backs up only when you press Back up now. On: Canto keeps snapshots of your notes and attachments in the folder below. |
| Folder | Where the snapshots go. Choose… one, ideally on another disk; Show in Finder opens it. |
| Schedule | When you save a note (a few seconds after), Every hour or Every day (each only if anything changed) |
| Keep | Snapshots to keep (50 unless you change it) and Days to keep (30). Older snapshots are removed once either limit is reached; choose Every snapshot and Forever to keep them all. |
| Encrypt backups | Off: any copy of Canto can open them. On: they're encrypted with a password Canto keeps in your Keychain, so backups still run on their own. |
| Include the search index | Off: smaller backups; after a restore, Canto reads your attachments again. On: attachments are searchable right after a restore. |
| Back up now | Makes a snapshot now, and says when the last one was made |
Keep the backup password somewhere safe. A backup made with it can't be opened without it, and Canto can't recover it. Change password… applies to new backups; older ones still open only with the old password. Turning encryption off makes Canto forget the password.
A backup folder on an external disk or a network drive works; if it's missing when a backup is due, the row says the last backup didn't finish and why.
Restore from a backup#
View backups and restore… lists the backups in your folder, newest first. Choose one to see what restoring it would add back, change and remove. Restore… asks first: "Replace everything in Canto with this backup?" Notes, folders, attachments and settings become what they were then. Canto backs up what you have now first, so you can go back; that copy is listed as Before a restore.
A restore replaces the whole vault: in this beta, Canto can't take a single note out of a backup. For one note, try its version history first.
Where your vault is#
Your vault is one encrypted database in ~/Library/Application Support/Canto, with its key in your Keychain. Attachments are files in the same folder. Help › Open Data Folder opens it.
Settings › Sync & storage › Data location shows:
- Folder: where the vault is, with Show in Finder and Change…. Changing it moves your notes, attachments and settings to the new folder, restarts Canto, and removes the old copy once the new one checks out. The folder must be empty or hold a whole Canto vault. Keep it out of iCloud Drive and Dropbox; to have your notes on another Mac, use iCloud sync instead.
- Canto's own folder › Move back…, once you've moved it.
- Vault size: notes, chats and the search index. Attachments are separate files.
- What's indexed: what Canto has read from your attachments.
If Canto can't read or write the folder (on a disk that isn't connected, for example), or another Mac's Canto is using it too, the page says so.
Upgrade copies#
Before Canto updates your notes database to a new version, it copies the file, still encrypted, to the Backups folder inside your data folder, named pre-migration-v<from>-<time>.db. It keeps the three most recent. On a Mac with an APFS disk the copy is instant. Canto also backs up your notes before it first turns on iCloud sync.
These copies are how you go back after an upgrade: see Going back to 0.10.3.
What isn't a backup#
- iCloud sync copies deletions too. See Sync between your Macs.
- Exports are copies you make by hand: a workspace (
.cwsp) holds everything in your vault in one file. See Import and export.