# Automated Backups
WARNING
Automated backups only work while the app is open and running.
TIP
Linked (shared) guides are excluded from automated backups by default, since they are already stored as external .flgg files on your shared drive. Only regular local guides are included.
Automated backups are performed in the background while the app is open, and backups all your guides into a defined location. This feature is only available for paid users. If you want to learn more about backups, go to the Restore/Backup section
Automated backups can be accessed from a "Backup" button ( click the down arrow) at the top of the Guides List
# Overview
To setup automated backups, you need to define the following:
1. Frequency
2. Location
Under the Location folder, Folge will create additional folders named with a timestamp of the backup and info.txt file used internally (unless Overwrite mode is on).
Once you define a valid location and frequency, (3) will display the time of the next backup and 4 information about the latest backup.
You can also click the Trigger Now button, and Folge will start the full backup in **1 minute **. Please wait after you click the button.
TIP
It takes Folge about 3 minutes to back up 200 guides, each having 100-200 steps.
# Overwrite mode
By default, every backup run creates a new timestamped folder inside your backup location, so backups accumulate over time.
If your backup location is a synced folder (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, a network share), that can be wasteful: every run re-uploads a full copy of all your guides. For this case, enable the Overwrite mode switch in the automated backups dialog. Folge then keeps one .flgg file per guide directly in the backup folder and replaces it on every run, so your sync client only transfers guides that actually changed.
- The previous backup file is only replaced after the new one has been fully written, so an interrupted backup can't corrupt the existing file.
- If two guides share the same title, Folge adds a short unique suffix to their filenames so they never overwrite each other.
WARNING
With Overwrite mode on, you keep only the latest backup of each guide - there is no history of older versions to go back to. If you want both, point automated backups at a synced folder with Overwrite mode on, and make occasional manual backups elsewhere.
You will get a warning if you decide to close the app during backup.
