Version history & backups

Aurora keeps earlier versions of each page so you can look back and undo larger changes, and it can back up whole workspaces to files you can restore later. Version history works page by page; backups cover entire workspaces.

Version history

As you edit a page, Aurora saves versions of it in the background. Each version records when it was saved, who made the change, and what kind of change it was, such as Edited, Title, Properties, or Restored.

To open the history, click the clock icon (Version history) in the page header. The panel lists the most recent versions, newest first, up to 100 per page.

Look at a version

• Click a version to expand it and see what was added and removed since the version before it.
• Click Compare versions, then pick two versions to see the differences between them.
• Click Time machine and drag the slider through the saved versions to preview the page at any point in time.

Restore a version

1. Find the version in the list, or drag to it in Time machine.
2. Click the restore icon (Restore) on the version, or Restore preview in Time machine.
3. Confirm.

The page content is replaced with that version. The other versions stay in the list, so you can restore a newer one if you change your mind. If you can only read a page, you can browse its history but not restore it.

Where history is kept

Workspace	History
AuroraCloud, including Local folders	Kept in AuroraCloud, so you also see versions saved by collaborators and on your other devices.
Browser storage and Offline folders	Kept on this device only. Nothing is sent to AuroraCloud.
End-to-end encrypted	Not recorded. Use backups to keep restorable copies.

Backups

Backups live in Settings → Data & sync → Backup. Aurora's backup format is AuroraBak: a .aurorabak file holds one workspace, and a .aurorabak-bundle file holds several. A backup keeps the workspace's pages, properties, page types, settings, and media, so you can restore it into Aurora.

In a backup of an encrypted workspace, page content stays encrypted, so it can only be restored into the workspace it came from, after you unlock it with your usual recovery method. Images and attachments are saved in the backup unencrypted, though. Keep the file somewhere safe, or use a password-protected backup, which encrypts the whole file.

Download a backup

Under Workspace backups, your workspaces are listed with when each was last backed up. You can back up the workspaces you own.

• Click Download backup next to a workspace to save its .aurorabak file.
• When you own more than one workspace, click Back Up All to save all of them in one .aurorabak-bundle file.

Automatic backups

Aurora backs up all the workspaces you own every 24 hours while the app is open, and keeps the last 7 backups. Click Back up now to make one straight away.

Automatic backups are stored inside the app on this device, not in AuroraCloud. They are listed under Automatic backups, with which workspaces each one covers. Download one to keep a copy somewhere else, or delete the ones you do not need. In the web app, clearing your browser's site data also removes them.

In the desktop app you can turn on Also save backups to a local folder. Aurora then writes each automatic backup to a folder you choose as well, and Keep sets how many copies stay there (7 by default, up to 30, or Unlimited).

Password-protected backups

Under Encrypted backup (AuroraBak) you can make a backup of the current workspace that is locked with a password:

1. Enter a Backup password and confirm it.
2. Click Create backup. Aurora checks that the backup opens with your password, then downloads it as a file ending in .enc.

Keep the password safe. Aurora cannot open the file without it.

To restore, enter the Restore password, click Select encrypted backup, and choose the file. It is restored into the current workspace, and pages from the backup replace pages with the same ID.

Restore a backup

1. Under Import backup, click Select backup file and choose a .aurorabak or .aurorabak-bundle file.
2. Choose where it goes: the Current workspace or a New workspace. For a bundle, select the workspaces to restore and choose Create new workspaces or Restore into existing.
3. Choose a Conflict mode. Skip keeps pages that already exist; Overwrite replaces them with the backup's version.
4. Click Start import.

In both modes, the backup's workspace settings and page properties are written over the current ones. Restoring into a New workspace is the way to leave your existing workspace untouched.

Backups and readable exports

AuroraBak is for restoring into Aurora. If you want files you can read in other tools, use Markdown or HTML export instead. See Import & export.