### Author:  [@chester](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/chester)
#### Post date: [19 August 2024 10:47 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/backup-before-encryption/39701/1 "2024-08-19T10:47:17Z")
### Operating system
Windows
### Joplin version
3.0.14
### Desktop version info
Joplin 3.0.14 (prod, win32)
Client ID: 7c566831270446278b79ec14320ffcdd
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 47
Keychain Supported: Yes
Revision: 05cf51e
Backup: 1.4.1
Text Colorize: 1.2.5
### Sync target
Joplin Cloud
### Editor
Markdown Editor
### What issue do you have?
I've just switched over to Joplin from OneNote, which I shall never use again.
So, having migrated all my notes to Joplin (I did this manually) and purchased a subscription to Joplin Cloud, I would like to now enable encryption. On the face of it, this is not difficult of course: hit the "Enable Encryption" button in Joplin options, ideally on my desktop Joplin installation.
However, (maybe I'm a little paranoid) I would like to cover myself before I start down this path.
So, some questions:
1. Am I correct that the file with my current (unencrypted) notes is "all\_notebooks.jex" located (on Windows) in the directory C:\Users\\JoplinBackup\default\ ?
2. In the event that encrypting my current notes fails for some reason, can I just import the above file on a clean installation of Joplin, in order to recover all my notes in unencrypted form?
3. Assuming all goes well on my desktop, am I correct that all I need to do on my current Android installation of Joplin is enable encryption and the newly created encrypted notes on Joplin Cloud will then be synced to my mobile device?
---
### Author:  [@former\_evernotist](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/former_evernotist)
#### Post date: [19 August 2024 23:19 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/backup-before-encryption/39701/2 "2024-08-19T23:19:45Z")
Welcome to the forum!
1 and 2 are correct, but bear in mind that JEX files don‘t save note history, aka versioning (if that‘s important to you as you probably haven‘t done much editing right after migration). You can also manually backup your „joplin-profile“ directory directly from your file system, which contains all of your Joplin data.
3 is pretty straightforward I guess: After encryption is succesfully performed on one device, you‘ll be automatically prompted for your key on all other devices.
---
### Author:  [@dpoulton](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/dpoulton)
#### Post date: [20 August 2024 14:50 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/backup-before-encryption/39701/3 "2024-08-20T14:50:18Z")
> [@chester](#):
>
> 1. In the event that encrypting my current notes fails for some reason, can I just import the above file on a clean installation of Joplin, in order to recover all my notes in unencrypted form?
Just to clarify, End to End Encryption (E2EE) is not going to encrypt the notes / files on your local device. It is going send encrypted copies **from** your local device to Joplin Cloud so that they are **encrypted on the remote storage**. Your local notes and resources (attachments) remain unencrypted. Any local backups (JEX files) will not contain encrypted data.
There is an option in the Backup Plug-in to encrypt the complete JEX backup file but this is something separate.
---
### Author:  [@chester](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/chester)
#### Post date: [20 August 2024 15:27 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/backup-before-encryption/39701/4 "2024-08-20T15:27:03Z")
Clear. Understood. Many thanks
---
### Author:  [@former\_evernotist](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/former_evernotist)
#### Post date: [20 August 2024 22:46 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/backup-before-encryption/39701/5 "2024-08-20T22:46:55Z")
Just to clarify: The folder to look for, which contains all your local data (always in unencrypted form as @dpoulton explained), is "Joplin-desktop" (not "Joplin-profile" as I wrote before).
---
### Author:  [@chester](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/chester)
#### Post date: [22 August 2024 14:01 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/backup-before-encryption/39701/6 "2024-08-22T14:01:16Z")
Hello, there is a discrepancy here in the folder name on the local file system on my Windows machine!
My baseline folder is called "JoplinBackup" with a 'default' sub-diredctory ...
So the full path to the '_all\_notebooks.jex_' file is C:\Users\JoplinBackup\default\
JoplinBackup
└───default
..........└───profile
........... └───plugins
---
### Author:  [@dpoulton](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/dpoulton)
#### Post date: [22 August 2024 15:55 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/backup-before-encryption/39701/7 "2024-08-22T15:55:19Z")
The location you are looking at is the folder that the backup plug in creates backups.
@former_evernotist is referring to the "live" Joplin data folder located in your user folder at `.config\joplin-desktop`
---
### Author:  [@chester](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/chester)
#### Post date: [23 August 2024 09:53 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/backup-before-encryption/39701/8 "2024-08-23T09:53:11Z")
Got it. Thanks
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [22 September 2024 09:54 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/backup-before-encryption/39701/9 "2024-09-22T09:54:07Z")
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.