Emergency Kit

Features
1

At the end of this feature request I will propose a solution, and ask a few questions. But first bear with me, and understand the following short scenario:

You have all relevant data in your Joplin DB. You travel away from home, and suddenly your device (or devices) are unusable (broken, stolen, whatever). And in order to get out of this mess, the most convenient way would be to access your Jopin data, waiting for you in the cloud. But in order access them you need a device (new or borrowed), your cloud url and password, your Joplin key, and your key password, and .... Well, you write it all down on a nice piece of paper, right ? ... which you put in your spare socks, inside your tooth paste tube ? ...
This will most likely NOT work. In other words, ... while all your data is safe, you will have as little access to it than anybody else on the planet.

This situation is unlike accessing your email in a situation like this (through it's web interface), or files on your email server, or just a set of files elsewhere, where all you need is one password. Joplin has - for very good reasons - more complex setup steps.

My suggestion, Joplin (or a dedicated plug-in) should be able to extract all the data one needs (to install and run your Joplin instance on an unknown device) upon a manual command, encrypt it with a independent, human-readable password, and store them on a USB stick or other device of your liking as a single file. Ideally a fresh copy of Joplin, when presented this extract / file and password, would configure itself to access your cloud data completely hassle free.

Q1: is this impossible, for some technical reason which only the developers may know ?
Q2: can it safely be done by a plug-in too ?
Q3: do others find this as usefull as I do ?

If it's been discussed before and I missed it - mea culpa.

2

I like your "prepper" mentality!

If having access to another device without internet is in the scenario I think it would be possible to install the standalone version on an usb stick. Sync it the usual way, just before you leave for travelling.

Just keep an eye on this bug:
JoplinPortable can't update to latest version of plug-ins - Support - Joplin Forum (joplinapp.org)

Other scenario: Export to PDF or md files in bulk, and store this on an encrypted usb stick?

Your "Single File" requirement is another story I think ....

3

I'm not quite sure I fully understand the case here (not to say there isn't one, I just don't think I comprehend what it is). If you were worried about being able to access your data somehow then couldn't you use something like the simple backup plugin to regularly export a JEX file which you upload to a different (or several) hosting services? Or onto any removeable media.
The JEX is then both easy to import into any joplin install (or portable standalone) but is also just a bunch of human readable markdown files so in a real emergency you could probably find what you want just searching within that.
If you didn't encrypt the data then you could also just upload the sqlite db instead of/as well and read that from pretty much anything that can query a sqlite database.

1 Like
4

I think this is the easiest way :+1:

5

I already do this. I use Joplin Portable and have it on 3 of my PCs. I sync them all via OneDrive. I also have it on a USB stick and sync it too. This is all on a USB thumb drive I keep in my pocket and has the partition I keep Joplin Portable and a bunch of other personal data on and is encrypted using VeraCrypt. I have 2 copies of the stick and sync them both using Syncback pro.

I also have Joplin on 2 phones of mine, synced too.

Whenever I make changes to notes in Joplin I export to a JEX file and then use 7ZIP to create a password protected 7Z file and store it on my cloud drive. I've accidently screwed up the Joplin DB and then it replicated and destroyed the others that are online too. USB copies are safe. I can restore from the JEX if I have to. I have not for a long time.

Of concern is if I need to use the stick on a PC not my own is where to get a known safe PC to use it on. So far I have not had to do this.

1 Like
6

Great idea. I do something similar with Dropbox. Years ago, I shifted everything off DropBox to self-hosted alternatives EXCEPT for my Emergency Folder and Important Documents for Family folder (since I'm the family tech support, it's gotta be accessible even if I can't help someone get to it). I've kept these on DropBox so they're offsite and easily accessible by myself when traveling and, in emergency, by sending the link to the private share to family, emergency medical etc. These are synched to my iPhone and iPad since I travel extensively and want them available anywhere. The contents of these folders are:

Emergency:

  • PDF scans of wallet contents in case of loss/theft
  • PDF scan of passport
  • PDF scan of prescriptions (in case questioned while traveling or emergency replacement on a trip)
  • PDF scan of auto insurance and registration

Important Documents for Family is:

  • PDF scan of my Durable Power of Attorney
  • PDF scan of my Healthcare Power of Attorney
  • PDF scan of my Advanced Healthcare Directive (aka Living Will)
  • PDF scan of Will
  • PDF scan of Living Trust
  • a Word Doc with important account numbers, contact information for doctors, tax preparer, attorney, locations of the originals of these documents etc.

This has saved my arse on a number of occasions incl some when Internet simply wasn't available (e.g., cruise ships, far-flung travels etc.)

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