Operating system
Windows
Joplin version
3.6.14
Desktop version info
Joplin 3.6.14 (prod, win32)
Device: win32, AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with Radeon Graphics
Client ID: 8e703857714c4d7cbcc5a57931477a4d
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 49
Keychain Supported: Yes
Alternative instance ID: -
Sync target: OneDrive
Editor: Rich Text
Revision: 7e2765a
Backup: 1.5.1
Ez Table: 1.0.2
Freehand Drawing: 4.3.0
Rich Markdown: 0.16.3
Sync target
File system
What issue do you have?
My new PC is arriving next week and I'd like to avoid starting again from scratch on it with Joplin. Is there a process for transferring (or backing up & restoring) my settings and data?
I assume once my settings are in place the data should be "transferred" simply by syncing? I use OneDrive.
Thanks.
You can do it using sync but only the note data will be downloaded, not your plugins or how you have Joplin configured on your old machine.
Another option is to go to go to your old machine and copy the folder and all the contents of C:\Windows\Users\<username>\.config\joplin-desktop to the same location on the new machine. Then when you install and start Joplin it will have all the settings and data the same as your old machine. Do not delete the Joplin data from the old machine until you are happy all is working well with the new one.
I have used this method several times before when replacing a computer. It would likely work for adding additional clients but I cannot be sure as these "cloned" clients may all have the same Joplin Client ID and that could possibly be problematic in some circumstances. Never tried it so I don't know.
I do not use OneDrive so it may be that you have to authorise Joplin to connect again.
OK, I've actually backed all that up. I was hoping I'd get at least some of the config back that way, but didn't know it would be total. That's easiest.
Is there any advantage to starting Joplin once, deleting / renaming the default config folder and then restoring mine? Or does the first start need to be on my config? Reason I ask is I've run into some software that needs to create some user config parts that don't get restored.
Thanks.
Not really, I've done both. I suppose running Joplin first means that the data path is definitely correct and could avoid typos or pasting the data in the wrong place. Basically if you start Joplin and it finds a good .config\joplin-desktop folder it will use it, otherwise it will create one containing default data such as the "Welcome" notes.
I'm constantly wiping and reloading a few machines in order to try out different distributions of Linux and found long ago that if I took a fresh install of Joplin and made the necessary configuration changes (preferences, plugins, CSS and sync target but no data) and then saved the "joplin-desktop" to a USB stick I could simply install Joplin on a new box, run it once to get the "joplin-desktop" folder created by Joplin and then overwirte this with my saved copy. All my preferences, plugins and css files would be the way I want them and as soon as I started Joplin it would begin the sync process. I never copy data, I prefer to let Joplin do what it does. Messing with the data outside of Joplin can only lead to grief eventually and the hour it takes Joplin to sync things properly is far less than trying to fix things I screw up.
That's typically my approach but in this case I think I'll see how it works without syncing, for two reasons: 1) I'm not "messing" with anything, just laying it down as-is, and 2) I've had enough sync errors in general* to preclude any assumption of an error-free process. Not a load of errors but not isolated, either.
And making preference settings, etc., is exactly what I'd like to avoid.
* Especially to the Android app, but that's not a factor here.
Thanks.
I prefer to just copy preferences and such without the data as I can keep the USB stick for future installs without worrying about how much the data has changed. I may have an advantage here in that my sync target is my own NAS. I've never seen a sync error so I don't know what they look like.
I sync via OneDrive. Not that I'm an MS fan (and certainly not OneDrive) but it's the most convenient way to sync my desktop, phone and tablet.
I cant get this process to work. I am migrating from one windows 11 pc to another. I make a zip of the joplin-desktop folder..transfer it over, unzip, and open joplin and its just the fresh install notes and nothing else. Ive done it a few times now. I even deleted the 5 or so fresh install notes, deleted the folder, and copied mine over again and it just recreated the same fresh install stuff. Its like it wont read my data.
I do use dropbox for sync...but I didnt want to deal with setting it up again and also setting up all my app settings. Was hoping this would just copy it all over and id open it and dropbox sync would work and have all my app settings. Is this not possible? it takes so much damn time to go through settings I dont want to deal with this again.