Syncing and Restoring

Penpoint Cloud backs up your books automatically. Your work is copied safely to the cloud as you write, and kept in step across all your computers, so you never have to remember to save or upload.

How Sync Works

Books save to the cloud automatically when you close a book or quit the app
While you write, sync runs shortly after you stop typing, and at least every five minutes during continuous writing
You can also sync manually: click the Saved indicator (the word "Saved" next to a small cloud check mark, in the toolbar) and choose "Sync now", or open the cloud status menu at the top of your Book Library and choose "Sync now"
Your entire library syncs to every device, so every book is available offline on each machine

Saved on this computer

Last backup: 32 minutes ago

Synced

This book is up to date in your cloud.

Last synced: just now

Sync now

Save a restore point here and send this book to your cloud

Export Backup

Save a copy to an external location

Restore from Backup

Browse earlier versions from your cloud or this computer

Figure 1 - The Saved indicator menu with Penpoint Cloud active

The Saved indicator shows two clocks: one for the copy on this computer, one for your cloud. They often differ, and that is normal, not a sign anything is broken. The local clock is the timestamp of a backup file your computer writes at intervals, so it can lag; your cloud copy still updates about half a minute after you stop typing, so nothing is at risk. "Sync now" refreshes both in one press.

Penpoint Cloud does not replace your local backups. Your existing backup settings (automatic backups, secondary backup to a cloud folder) keep working as before; Penpoint Cloud is simply an extra online backup, stored separately from your computer.

Version History

Every book has unlimited cloud version history for as long as you subscribe. Versions are grouped by time: Today, Yesterday, This month, This year, and Earlier.

The cloud keeps approximately hourly snapshots. For finer undo between them, use your local backups on that computer.
Before restoring, a read-only preview shows word counts and your latest chapters, characters, locations, and items, so you can confirm it is the right version.

Restoring from the Cloud

To restore an earlier version, go to your Book Library, right-click the book (or Ctrl+click on Mac, or click its three-dot menu), and choose Restore from Backup. The browser has two tabs: "On this computer" for local backups, and "Cloud" for cloud versions. Pick a version, then restore as an overwrite or as a separate book. Overwriting saves your current version first, so you can always get it back, then replaces your book with the one you selected.

To recover a book that is not on this computer (one you deleted, or one that has not finished arriving), use the Restore from Cloud option in the cloud status menu at the top of the Book Library.

For more on local backups and restore options, see Backup & Restore.

Bringing Your Books to Another Computer

Enter your email address and Penpoint sends you a 6-digit code to sign in with. Then type your Penpoint Cloud password, the one you created when you set Cloud up, to unlock your books. Your library appears automatically, and Penpoint downloads your books in the background; you can start on any book as soon as its download finishes.

Edits From Another Device

Changes made on different devices merge automatically when they do not overlap. When they do overlap, nothing is thrown away. For a worldbuilding detail like a character's age, the most recent edit becomes the live value, and Penpoint saves a "Before sync" backup on this computer just before merging, so the earlier value is still there in Restore from Backup. For a scene rewritten in both places, your most recent edit stays in the scene and the other version is kept as a Scene Draft. If a scene was edited on one device and deleted on the other, the edited scene comes back: the deletion does not win, and that version is kept as a Scene Draft as well.

Penpoint tells you when this has happened, with Edited on another device. It appears in three places: your Book Library shelf, Settings under Backup health, and the Saved indicator menu while the book is open. On the shelf and in the Saved indicator menu it is a short notice you can click, and clicking it takes you to Settings under Backup health. That is where the full list lives: every affected book, and every scene inside it, each one clickable to open the kept version.

Open a book that has one and Penpoint shows a message titled Your manuscript was separately modified on another device, offering Open Cloud Settings or Dismiss. Cloud Settings lists every scene that has a second version, and clicking one opens it. The notice goes away once you have looked at a saved copy, or once you dismiss the message.

Different work on different devices

You write Chapter 12 on your desktop. On your laptop, you add a location and edit Chapter 14.

Everything merges cleanly. Each device's changes appear on the other. No action needed.

Same character or location edited on both devices

You change your character's age to 62 on your desktop. On your laptop (not yet synced), you change it to 60.

The most recent edit wins (60). Penpoint saves a "Before sync" backup on this computer just before merging, so the earlier value is still there in Restore from Backup.

Same scene rewritten on both devices

You rewrite a scene's opening on your laptop at a coffee shop. At home, your offline desktop rewrites the same scene differently.

Both versions are kept. The more recent edit becomes the live scene; the other is saved as a Scene Draft. Open Scene Drafts from the manuscript toolbar to compare and choose.

Figure 2 - How Penpoint handles overlapping edits between devices

Deleting a Synced Book

Deleting a synced book does not erase it right away. It removes the book from your active cloud library, which is exactly what moves it into a 30-day recovery window: for a full 30 days you can bring it back from the Restore from Cloud browser. Before deleting, Penpoint also offers to export a backup file as an extra safety net.

Your secondary backup folder (if you set one up) is never touched by a delete

Pausing Penpoint Cloud

You can temporarily stop Cloud on this computer from Settings > Penpoint Cloud by clicking Pause Penpoint Cloud on this computer. Your local books are unaffected and keep saving normally. Click Resume Penpoint Cloud when you are ready; you do not need to enter your password again.