Backups

Your library holds the only copy of your edits, ratings, albums and masks — the photo files themselves are separate. PxlMonk backs the library up automatically so that a bad update or an interrupted shutdown never costs you that work.

Where backups live

Every backup is a single file next to your library’s database, in a backups folder:

<your library folder>/backups/

For a Referenced library that’s next to library.pxlcat in PxlMonk’s own app-data folder; for a Managed library it’s inside your chosen managed root.

When a backup is made

• Before an update that changes the library format. This only happens occasionally, when a new PxlMonk version needs to restructure the database — most updates don’t. It runs automatically the moment such a version opens your library, before anything is changed.
• Once a day. The first time you open PxlMonk on a given day, it makes a quick backup in the background — you’ll see nothing more than a brief note in the status bar.

PxlMonk keeps the 3 most recent backups and removes older ones automatically; the two kinds above share that rotation.

If an update fails

This is rare, but if it happens PxlMonk restores your library from the backup it just made and stops — it never continues with a half-updated library. A window explains what happened and points to the backup and an error report, and offers to open a different library or quit so you can look into it (or just get in touch).

Note

Nothing is lost in this case: the backup was made moments before the update started, so it holds everything up to that point.

Restoring a backup by hand

If you ever want to go back to an earlier backup yourself:

1. Quit PxlMonk.
2. In the backups folder, find the snapshot you want (the filename’s timestamp shows when it was made).
3. Copy it over your library’s database file, replacing it.
4. Start PxlMonk again.

Next steps

• Your library — Managed vs Referenced, and where your library’s files live.