Auto-Backup requires GoodNotes 5.4.0 or higher on iOS or iPadOS
Auto-backup uploads the latest version of your documents to one of the following cloud storages: Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive.
You can backup as GoodNotes Document or as PDF. You can also choose to back up in both formats at the same time.
Auto-backup is a one-way backup and won’t let you sync your changes across GoodNotes on different devices as iCloud does. Changes you make in the cloud storage won’t affect the data in GoodNotes on your devices.
How to set it up
- Enable “Automatic Backup” in GoodNotes > Menu > Settings > Automatic Backup
- Chose to sign into a cloud storage
- Select your desired cloud storage
- Type in your account details
- Optionally, change the file format or the destination folder
- You can see the backup process by tapping on the new auto-backup icon in the upper left of the library
How to choose the destination folder
By default, the destination folder of the backup will be called “GoodNotes”. If you want to backup to a different folder, just type in the name of the folder into the field in the auto-backup settings. If no folder with that name exists yet, GoodNotes will create one. If you want to back up to a subfolder of a folder, type in the path and separate the folders and subfolders using a slash (“/”). For example: GoodNotes/backup/…
The backup folder can’t be changed when auto-backup is currently uploading any changes.
FAQ
Q: What’s the difference between iCloud Sync and automatic backup?
A: The main difference is that Auto-Backup is a one-way backup that will create a copy of your documents in a different location, whereas iCloud Sync is a two-way sync that synchronizes one version of your documents across different devices. We listed more differences below.
| Auto-Backup | iCloud Sync | |
| Sync across devices? | no | yes |
| Documents accessible in cloud storage? | yes | no |
| Reimport of documents from the cloud | manual |
automatic |
Q: How should I backup my documents?
A: Usually, enabling iCloud Sync is sufficient for security reasons, for example in case you’re losing or damaging your device. Your data is still saved in iCloud and will download in GoodNotes on other devices that use the same iCloud account. We recommend setting up auto-backup when you can’t/don’t want to use iCloud or when you need a way to access your documents in the cloud or on a computer where GoodNotes is not installed.
Q: Which format should I select for auto-backup?
- As GoodNotes Document when you want to have an additional backup from where you can import/share documents that can be further edited in GoodNotes
- As PDF when you need to view the documents in the cloud or on devices where GoodNotes is not installed. Content on PDFs will be flattened and can’t be further edited in GoodNotes. For example: You won’t be able to erase your handwritten notes on a PDF anymore.
- As PDF and GoodNotes Document when you want to benefit from both of the above. Note that this will create two versions of every document in the same folder.
Q: How are my data and privacy protected when I grant GoodNotes access to my cloud storage account?
A: The app itself needs “Read & Write Access” to your cloud storage in order to save and modify files in the cloud. Of course, we won’t be able to see or modify any of your documents and files.
Q: I don’t want to include all files in the backup under my cloud storage. Can I do it?
A: You can set one or more “Excluded File Names” under Menu > Settings > Automatic Backup. When a document’s title includes at least one of the “Excluded File Names”, then it will not be backed up automatically. We recommend setting one excluded file name and then renaming documents that you want to exclude accordingly. For example: Set the excluded file name to “-exclude” and add the word “-exclude” to all document titles that you don’t want to backup automatically.
Q: Why is iCloud Drive not an option?
A: iCloud Drive doesn't provide the necessary integrations that would allow us to connect the automatic backup feature. Since GoodNotes is available for macOS and iOS/iPadOS, you can enable iCloud Sync instead and synchronize your notes across devices to access them through the GoodNotes app directly.
Q: How can I restart auto-backup?
After changing the settings, signing into a new account, or deleting all documents from the cloud storage you will need to restart auto-backup so that the complete backup is uploaded again. To do that, follow these steps:
- Open the auto-backup settings in GoodNotes
- Disable auto-backup
- Tap "Done" to close the menu
- Open the menu again
- Enable auto-backup
- Edit any document