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I have accidentally deleted or lost my notes, can they be recovered?

Goodnotes for Android, Windows, and Web is designed with online first experience in mind. While you can continue taking notes offline, please ensure that you sync documents regularly to avoid any data lost. It's important to note that any unsynchronized modifications may not be recovered. While accidental deletion or loss of notes can be frustrating, there are steps you can take to minimize the risk and improve your chances of recovery. In this article, we'll explore some common scenarios and offer tips to help you minimize the risk of losing your valuable notes.

  1. Check your account: Goodnotes supports multiple login providers. Ensure you're logged into the correct account to access your notebooks.
  2. Check the Trash Bin: You can easily access the Trash Bin by selecting "Trash" from the sidebar. If you've accidentally deleted an item, don’t worry! From here, you can recover any items you still need.

  3. Confirming Deletion: When you move an item to the Trash, a confirmation prompt will appear to ensure you want to proceed. In the Trash Bin, you also have the option to permanently delete items. Be cautious, though—once an item is permanently deleted, it cannot be recovered. Make sure you’re fully confident before making this choice.

  4. Check warnings for Unsaved Edits: While the app may not prevent you from closing it, it provides a warning when you attempt to close it with unsaved edits. You may see a message like "We couldn't save your edits. Trying again…" This alert serves as a reminder to ensure your edits are synchronized before closing the app. Sync status on the document would help you to identify if there are unsynchronized notes in your library.
  5. Avoid force-closing the app: While your offline edits would sync once you are back online. Please refrain from that force-closing the app as it may disrupt notes synchronization or storing process, potentially leading to issues such as unsaved changes or the reappearance of deleted notes. If you really must force-close the app, we suggest you use alternate methods to capture the data, such as taking screenshots.
  6. Avoid signing-out: When user signs-out of the app, for security and privacy reasons, we also remove notebooks only from the device. If you have unsynchronized documents and you sign-out, you would lose those changes. Please sync your documents first before signing out of the device. Sync status on the document would help you to identify if there are unsynchronized notes in your library.
  7. Take notes online or sync regularly: While we are expanding the offline capabilities of the app, it is important to note that your changes are synced only when connection is resumed. Sync status on the document would help you to identify if there are unsynchronized notes in your library.
  8. Export Your Notes as PDFs: One proactive step you can take is to regularly export your notes as PDFs. This feature allows you to create local copies of your notes that are independent of the app's cloud-based storage. You can find the export function on filename > Export as PDF. This way, even if your notes are lost within the app, you'll have backups in PDF format that can be easily retrieved.