Get back my notes after upgrade

[mamadyonline]

Hi all,
I was working with the old version of the app, that I installed using the AppImage. I am using Ubuntu.
My problem is, I was having all my notes within this old app without even knowing exactly where my files get stored.
Now that I have upgraded to the new version of the app, I can't find a way to get back all my old notes.
Can anyone help me out here get back my old (precious) notes in the new app. Thanks

[Komediruzecki]

Hi,

the easiest way would be to join our slack community and ask there and specify details of your upgrade.

If you just want to follow a guide on how to retrieve lost local or legacy cloud storage, you can do it with these steps:

You can force the app to reload the local storage easily really
Please read all the instructions before starting the procedure.
You need your pouch db ID(s) and boost note application prior to deprecation (not latest version), or at least the one which can load local storage, for example 0.19.x, or 0.17.x will work.
Your pouch database ID is the one after _pouch_ string in indexed DBs, eg. in _pouch_zm2ok5Noh the ID is zm2ok5Noh
General procedure for restoring
If you had local storage, i.e data stored in indexed DBs, aka pouch storages:

1. Backup your local storage with indexed DBs, just in case something bad happens, you can find it in your boostnote application data location, depends on operating system, if you are unsure where it is, please contact me directly.

2. Open console, and find your indexed DBs pouch db storage ids

3. On application tab in console, find local storage on left pane, click on it and in main window some key value pairs will appear, locate the one called something like note.boostio.co:storageDataList

4. If it is not empty, please ensure you back it up, otherwise you can replace its contents with the following:
   The below JSON is not for immediate use, please change IDs to your ones, and adjust the number of storages you want to add as necessary:

[ 
    {
       "type": "pouch",
        "id": "<your-id>",
        "name": "Notes_1"
    },
    {
        "type": "pouch",
        "id": "<your-id-2>",
        "name": "Notes_2"
    }
]

Example with fake IDs:

[ 
    {    
        "type": "pouch",
        "id": "zm2ok5Noh",
        "name": "Notes_1"
    },
    {
        "type": "pouch",
        "id": "Z5K2tm_5b",
        "name": "Notes_2"
    }
]

Of course replace the IDs in your pouch db storage info with the actual ID you find in indexed DBs in developer console.

5. If the list is not empty, you can carefully, add more storages, like the ones above, alongside others, be sure to back the list of storages prior to updating/reloading the app, in case something bad happens

6. When you are happy with the added storages, you can also check JSON validity on any validator online (https://jsonlint.com/)

7. Just reload the app, either Ctrl+r, or from menu
   The BoostNote will try load all the storages, when it does, you can get your data, transfer it to local file system storage, etc.
   If it fails, or JSON data entered is invalid, it will clear all storages from storage data list, so please back it up previously (indexed DBs will still be available, you just need to see where is the problem and enter valid pouch IDs and storage data list should be valid i.e. correct based on above validator)

You need to do this in 0.19.x or earlier version, but not the latest one of BoostNote app

If you have any questions or are unsure about the procedure please contact me on DM

[Komediruzecki]

Hi,

How do you mean lost? If you accidentally deleted it, it can be restored, the files are typically not removed immediately by the underlying operating system.

Anyway, if you need any more assistance or help to get back the lost notes, let me know.

[mamadyonline]

Yeah I don't happen to find anymore the old "Boost Note" directory which was located under ~/.config.

There is the new one but it is named "Boostnote" (notice there is no space and no capital n) which corresponds to the new install of the previous screenshot, and there are two locations, the one under ~/.config and another one just under ~/.

So now I am not even sure I can back the old config and the notes. I can't find an easy way to recover the supposedly lost files. I know for sure there was a directory under ~/.config named "Boost Note" for the oldest version I had, but since it was an AppImage, I don't know where the configuration was stored, the equivalent of the directory under ~/ for the current version I have (0.16.1, presumably not the good one neither). So I don't know if with these information you can help, otherwise, don't worry, it will teach me to be patient and to always backup (not taking it seriously !).

[Komediruzecki]

I think you should try searching the file system for *.CSON notes and boostnote.json files.

The configuration and install data of the App Image or ordinary installation files might be where you say (config etc.) but the storage location is chosen when you create the storage in the app itself, or some default is used (for me, it would be /home/<username>/). Anyhow, that location could be anywhere you specified, so I would first try to look for that. Since reinstalling boost note will note remove the data, only if you removed it manually? If you did, the notes/data are either in the trash or could be recovered with a procedure/tool.

Quickly googling how to do it on Linux, gives this: https://itsfoss.com/recover-deleted-files-linux/ and this https://net2.com/how-to-recover-deleted-files-on-linux/.

You can try those procedures, it might work.

Yes, always make a backup of your data, and be aware of how/where it is stored. If you have more than a few hours of work put into the notes, I would definitely want to get them back, but if you think it is not worth the time, it's fine as well.

[mamadyonline]

Thank you.

I have gone through several of the recovery tools, but I am still not done yet (haha). For now, I think the best one I've come accross is ext4magic. I will continue tinkering with it and see if I get something.

But now that's the real issue, once I recover the notes/data, I can follow the helps you linked too. I hope I'll manage to make it work.

Again thank you very much

[Komediruzecki]

Okay, let me know if you have any other questions,

if you don't find it in deleted files, they are probably still on disk.