Regular backups of your notes and documents are essential to prevent data loss due to device failures, accidental deletions, and sync issues. Goodnotes offers several backup methods that work together to keep your notes safe.
Cloud Sync allows syncing your Goodnotes library to either iCloud or Goodnotes Cloud.
iCloud Sync automatically keeps all your notes synchronized across all your Apple devices that use the same iCloud account. When you make changes on one Apple device, those changes will be reflected across all devices.
Goodnotes Cloud Sync is our sync solution that works across all devices, including Microsoft and Android devices, as long as you sign in to Goodnotes on those devices with the same Goodnotes account. Goodnotes Cloud is available to certain users on certain premium plans.
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Availability of Goodnotes Cloud: Essential, Pro.
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Automatic Backup creates one-way backups to third-party cloud services (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV) when changes occur. Allows accessing notes in PDF or native format outside of Goodnotes.
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Please note that Automatic Backup is a one-way process, so it doesn't sync your changes across your devices as iCloud does. Changes you make to your library on one device won't affect the library on another device.
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Here is what Automatic Backup will do for different actions that you take in Goodnotes.
| If you do this in Goodnotes | This will happen: |
|---|---|
| Create a Notebook or import a document | |
| Create a Folder | |
| Recover an item from Trash Bin | The Notebook, Folder or recovered item is uploaded to your cloud storage. |
| Make changes to a page | |
| Change a page template in a Notebook | |
| Reorder the pages of a Notebook | |
| Rename a Notebook or Folder | The copy of your Notebook or Folder is updated in your cloud storage. |
| Delete a Notebook or Folder | No effect is made to your items in cloud storage |
| Favorite or unfavorite a page or Notebook | No effect is made to your items in cloud storage |
| Modify the custom outline of a Notebook | No effect is made to your items in cloud storage |
| Move a Notebook/Folder | The folder structure in your cloud storage is updated. |
Manual Backup lets you create a complete ZIP backup of your entire library that can be saved to Files or shared with other apps. Ideal for transferring to new devices or creating periodic snapshots.