Back up and move your data¶

Your tracker lives in one browser, at one address. Export a file to keep a backup, to move to another browser or device, or before clearing site data. The controls are at the top of Rules & settings, under Your data file.

Export¶

• Export .json — decisions, log, students and the list of attached files (not their contents). The file to keep and to move while you have no attachments.
• Export .zip with files — appears once you've attached receipts or reports: the .json plus every attached file. This is the complete backup then.
• Export .sqlite — the same data as a SQLite database with readable tables, for a spreadsheet or SQLite tool. Needs the internet the first time (it loads a small library).
• Export log as .csv — the expense log only, for a spreadsheet. Can't be imported.

The header reminds you when there are changes you haven't exported from this browser.

Import¶

Click Import a file… and choose a .json, .sqlite or .zip file. You're shown what it contains (including how many attached files it carries), then choose:

• Merge into my data keeps everything you have and adds what's new. Where both sides have the same line decision or log entry, the one changed more recently wins. The student list is replaced by the file's.
• Replace all my data makes the tracker match the file exactly, deleting decisions and entries that aren't in it.

Keep the data in a file (and sync it)¶

In Chrome or Edge on a computer, the panel also offers Use a folder…, Create a data file… and Use an existing data file…. Pick or create a .json file and the tracker saves every change to it as well as to the browser. The header then reads Saved in this browser and in sufs-tracker.json. Choose a folder instead and the data file is sufs-tracker.json inside it, with every attached receipt and report copied to attachments/<year>/<month>/ next to it, so the files travel with the data; an inbox/ folder there takes files you want to organize later.

Put that file in a folder your sync client watches (Google Drive for desktop, OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud Drive) and open the same file from the tracker on another computer with Use an existing data file…: both computers now work on the same data. When the file changes on disk, the tracker reads it back the next time you return to the tab; where the same entry was changed in both places, the more recent change wins, and something deleted on one computer disappears on the other.

Share a folder between people¶

A folder can be shared too: each person syncs it to their computer and opens it with Use a folder… in their own browser. One browser edits at a time.

• Who is editing. Under the folder, fill in Your name and This device; others see them. While you have the tracker open, it keeps a small lock file (sufs-tracker.lock) in the folder, renewed every 30 seconds, and removes it when you close the page.
• Someone else is editing. Opening the folder while someone else has it shows who (name, device, browser), since when, their last sign of activity and the last change to the data. Your tracker stays read-only: you see everything, and their changes as they arrive, but can't change anything. The header says Read-only.
• Take over. Back up and take over first saves a copy of the data file in backups/, then makes you the editor. The other browser notices within half a minute and turns read-only, telling its user who took over. A lock with no sign of activity for 3 minutes is shown as left behind (the other browser was probably closed without releasing it); taking over is then safe. When the other person closes the tracker, yours takes over by itself.

Backups and restoring¶

With a folder, the tracker keeps copies of the data file in backups/, named by date, time and reason: a daily copy (on the first save of each day; the last 30 are kept), one whenever you click Create a backup now, one before every import or restore, and one before taking over from someone else. They are listed under the folder, newest first. Download saves a copy; Restore… opens it in the import screen, where Replace all my data brings that version back (or Merge adds what's missing). Each backup is a regular .json export, so it can also be imported anywhere else.

Reconnecting¶

After restarting the browser, click Reconnect to the file once (the browser asks for permission again). Stop using the file goes back to browser-only storage; the file is left as it is.

Firefox, Safari and phones can't do this; they keep using export and import.

Moving to another browser or device¶

Export .json here, get the file to the other device however you like, open the tracker there and import it with Replace (or Merge if it already holds something).

A routine that works¶

Export .json whenever you've done a batch of work, and keep the files somewhere that's backed up (a synced folder, an email to yourself). The header's changes not exported reminder is there for exactly this.

If someone runs a shared tracker on a server for you, the same .json file imports there; the server then keeps the backups.