Back Up a Project
| Article Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Category | Your Data & Backups |
| Difficulty | Beginner |
| Target OS | Windows · macOS (coming soon) |
| Summary | Create a .zip backup of a project and keep it somewhere safe. |
Cicero doesn’t sync to the cloud or make backups on its own. Instead, a backup is a single .zip file you can export manually containing the whole project: every sheet, every lore element, every image, and the project’s details.
Back up from inside a project
Section titled “Back up from inside a project”- Open the project’s Dashboard or Lorebook.
- In the top bar, click the Backups button (the database icon with a +).
- Choose where to save the file. Cicero will suggest a name like
my-novel-backup-2026-11-03.zip. - Click Save. When the backup finishes, Cicero shows Backup saved. If it fails, Cicero shows an error message instead.
Back up from the Project Hub
Section titled “Back up from the Project Hub”- In the Project Hub sidebar, click Backups.
- Find the project → click Backup Now.
- Choose where to save the file → click Save.
When the backup finishes, the card shows where it was saved.
Where to keep backups
Section titled “Where to keep backups”A backup on the same drive as your project won’t help if that drive fails. Keep at least one copy off your computer:
- An external drive or USB stick
- A cloud-synced folder (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive)
How often?
Section titled “How often?”At least once per writing session, and always before a big change (deleting sheets, reorganizing, or moving the project). Each backup has the date in its name, so you can keep several.
Backup reminders
Section titled “Backup reminders”Cicero shows a reminder banner inside a project when it’s been a while since your last backup (3 days by default). Click Back up now on the banner, or close it with ×.
To change how often it reminds you, or turn reminders off: Settings → Backups. See Backup Reminders.