Category: How-to article
Introduction: What is Backup?
Losing files can be painful – especially when it’s photos, work projects, or documents you can’t easily recreate. Using our Backup feature in Onlime is designed to quietly mirror the selected folders from your computer to the Onlime cloud:
You choose which folders matter to you (for example Documents, Pictures, Desktop).
The Onlime app uploads those folders to the cloud in the background.
When files change in those folders, Backup automatically syncs the changes.
Your files stay where they are on your computer, but you also have a secure copy stored in Onlime if something goes wrong with your device.
Guide: How to configure Backup?
1. Configuring backup when you install Onlime
When installing our Onlime desktop application, we give you quick way to add the most common valuable folders to backup like Documents, Pictures, and Desktop.
You decide if you add these during install – you can always remove or add folders to backup later.
2. Configure backup after you've installed Onlime
Open the Onlime desktop app
Go to the Backup section
Click the “+ Add to backup” button and select the folder you want to protect
The app immediately queues that folder for upload and shows its progress in the Backup view.
Once all your important folders show a green checkmark and a recent “Last backup” time, your backup is complete.
Good to know:
Confirm the status of your backup
It’s natural to want proof that your files are truly protected.
In the Backup view:
A folder with a green checkmark is fully backed up.
Click the arrow-icon to explore
The “Last updated” time shows when the folder was last synced.
If you just added a large folder, you may not see the green checkmark right away.
Keep the app running and your computer online; the upload will complete on its own.
Automatic protection going forward
After the initial upload, Backup takes care of new and changed files for you:
New files created inside a backed-up folder are uploaded automatically.
Edited files are re-synced so the latest version is stored in Jottacloud.
You don’t need to manually start backup jobs; just keep the app installed, signed in, and running.
Back up more than your internal drive
If you also store important files on an external disk or USB drive, you can protect those too. Learn how to back up an external drive with the desktop app ↗ so that those devices are covered when connected.
Control what stays on your computer
Some users prefer to keep certain folders only in the cloud, or reduce how much space Jottacloud uses locally. If you want more control over this, read about selective sync in the new desktop app ↗ to fine-tune which files are stored locally versus only in Jottacloud.
Restore and work with your files
When you need to get files back from your backup or move them to another device, you can download files and folders from the desktop application ↗. This is useful when setting up a new computer or recovering after a problem.
If you later decide to remove a folder from Backup and want to understand how that affects your stored data, you can also review how to delete folders from Backup in the old desktop app ↗ for extra background on how backup behavior has evolved.