Saving and version history

Autosave

Norwid saves the book by itself — a fraction of a second after an edit, and also when you switch to another app, change books or quit. Writes are atomic: a file is never left half-written.

The status is shown in the top bar: “Saved · time”, “Saving…” or “Save Error” (hover to see the reason). Clicking the indicator shows the book file in Finder.

Autosave protects what you have just written. Version history protects the past.

Version history

A version is a full copy of the book at a point in time. History lives in Editing, at the bottom of the left panel. Versions are grouped by day, with the change in word count next to each.

Icon	Version	When it appears	Kept
clock	Auto version	on its own while you write: at most once every 10 minutes (configurable), and also when you quit or change books	thinned out
bookmark	Named	manually: “Save Version…” (⌥⌘S, the bookmark icon in the mode bar) or “Pin” an auto version; after an EPUB import — “After Import”	always
lifebuoy	Safety	before restoring the book and before deleting a scene or chapter that contains text	30 days

Thinning auto versions: everything from the last 24 hours is kept; up to a week — one per hour; up to a month — one per day; older — one per week.

Compare and restore

1. Select a version in the list to see a summary: word count then and now, which scenes were changed, added or deleted.
2. Select a scene — the text shows what has changed since: deletions are struck through, additions are highlighted.
3. Then:
   • Restore This Text — only this scene becomes as it was in the version; a deleted scene returns to its former place. Undo with ⌥⌘Z.
   • Restore Book — the whole book becomes as it was in the version. The current state is saved as a safety version first.
   • Pin… — give an auto version a name so it is never removed.

History of a single scene

The clock button in the editor header opens the history filtered to versions in which this scene differs from the current one. Clear the filter with the cross above the list.

Settings and backup

Settings (⌘,) → History, or the gear next to “Save Version…”:

• Auto versions — every 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, or off.
• Thin out old auto versions — can be turned off, in which case all are kept.
• History folder — where versions are stored. When you change the folder, existing versions are moved: they are copied and verified first, and only then removed from the old location. It also shows how much space the history takes.
• Backup to a separate folder — on every auto version and on quit, a full copy of the book is placed in the chosen folder. Choose a folder in iCloud Drive or Dropbox and the copy will be in the cloud too. “Back Up Now” makes one immediately.

Where data is stored

~/Library/Application Support/Norwid/:

• Books/<id>.json — books;
• Snapshots/<id>/ — the history of each book (unless another folder is chosen).

If a book file cannot be read, Norwid does not overwrite it; it sets it aside with an .unreadable suffix and tells you.

Snapshots from earlier Norwid builds remain in the history as named or safety versions.