Backups

Workspace settings is the control center where you can schedule how often backups run, how long they’re retained, what data is preserved, and in which formats those backups are organized.

Schedule

Your first backup should start soon after you connect your Notion workspace and at least one cloud storage provider. You can also trigger the backup manually from the workspace settings.

There are 3 possible backup states:

• Scheduled - backup will run as scheduled
• In progress - backup is currently running
• Error - some error prevented backup from completing

By default, your workspace is backed up weekly, but you can choose daily or monthly options as well. For example, if a backup finishes on January 1st with the weekly setting, expect the next one on January 8th. You can see the estimated time for the next backup in the workspace settings.

Backup completion typically takes a few hours, but large workspaces may require several days. Occasionally, Notion or cloud storage services may experience issues that could delay the backup completion.

If the backup file doesn't appear in your cloud storage within a week, please reach out.

Backup formats

Backups are available in JSON and Markdown formats.

JSON

By default, backups are created in JSON format. While not easily readable, this format is essential for restore functionality, as it preserves metadata, ensuring a more complete backup.

JSON backups also cover more ground, as some data couldn't be converted to Markdown (see below).

Markdown

Backups can also be created in Markdown format, which is currently in beta. This format is more human-readable, allowing for easier browsing of content.

Unlike Notion's built-in Markdown export, our backups are exclusively in Markdown and contain no CSV files.

Current limitations of the Markdown format:

• Some database properties, such as buttons, might not be included
• Formatting for some database properties might not be preserved
• Comments aren't included

Top-level pages

You can manage which top-level pages Notion Backups has access to by reauthorizing in your workspace settings (it's a good idea to do it regularly).

You can also select which pages Notion Backups has access to from your Notion workspace settings (Settings & members > My connections > Notion Backups menu > Access selected pages).

Media files

By default, media files uploaded directly to Notion (including images, audio, video, and PDF files) will be backed up. This also includes custom covers/icons and attachments in properties. This can significantly increase your backup size (you can disable the backing up of media files in your workspace settings).

For externally-hosted media files, only URLs will be included in your backups, not the files themselves.

Comments

If you connected your Notion workspace before October 30th, 2022, comments will not be backed up unless you have reauthorized your workspace after that date.

Note that due to Notion API's limitations, only unresolved comments will be backed up.

Auto-delete

To preserve cloud storage space, you can choose to automatically delete backups older than 2, 4, 8, or 12 weeks.

If you are subscribed to a Pro plan, you can select an advanced backup rotation schedule that will retain at least one weekly, one monthly, and one yearly backup (also known as Grandfather-father-son rotation scheme). This approach provides snapshots covering a wide range of time while saving storage.

Compression

Backups are compressed and archived in the zip file to reduce bandwidth and storage costs.

Zip files are widely supported by most operating systems. If you have trouble unzipping files on Windows, try 7zip.