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Backups

Make a backup, test a restore, and protect your financial history.

Last updated: April 16, 2026

A backup is a complete copy of your PennyBolt data in a .pbbackup file. Make one before any major change — a large import, a reconciliation, or moving to a new computer — and keep a copy somewhere that isn’t your main computer.

flowchart LR
  A[Make a backup] -->|.pbbackup file| B[Store it safely]
  B --> C{Need to restore?}
  C -- yes --> D[File → Restore]
  D --> E[Choose .pbbackup file]
  E --> F[PennyBolt restores to that state]
  C -- no --> B

The backup-restore cycle. A backup is worthless until you’ve tested the restore.

Make a backup

Go to File → Backup. PennyBolt opens a save dialog. Choose a location and a filename. Click Save.

The backup includes everything: all accounts, all transactions, all payees, all rules, all categories, and all preferences.

A reasonable naming convention: pennybolt-backup-2026-04-16.pbbackup. Include the date so you can find the right one later.

Where to store it

Store backups somewhere other than your computer’s main drive:

  • An external hard drive or USB drive.
  • A cloud folder (iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive). PennyBolt doesn’t sync to the cloud, but you can put the backup file there yourself.
  • A NAS or network share.

One copy on the same drive as your PennyBolt data is not a backup. It’s a second copy in the same place that could fail the same way.

Test a restore

A backup you haven’t tested isn’t trustworthy. To verify yours works:

  1. Make a backup.
  2. Go to File → Restore and choose the backup file you just made.
  3. PennyBolt opens the restored data. Confirm a few recent transactions are there.
  4. Close and reopen PennyBolt. Your live file is intact; restoring opens a temporary view, not a destructive operation.

If the restore shows your data correctly, the backup is good.

Restore from a backup

Go to File → Restore. Choose the .pbbackup file. PennyBolt opens the backup in a preview so you can confirm it’s the right one before committing. To make it your active file, click Restore.

Note: Restoring replaces your current PennyBolt file with the backup. Make a backup of your current file first if you’re unsure.

How often to back up

After any significant work session. At minimum: once a week if you use PennyBolt regularly.

A practical pattern: back up after every import and after every reconciliation. Those are the moments when your data changes most.

See also