Backing Up Finished Pages - Both JPG versions and Editable Backups

This blog post is about two things really: saving and backing up your Project Life app pages (both the JPG version of the page, and the editable backup version), and then how to bring an editable backup version back into the app after it's been saved, should you ever need to make corrections.

Saving and Backing Up PL App Pages

So, you've taken the time to create an awesome scrapbook page in the Project Life app--now what?

If you never plan to delete the page out of your Project Life app, then fine. You're done. Go on with your life. But eventually, you'r app is going to start running slower and slower because it's taking up so much "space" on your device.

But if you ever wanted to do anything in the future with your scrapbook pages (besides looking at them on your device) like print them, or email them, or save them permanently, or post them online; then you really should save them outside the app, and back them up.

I'm going to share what my process is. Is it the the only way to do it? Nope. Is it the best way to do it? Well, it works for me. Maybe you have additional ideas or ways that you like do things, but like I said, this is MY process, and I'm sharing it with you.

First, I create a page. (Sometimes easier said than done, as I often spend way too much time deciding on cards/fonts/colors)

My finished page. Nothing too fancy, just DONE! :)

Then, I export a 12 x 12 version of the page and save it in my Dropbox account.

On Dropbox, I have Project Life folder that I've subdivided into additional folders by year.  I also have an Unsorted folder that all my saved pages go into initially.

When I export the page to Dropbox, I take the time to name the page. The Project Life app automatically gives the page a name and the .JPG extension, but I always change that default name to include the year, then a hyphen, then a description of the page. In this example it's 2000-Easter Egg Hunt.jpg.

I pick my UNSORTED folder within Dropbox, change the file name, and then tap Save in the upper right corner.

And immediately after that, while I'm in that "saving mode", I also export an Editable Backup to the same UNSORTED Dropbox folder, with the name page name, but this time, since it's an editable backup, instead of the .jpg file extension, is has a .plpage extension. Applying the right extension is done automatically in the app depending on whether you are exporting a page or a editable backup.

Once both the page JPG and the editable backup are in Dropbox, when you view them through the Dropbox app (or on the computer in Dropbox) you can see a thumbnail version of the .jpg file, but not of the .plpage file.

Now, because I only use the free version of Dropbox, that doesn't have a ton of storage space (I think only like 5 GB or so), I don't keep the 12 x 12 .jpg versions of the page in Dropbox for very long. Image files tend to take up a lot of space, more so than the .plpage versions do at least.

I download the 12 x 12 .jpg versions from Dropbox to my computer, and then store them on Google Photos in albums organized by year. I've talked about my Google Photos organization process in a previous post.

Once I've uploaded the 12 x 12 .jpg versions to Google Photos, I delete the page from my PL app, and delete the .jpg version from my Dropbox. I only keep the editable backup copies in Dropbox.

Then I move those editable backup copies out of the Unsorted folder and into corresponding yearly folders I've made my Dropbox.

Here's an example of my 1983 folder on Dropbox. You can see that I have two editable backup files stored here.

But why do you need to keep an editable backup if you have already saved the .jpg version on Google Photos?

Good question. Maybe for you, you don't need or want to. That's fine. To each their own. But for me, it is inevitable that I will have a typo in my journaling on a page that I only see after the fact (even though I've read that journaling card like 235 times!)

Or maybe, in the newest Project Life app update, an amazing new card kit comes out that will work so much better than what I used originally. Basically, the ability to save an editable backup version of your pages is so that you can (if you want to) pull the page back into the Project Life app and make edits, WITHOUT having to recreate the whole page again from scratch. The editable backup preserves your card choices, your fonts, you photo editing--everything from when you made the page and exported it the first time.

Some people export their pages and then delete it off their app and are done. Good for you if your process includes just those steps. Me, I like to export and save a jpg version and an editable version---just in case I need to fix it later. I have the storage space to do that, and I'm just anal enough that typos would bug me too much if I didn't fix them!

Restoring an Editable Backup to the Project Life App

So, let's say that you do find a typo and want to go back and fix it after the fact. How do you do it?

To pull an editable backup page back into the Project Life app, you have to open the location where you have saved that backup, which for me is in Dropbox. I open the Dropbox app on the same device that I have the Project Life app on, and I go to the yearly folder where editable backup version is saved.

Let's say that I found a typo on this 1983 Let George Do It page. 

I tap the title of the page layout and it starts to try and open, but since Dropbox can't "read" the .plpage file extension, it can't show you a preview of what the page looks like, so it  just shows the name of the file.

Then I tap the three little dots icon on the top right corner of the Dropbox app, and choose Export.

Then I choose Copy to Project Life.

That opens up the Project Life app, and the PL app will ask if you'd like to save the page to your library.

I tap Yes, and the page is added to my Completed Pages library.

Depending on when you originally saved the page is where it will appear in your list of Completed Pages. In this case, the page was originally saved 49 weeks ago! So you may have to scroll to find your page.

Once the page is back in the PL app, you can open it and make changes to any part of the page: photos, journaling, card choices, fonts, etc.

Then, don't forget to re-save and re-export the corrected version as an jpg version and as an editable backup. If you want to use the same file name as you originally did, when you save it, it should ask you if you want to replace the old one (just like it does in other computer programs). Say Yes to that, and you won't have to worry about having two version, one with typos and one without!

So that's my process. If it works for you, great. Feel free to use it with my blessing! ;)  If you find a way that works for you, I couldn't be happier for you. Just sharing what work for me.