How Writer Saves and Backs Up Your Writing
Writer saves every document online rather than on your device, and it keeps multiple automatic revisions of each document as you write. That means you can open your work from any computer, and you can go back to a version of a document as it existed a day, a week, or even years ago. According to the site, all writing is transmitted securely to its servers and backed up nightly, so losing your computer doesn't mean losing your novel.
Where your writing lives
Writer is an online writing app, so your documents are stored on its servers, not in local files you manage yourself. The practical consequences:
- Access from anywhere. Because everything is saved online, your writing is available no matter where you are or what computer you use.
- No storage ceiling. Writer lets you save an unlimited number of documents of any length, so you don't have to worry about running out of storage space.
- Nothing to sync manually. You sign in and your documents are there — there's no folder to copy between machines.
Automatic revisions: your safety net
The core of Writer's backup behavior is revision history. As you write, multiple revisions of every document are saved automatically. This is different from a single "last saved" state — it's a timeline you can walk back through.
What that gives you:
- You can return a document to how it looked a day ago, a week ago, or years ago.
- An accidental deletion or a bad rewrite isn't final, because an earlier revision still exists.
- You don't have to remember to save or to make manual copies before big edits.
The site describes this as a way to "never worry about losing your novel just because you lost your computer" — the revision history and the server-side copy work together.
How the backup actually works
Two layers are described on the site:
- Secure transmission. All of your writing is transmitted securely to Writer's servers as you work.
- Nightly server backups. Those servers are backed up nightly, so the stored copies are themselves protected.
In other words, the revision history protects you against your own edits, and the nightly server backup protects the stored data against infrastructure failure.
Getting your writing back out
Backups are only useful if you can retrieve your work, and Writer builds in several export paths:
| Destination | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Google Drive, Dropbox | Cloud storage and sharing |
| Evernote | Note-based archiving |
| WordPress | Publishing directly |
| PDF, HTML, ePub | Fixed-format documents and ebooks |
The site's stated position is that your writing belongs to you, and these exporters exist so you have as many ways as possible to use it. If you want an independent copy outside Writer's servers, exporting is the way to get one.
What to check before you rely on it
- Sign in to reach your documents. Registration is free and existing members sign in; your saved writing is tied to your account, so access depends on being able to log in.
- Revision history is the recovery tool. If you need an older draft, look for the document's saved revisions rather than expecting a separate archive.
- Exports are your off-platform copy. Writer's own backups live on its servers; if you want a copy you control, use the built-in exporters.
- PRO is a separate tier. The site promotes upgrading to a PRO account, so some capabilities may sit behind that upgrade — check the PRO page if a specific feature matters to you.