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Where to keep your charts and progress backups so a new phone doesn't cost you them

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More and more charts are bought as files, and progress is marked on a phone. That's handy — until the phone breaks, goes missing or is due for replacement. Keep your chart files and marks so you could get them back in an evening. Here's a simple system.

What exactly needs saving

  • The charts themselves: bought PDFs, OXS files, your own charts. What's inside a PDF and an OXS file is covered in "Vector PDF or scan" and "What is an OXS file".
  • Progress: which squares are already stitched. This is the most painful to lose — you can download a chart again, but not your marks.
  • The extras: receipts and shop emails with download links, photos of the work as it goes.

One folder for the library

  • One place. Keep all your charts in one folder with subfolders — say, "In progress", "Want to stitch", "Finished". Charts scattered across email and downloads are the first to get lost.
  • Clear file names. Designer — title — size: "Designer — Irises — 150x120.pdf". A name like "chart_final2.pdf" will tell you nothing in a year.
  • Keep the original apart. If you print or mark up a printout, leave the source file alone: mark a copy.
  • Download links. Many shops let you download a bought chart again. Save the order email in a folder of its own.

The 3-2-1 rule

This is how important files are kept, in crafts and beyond:

  • 3 copies — the original and two more;
  • on 2 different devices or media — say, phone and computer, or phone and cloud drive;
  • 1 copy away from home, usually in the cloud: in case both the phone and the computer are lost.

For charts this is more than enough. What matters is that at least one copy updates by itself, without you: manual copies get forgotten.

Check that a backup restores

A backup you've never restored from is a hope, not a backup. Every few months:

  1. Open the backup on another device or in another folder.
  2. Check that the chart opens and the marks are there.
  3. If something doesn't open, sort it out now — not on the day the phone falls.

Before you change phones, make a fresh backup by hand and restore it on the new one before you wipe the old one.

Where the app comes in

In Crossette it works like this:

  • "Automatic backups". Once a day, when something changed, the app puts a backup in the folder you choose in Files — iCloud Drive, for example. The five latest backups are kept.
  • "Back up now" puts all your projects and marks into one .crossette file. You can save it to Files or send it to yourself — before changing phones.
  • "Restore from a file". On restore, marks are merged: the later mark of each stitch stays, so an old backup won't undo newer marks.

Every mark is saved straight away, so everything you've marked reaches the backup. For keeping your progress safe on paper, see "How not to lose your cross stitch progress".

About the author

This article was written by the Crossette team. We're building Crossette, a cross stitch tracker for iPhone and iPad. It's in development; to join the beta, see the Beta page.