Improvement of manual to import backup on Windows desktop

#1

Hi,
first thank you for delta chat the first messenger I like to use.

What I found tricky was to get a backup from my Android phone into the Windows desktop app.

  1. I didn’t realize that only on the first start of the app I’m presented with the choice to import a backup. This should be mentioned more prominent in the help text, because I assumed it could be done also later.

  2. It wasn’t enough to uninstall and reinstall DeltaChat, but I had to delete \username\AppData\Local\DeltaChat. Otherwise the “import backup” option doesn’t show up.

To mention this in the help would make things easier as long as there is no settings menu as it is mentioned in Import backup only at new install - no "import" menu item in settings?

Thank you very much. Keep on the good work.

1 Like
#2

what desktop version did you use?
Normally you can click on Switch Account in the main menu and there is an import backup button:

2021-02-06_20-37
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#3

@rob
In older versions of delta chat there was an explicit menu item for Import Backup.
Later this has been changed to the current approach only to provide an import only at new install (or as Simon mentioned at creating a new account).
In my eyes this is weird in some way now and I would vote for the old way. Or even more better a new submenu like that:

  • Data management
    • Export Backup
    • Import Backup
    • Housekeeping (purge unused files and contents)
    • Vacuum database
#4

Hi,
thank you for this hint. I’m using version 1.14.1 on Windows 10. It has the option you pointed out.

May be I did not realise that there was this “Import backup” option. I read the help page “Can I use Delta Chat on different devices?” (actually I use the German version where it is “Kann ich Delta Chat auf mehreren Geräten zur selben Zeit verwenden?”). There is no hint that you can find the “Import backup” Option under “Einstellungen - E-Mail-Konto wechseln” / “Settings - Change email account”. There is no other hint in the help page concerning backups resp. importing backups. So for others it maybe also helpful to add a sentence on that.

#5

I saw your post on that, which makes a lot of sense to me. I find the “Import backup” option quite hidden. For a program that depends on this functionality for using it on several devices, which is a quite common scenario I think it is hidden too much. For whatever reasons the developers changed their approach at least a hint in the help page is missing.