Handling Errors

In case something goes wrong, novelWriter has a few built-in features to reduce the chance your work is lost. In case of a crash, it will also try to save whatever changes you have made before exiting, if this is at all possible.

The storage solution is designed to save each text document independently, so only the document you’re working on is actually at a risk of losing data in the event of a crash.

Recovered Documents

If novelWriter crashes or otherwise exits without saving the project state, or if you’re using a file synchronisation tool that runs out of sync, there may be files in the project storage folder that aren’t tracked in the core project file. These files, when discovered, are recovered and added back into the project when a project is opened.

The discovered files are scanned for metadata that give clues as to where the document may previously have been located in the project. The project loading routine will try to put them back as close as possible to this location, if it still exists. Generally, it will be appended to the end of the folder where it previously was located. If that folder doesn’t exist, it will try to add it to the correct root folder type. If it cannot figure out which root folder is correct, the document will be added to the Novel root folder. Finally, if a Novel does not exist, one will be created.

If the title of the document can be recovered, the word “Recovered:” will be added as a prefix to indicate that it may need further attention. If the title cannot be determined, the document will be named after its internal key, which is a string of characters and numbers.

Project Lockfile

To prevent data loss caused by file conflicts when novelWriter projects are synchronised via file synchronisation tools, a project lockfile is written to the project storage folder when a project is open. If you try to open a project that already has such a file present, you will be presented with a warning, and some information about where else novelWriter thinks the project is also open. You will be given the option to ignore this warning, and continue opening the project at your own risk.

Note

If, for some reason, novelWriter or your computer crashes, the lock file may remain even if there are no other instances keeping the project open. In such a case it is safe to ignore the lock file warning when re-opening the project.

Warning

If you choose to ignore the warning and continue opening the project, and multiple instances of the project are in fact open, you are likely to cause inconsistencies and create diverging project files, potentially resulting in loss of data and orphaned files. You are not likely to lose any actual text unless both instances have the same document open in the editor, and novelWriter will try to resolve project inconsistencies the next time you open the project.