Info request : backup #4490

New Issue

OVERLORD · 2026-02-05T08:59:34+03:00

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 08:59:34 +03:00

Originally created by @eleo56 on GitHub (Feb 27, 2024).

Describe the feature you'd like

Hello everyone,
I've read quite a few posts on the subject of backups and exports. However, I'm a bit lost.

Our goal is to be able to retrieve pages sorted by book, which in turn are sorted by shelf.

Does the organisation of the server allow this?
According to post #2405 this is possible (?)
Is a backup possible?
According to post #2405 this is possible (?)
If Bookstack no longer exists, is no longer maintained or anything, will our data be recoverable with this organisation?

Describe the benefits this would bring to existing BookStack users

Bring more clarity...

Can the goal of this request already be achieved via other means?

I don't know. These are probably very naive questions, as I don't have access to the server.

Have you searched for an existing open/closed issue?

I have searched for existing issues and none cover my fundamental request

How long have you been using BookStack?

3 months to 1 year

Additional context

No response

Originally created by @eleo56 on GitHub (Feb 27, 2024). ### Describe the feature you'd like Hello everyone, I've read quite a few posts on the subject of backups and exports. However, I'm a bit lost. Our goal is to be able to retrieve pages sorted by book, which in turn are sorted by shelf. Does the organisation of the server allow this? According to post #2405 this is possible (?) Is a backup possible? According to post #2405 this is possible (?) If Bookstack no longer exists, is no longer maintained or anything, will our data be recoverable with this organisation? ### Describe the benefits this would bring to existing BookStack users Bring more clarity... ### Can the goal of this request already be achieved via other means? I don't know. These are probably very naive questions, as I don't have access to the server. ### Have you searched for an existing open/closed issue? - [X] I have searched for existing issues and none cover my fundamental request ### How long have you been using BookStack? 3 months to 1 year ### Additional context _No response_

OVERLORD added the 🔨 Feature Request label 2026-02-05 08:59:34 +03:00

OVERLORD closed this issue

2026-02-05 08:59:38 +03:00

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 08:59:43 +03:00

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Feb 27, 2024):

Hi @eleo56,

Our goal is to be able to retrieve pages sorted by book, which in turn are sorted by shelf.

What exactly do you mean by that? Just trying to understand how exactly your goal is related to backup/export.

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Feb 27, 2024): Hi @eleo56, > Our goal is to be able to retrieve pages sorted by book, which in turn are sorted by shelf. What exactly do you mean by that? Just trying to understand how exactly your goal is related to backup/export.

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 08:59:48 +03:00

@eleo56 commented on GitHub (Feb 28, 2024):

Hi Dan,

Indeed, i wasn't clear.

We have important content in Bookstack that we don't want to lose under any circumstances, whatever happens:
a- If there's a bug/crash in our Bookstack
b- If we decide to migrate our content from Bookstack to another program;
c- If we want to export the pages : having one PDF per page with a single click, and not the whole book in a single PDF file.
d- If Bookstack no longer exists or is no longer maintained

If one of these cases occurs, we want to be able to retrieve the sorted content in the same way as in Bookstack at present (Shelf > Book > Pages). Except for d, there would be no shelves.

So I asked myself several questions:

How do you make a backup? There's already information on this and I could pass it on to the technical experts: #2405 . However, I'm not sure I've understood: is the organisation of content also saved (Shelf > Book > Pages)?
How can we easily migrate our content? It all depends on the software you choose. Let's leave that aside for now.
To simply export all the books into a folder, there's already some information : https://gist.github.com/ssddanbrown/45acb913a7b873240b2d89781e74a7a4. But not but not for exporting an entire book as a PDF per page (with a single click)-->Could you tell me if this is possible?
What happens to our content if Bookstack no longer exists/maintained? Will our content still be on our server? I haven't found any answers. (I suppose this is a naive question as we are the hosts, but I want to make sure).

If there's any more recent information than I've mentioned, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Thank you and have a nice day
Eléonore

@eleo56 commented on GitHub (Feb 28, 2024): Hi Dan, Indeed, i wasn't clear. We have important content in Bookstack that we don't want to lose under any circumstances, whatever happens: a- If there's a bug/crash in our Bookstack b- If we decide to migrate our content from Bookstack to another program; c- If we want to export the pages : having one PDF per page with a single click, and not the whole book in a single PDF file. d- If Bookstack no longer exists or is no longer maintained If one of these cases occurs, we want to be able to retrieve the sorted content in the same way as in Bookstack at present (Shelf > Book > Pages). Except for d, there would be no shelves. So I asked myself several questions: - How do you make a backup? There's already information on this and I could pass it on to the technical experts: #2405 . However, I'm not sure I've understood: is the organisation of content also saved (Shelf > Book > Pages)? - How can we easily migrate our content? It all depends on the software you choose. Let's leave that aside for now. - To simply export all the books into a folder, there's already some information : https://gist.github.com/ssddanbrown/45acb913a7b873240b2d89781e74a7a4. But not but not for exporting an entire book as a PDF per page (with a single click)-->Could you tell me if this is possible? - What happens to our content if Bookstack no longer exists/maintained? Will our content still be on our server? I haven't found any answers. (I suppose this is a naive question as we are the hosts, but I want to make sure). If there's any more recent information than I've mentioned, please don't hesitate to let me know. Thank you and have a nice day Eléonore

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 08:59:51 +03:00

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Mar 6, 2024):

How can we easily migrate our content? It all depends on the software you choose. Let's leave that aside for now.
What happens to our content if Bookstack no longer exists/maintained? Will our content still be on our server? I haven't found any answers. (I suppose this is a naive question as we are the hosts, but I want to make sure).

As long as you're hosting the instance (and connected database), then all data is on your system.

I've had a few queries recently regarding the content storage format, and its portability. To help make this information clear, I've added some guidance to our website here: https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/content-storage/.

To simply export all the books into a folder, there's already some information : https://gist.github.com/ssddanbrown/45acb913a7b873240b2d89781e74a7a4. But not but not for exporting an entire book as a PDF per page (with a single click)-->Could you tell me if this is possible?

There is no in-built button to export all books (or multiple books) as PDFs within the UI. You'd have to view each book and click the "Export > PDF" option. Just to confirm on this though, PDFs are a copy of the content, but are not a backup for BookStack at all. They cannot be used to directly restore back into BookStack.

If you did go down the script route, I have a slightly more maintained version of that in our api-scripts repo here: https://github.com/BookStackApp/api-scripts/tree/main/php-export-all-books

How do you make a backup? There's already information on this and I could pass it on to the technical experts: https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/issues/2405 . However, I'm not sure I've understood: is the organisation of content also saved (Shelf > Book > Pages)?

That page you linked is a feature request discussion, so I can't advise following guidance there for maintaining your BookStack instance.

We have guidance on creating instance backup & restore here:
https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/backup-restore/
Following that guidance, everything in your BookStack instance will be backed-up.
There's also the newer System CLI which can help automate some of this, although that's in alpha-state. Either way, backup and restore should be tested.

Note: The exact steps may depend on how you install/run BookStack. If you're using something like docker to run BookStack, the backup steps & considerations could look quite different.
If possible, I'd usually advise also performing a system level-backup also (system snapshot, or disk-level backup).

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Mar 6, 2024): > How can we easily migrate our content? It all depends on the software you choose. Let's leave that aside for now. > What happens to our content if Bookstack no longer exists/maintained? Will our content still be on our server? I haven't found any answers. (I suppose this is a naive question as we are the hosts, but I want to make sure). As long as you're hosting the instance (and connected database), then all data is on your system. I've had a few queries recently regarding the content storage format, and its portability. To help make this information clear, I've added some guidance to our website here: https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/content-storage/. > To simply export all the books into a folder, there's already some information : https://gist.github.com/ssddanbrown/45acb913a7b873240b2d89781e74a7a4. But not but not for exporting an entire book as a PDF per page (with a single click)-->Could you tell me if this is possible? There is no in-built button to export all books (or multiple books) as PDFs within the UI. You'd have to view each book and click the "Export > PDF" option. Just to confirm on this though, PDFs are a copy of the content, but are not a backup for BookStack at all. They cannot be used to directly restore back into BookStack. If you did go down the script route, I have a slightly more maintained version of that in our api-scripts repo here: https://github.com/BookStackApp/api-scripts/tree/main/php-export-all-books > How do you make a backup? There's already information on this and I could pass it on to the technical experts: https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/issues/2405 . However, I'm not sure I've understood: is the organisation of content also saved (Shelf > Book > Pages)? That page you linked is a feature request discussion, so I can't advise following guidance there for maintaining your BookStack instance. We have guidance on creating instance backup & restore here: https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/backup-restore/ Following that guidance, everything in your BookStack instance will be backed-up. There's also the newer [System CLI](https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/system-cli/) which can help automate some of this, although that's in alpha-state. Either way, backup and restore should be tested. Note: The exact steps may depend on how you install/run BookStack. If you're using something like docker to run BookStack, the backup steps & considerations could look quite different. If possible, I'd usually advise also performing a system level-backup also (system snapshot, or disk-level backup).

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 08:59:57 +03:00

@eleo56 commented on GitHub (Mar 6, 2024):

Thank you Dan for all this informations, I'm going to talk to the technical experts.
Have a good day
Eléonore

@eleo56 commented on GitHub (Mar 6, 2024): Thank you Dan for all this informations, I'm going to talk to the technical experts. Have a good day Eléonore

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 08:59:59 +03:00

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Feb 25, 2025):

Since there's been no further follow-up, and since the original questions have been answered here, I'm going to go ahead and close this off.

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Feb 25, 2025): Since there's been no further follow-up, and since the original questions have been answered here, I'm going to go ahead and close this off.

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Reference: starred/BookStack#4490