Snapshots are the original vault format’s version history. In a vault on that format, Myne quietly keeps earlier versions of each note as you edit, so you can look back or roll back without thinking about it. A vault you create on a current version of Myne is already on the newer format and takes no snapshots at all (each note carries its own edit history inside itself instead), so its snapshots panel stays empty from the first note onward.
Which vaults have snapshots
Snapshots belong to the original vault format. Two vaults never have them: one you create on a current version of Myne, which is born on the newer format, and one whose format you have upgraded. In both, the snapshots panel shows its empty state and nothing is wrong. The rest of this article describes a vault still on the original format.
How snapshots are taken
Myne takes a snapshot on its own; there is no save-version button. It groups your edits rather than capturing every keystroke: a snapshot is taken after a few minutes of changes, and when you close or lock the note. So a burst of typing becomes one snapshot, not a hundred.
Snapshots are kept for about seven days, then aged out. The panel’s empty state says it plainly:
No snapshots yet. Snapshots are saved automatically as you edit and kept for about 7 days. They’re encrypted, and disappear when the note is permanently deleted.
Each snapshot is encrypted under the note’s own key: a snapshot is as private as the note itself, and nothing more is claimed for it.
Reviewing and restoring
Open the snapshots panel for a note to see its earlier versions. Pick one and Myne shows what changed as a diff. Compare against chooses what it is compared with: Current note answers “what would restoring this undo?”, and Previous snapshot answers “what did this snapshot itself change?”. The oldest snapshot has nothing before it, and says so. Restoring a snapshot is always undoable: before it rolls the note back, Myne takes a snapshot of the current version, so the state you restored from is itself in the history if you change your mind.
What snapshots are not
Snapshots are a short-term undo for edits, not a deletion safety net. When a note is permanently deleted, its snapshots go with it: version history is part of the note, not a separate copy that outlives it. For protection across deletion, use the tools that are built for it:
- For a note you deleted, the Trash holds it until you empty it.
- For longer-term safety, a backup made before the deletion still contains the note.
After you upgrade the vault format
If you upgrade the vault format, snapshots stop for that vault: no new ones are taken, the existing ones move into the upgrade’s old copy and are erased when you confirm the upgrade, and the snapshots panel shows its empty state from then on.
Each note carries its own edit history instead, and that is also what a vault created on a current version of Myne has had from the start. Two things about it are worth knowing. It travels: the history is part of the encrypted note, so it syncs to your other devices and is included in every backup, where a snapshot never left the device that made it. And nothing in the app shows it to you yet, so a note on the newer format has no version history you can browse or restore. If there is a revision you want to keep before an upgrade, take a backup first.
Limits
Snapshots cover roughly the last week of a note’s edits, live only inside the vault that holds the note, and are not exported on their own. They are not a substitute for a backup. All of that describes a vault on the original format. On the newer format (a vault you created on a current version of Myne, or one you upgraded) there are no snapshots: the note carries its own history, and that history syncs and is backed up with the note.