Desktop: Desktop App Backup does not use selected directory

[MorgothSauron]

When I enable backup in the desktop app, I select the folder for the backups ($HOME/Documents/StandardNotes).

The problem is that the application will create a sub-directory named Standard Notes insides the selected folder. The backups are stored in $HOME/Documents/StandardNotes/Standard Notes.

The application should use the folder I selected and not create it's own sub-folder. It's like if Firefox was creating a 'firefox' sub-folder when you select a download folder.

Standard Notes desktop app should use the folder selected by the user, period.

As a workaround I edit backupsLocation in $HOME/.config/Standard Notes/user-preferences.json

[ackstorm23]

Such a change would cause backups to store in the root directory unless the user explicitly provided a folder name.

Could this be solved with modified wording during creation making it clear you are picking a parent folder in which to create the Standard Notes folder, and not the destination folder?

[MorgothSauron]

The way it works currently is different from what you see in other applications and operating system. I'll try to list few scenarios

1) I select $HOME/Temp as the parent folder (I don't go inside the folder)

• Current behavior: backup directory is $HOME/Temp/Standard Notes Backups
• Expected behavior: backup directory is $HOME/Temp

2) I select $HOME/Temp as the backup folder (I go inside the folder)

• Current behavior: backup directory is $HOME/Temp/Standard Notes Backups
• Expected behavior: backup directory is $HOME/Temp

3) I select $HOME/Documents/StandardNotes/Backups as the backup folder (I go inside the folder)

• Current behavior: backup directory is $HOME/Documents/StandardNotes/Backups/Standard Notes Backups
• Expected behavior: backup directory is $HOME/Documents/StandardNotes/Backups

The fact that SN adds it's own sub-folder is confusing. If I select folder $HOME/Documents/StandardNotes/Backups it is expected that the backup will be in that folder, not in a subfolder.

I think I shouldn't have to edit user-preferences.json to get the desired path for the backups.

[JaspalSuri]

The fact that SN adds it's own sub-folder is confusing.

I can sympathize with your frustration here. I think it's just to provide a foolproof way for the average user to search for backups of their notes again and avoid any potential conflicts with the OS. @baptiste-grob might be able to share his thoughts on this, since he works on the desktop and web app. :)

[baptiste-grob]

Yep what @JaspalSuri is correct. Creating a folder is the safest solution which is why we went with it. But we did consider what you're suggesting. Does manually editing user-preferences.json work correctly? If so we can at least be careful to respect your choice there.

[MorgothSauron]

Ok. I understand that it works as designed.

So far I didn't have problem changing the backupsLocation directly in user-preferences.json. If I open the backup location from the application it opens in the right path. From what I can see the settings will be overwritten only if I use the "Change Backup Location" menu in the application. Besides this last case, the change made manually in user-preferences.json is preserved.