Help & Privacy

Recover lost text

4 min read

Text disappeared — don't panic. Slima has four layers of protection that cover almost every case. Try them in order; most of the time the first or second layer recovers it.

Account → Preferences (zh-TW shown): clearing local cache is a mid-step option in the 4-layer recovery

Layer 1: Refresh the page (local IndexedDB cache)

If text you just wrote suddenly disappeared, it's often a display glitch, not actual loss.

  • Web / PWA: ⌘R (Mac) / Ctrl R (Win/Linux) to refresh
  • Desktop: Fully quit + restart

If the text returns → your local cache was fine, the UI was just out of sync.

Layer 2: Auto-versions

If a refresh doesn't bring it back:

  1. Open the Version history panel (clock icon at the top of the chapter)
  2. Look at recent auto-versions (dot markers)
  3. Click any to preview — find the version containing the missing text
  4. Hit "Restore only this file" → text returns

Slima's auto-version system snapshots on every writing burst, before any AI edit, and at other key moments — most accidental deletes can be recovered from here.

See: Restore a single file · Auto-version rules

Layer 3: Manual versions

If you named a version ("Revision 1", "Before changing POV", etc.):

  1. Open Version history
  2. Find your named version
  3. Restore

Manual versions are "safer" than auto-versions — they stay forever unless you delete them.

See: Take a manual version

Layer 4: Exported backup

If the above don't work — have you ever exported a .slima backup?

Import from your backup file: Bulk import from backup

Truly gone

From inside Slima, Contact support — Slima's server-side logs may still hold your content within a short window. But there's no guarantee.

That last fallback isn't guaranteed — which is exactly why versioning + regular export is the real insurance.

Prevention beats recovery

The best habits for long-form work:

  • Take a manual version before any big change — POV swap, deleting a subplot, rewriting an ending
  • Export .slima backups regularly to your own Google Drive / iCloud / USB drive
  • Leave auto-versioning on

See: Why versioning matters: the full case for 4-layer protection

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