Back up, export and recover your data

Download a backup file, restore it on a new phone, bring back a deleted record from the Recycle Bin, and export reports for your accountant.

Your data lives in your InvoBill account, and a backup file is your own extra copy. This article shows how to take one, how to restore, how to get back a deleted record, and how to hand data to your accountant.

Take a backup

  1. Go to Settings & Admin > Settings. You need an administrator login.
  2. Open the Backup tab. The first card is Backup & Restore.
  3. Under Create Backup, tap Download Backup. The button shows Creating... for a moment.
  4. A message says Backup created and a JSON file downloads to your phone, normally into the Downloads folder.
  5. Move the file somewhere safe: Google Drive, email it to yourself, or copy it to a computer. A backup that only lives on the same phone is lost with the phone.

For a large business

Tap Export JSONL (Streaming) instead. It writes the data in small pieces, so it copes with a lot of records. A progress line shows how many rows have been written. When done, a message says JSONL export complete with the file name and row count.

The backup reminder

If you have not had a successful online sync for 7 days, a window titled Take a local backup now opens. Tap Take Local Backup Now. If it fails, tap Retry Local Backup. When it works you see Backup downloaded.

What a backup does not cover. The backup and JSONL files hold your main records: companies, products, parties, invoices, payments and the ledger tables. They do not yet include credit and debit notes, quotations, sales and purchase orders, delivery challans, goods receipts or purchase invoices. For those, use your reports and your account's online copy. Keep this in mind before you rely on a backup alone.

Restore from a backup

  1. Sign in to the company you want to restore into, on the new or repaired phone.
  2. Go to Settings & Admin > Settings > Backup.
  3. Under Restore Backup, tap Select Backup File and choose your .json file.
  4. InvoBill checks the file. If it is wrong you see Invalid Backup File with the reasons. Choose a different file.
  5. A window Confirm Restore shows what the file contains and any warnings.
  6. Read it carefully, then tap Restore Data. (Cancel stops everything.)
  7. A progress bar shows each table. At the end you see Restore complete, or Restore completed with errors with a list.
How restore behaves: it merges. Records in the file replace saved records with the same ID. Records that are only in your account now are not deleted. Restore is not a way to roll your books back to an earlier day.

Bring back a deleted record

  1. Go to Admin Dashboard (under Settings & Admin) and open Recycle Bin. You need an administrator login.
  2. Find the record. Each item shows how many days remain; deleted records are kept for 30 days.
  3. Tap Restore on the record. A message says Restored.

Permanently Delete? is the other option on each item. It cannot be undone. Use it only when you are sure.

Give data to your accountant

  • Sales: Reports > Consolidated Sale Book and Consolidated Purchase Book for your sales and purchase lists.
  • GST returns: GST > GST Reports. Download the return file, for example the GSTR-1 file, and send it on.
  • A customer's account: Reports > Customer Ledger with CSV, Share or Print / PDF.

Good habits

  • Back up once a week, and always before a big change such as a restore.
  • Check each backup file after you save it: it should have a recent date and a size that is not tiny.
  • Do not share your backup file in public. It holds your customers and sales.