Backups & recovery
GBooks Air's local-first design is its whole advantage: your financial data never sits on someone else's server. The trade-off is that backup responsibility falls on you, and the app gives you real tools for that job: encrypted export, a recovery key system, and optional Google Drive storage for the backup file itself.
How encrypted backups actually work
A backup captures everything (transactions, invoices, quotes, customers, rules, receipts, settings) into one file, encrypted with AES-256-GCM, the same class of encryption behind online banking. The encryption key comes from your passphrase via PBKDF2, and a hex recovery key gets generated alongside it, so a forgotten passphrase doesn't have to mean lost books.
The first time you create a backup, the app shows you a recovery key. Write it down and put it somewhere that isn't your computer — a password manager, a safe, a drawer at home, whatever works for you. Without the passphrase or the recovery key, a backup is mathematically unopenable. By design, nobody, not GSH Financial, not anyone, can recover it for you.
Creating a backup
- Go to Settings → Backup → Create encrypted backup.
- Enter your passphrase, or set one the first time — long and memorable beats short and clever.
- Download the file and store it somewhere other than the device you just backed up. An external drive, or your cloud storage, both work.
Google Drive
Connect your Google account and GBooks Air can place backup files straight into your own Drive. Two things worth understanding about how this works: the file gets encrypted before it ever leaves your device, so Google only ever sees ciphertext, and the Drive itself belongs to you. GSH Financial has no access to it, or to your data.
Restoring
On any device, open GBooks Air, choose Restore from backup, select your file, and enter the passphrase or recovery key. Your complete books, receipts included, come back exactly as they were. This is also how you're meant to move to a new computer or switch browsers.
A backup schedule that actually protects you
| Cadence | Trigger |
|---|---|
| Weekly | End of your bookkeeping session, takes under a minute |
| Before | Clearing browser data, an OS reinstall, or switching devices |
| After | Big imports, month-end close, filing a return |
| Year-end | Backup, plus Receipt Vault export, plus fiscal archive, stored together for the CRA's six-year retention window |
What can wipe local data (know your enemies)
- Clearing browsing data or "site data" for the app's domain
- Private or incognito windows (data evaporates the moment the window closes, so never do your books in one)
- Aggressive "cleaner" utilities and some antivirus cleanup tools
- Browser reinstalls and OS resets
Every one of these is survivable with a recent backup, and not survivable without one. If something's already gone wrong, start at My data is missing.
Still stuck?We're happy to help — email support@gshfinancial.com and a real person from GSH Financial will get back to you.
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