Keep a vault in your browser

A browser vault keeps its notes in this browser’s own private storage on your device, not in a folder you can see. Inside, it’s laid out like a folder: the same .md notes and folders, with .trash and .papeliz. Nothing is uploaded.

Chrome and Edge 103, Firefox 113 and Safari 16.4 and later keep browser vaults, on computers and phones. Only this browser sees the vault; a backup is how you take it somewhere else.

1. On the start page, choose New Vault.
2. Type a name in Vault Name.
3. Choose Browser Storage. In Firefox, Safari and phone browsers it’s the only place offered.
4. Under Encryption, choose Standard or End-to-end. See End-to-end vaults.
5. Choose Create Vault. Papeliz starts your first note.

Each browser vault needs a name of its own, and capitals don’t make a name different. Papeliz suggests a free one, such as Notes or Notes 2, and a taken name says ‘A vault named “Notes” already exists. Pick another name.’ The name must also work as a folder’s name, since a backup unzips into a folder of that name.

In the status bar, a browser window icon comes before the vault’s name, and a saved note shows Saved in browser.

In the open vault, choose Import in the file list’s header. Import from Files takes one or more files, Import from Folder takes a whole folder, and Import from Zip takes a .zip. Each goes into a new folder at the top of the vault: a folder under its own name, loose files under Imported Files, a .zip under its name. If the name is taken, the folder becomes Imported Files 2, say. Nothing already in the vault changes, and you can rename or move the new folder like any other.

A backup is the whole vault in one .zip: every note, folder and file, hidden ones too, so .trash and .papeliz come back. Inside, it all sits in one folder named after the vault.

Choose Download Backup in any of these places:

• The gear’s Settings, on the Reminder tab.
• The Backup due chip in the status bar, or the reminder’s message.
• Close Vault’s question, when the vault has changes since its last backup.
• The start page: right-click the vault in Recent Vaults.

The file is named after the vault and the time, such as Field Notes 2026-10-30 1441.zip. Chrome and Edge ask where to save it; other browsers download it. Once it’s saved, the status bar shows Backed up and the time.

Every browser vault has a backup reminder, on from the start. It comes 30 minutes after the first change since the last backup: Papeliz asks whether to back up, with Download Backup, and the status bar shows Backup due until you do. It asks again each interval after that. With no changes since the last backup, nothing reminds you.

To change it, open the gear, choose Settings, then the Reminder tab: the Backup Reminder switch, Remind me every 10, 30 or 60 min, the Last backup, Download Backup, and whether the browser keeps your storage.

The reminder shows only in the tab you’re looking at, so several tabs don’t all ask.

When you make or open a browser vault, Papeliz asks the browser to keep its storage. Firefox asks you, so allow it. Chrome, Edge and Safari decide by themselves. The Reminder tab says where it stands:

Kept

This browser won’t clear it to make room.

Not kept for sure

This browser may clear it when your disk runs low. Safari may also clear it after 7 days of using Safari without opening Papeliz.

Storage nearly full

Papeliz is using 90% or more of the space this browser allows it. The status bar says so too. Download a backup, then make room.

When the storage is full, a save fails: the status bar shows Not saved with “Browser storage full”, and a message offers Download Backup. See Troubleshooting.

1. Download a backup and unzip it.
2. In Chrome or Edge on a computer, choose Open Vault on the start page.
3. Pick the unzipped folder named after the vault.

It opens as a folder vault, with its notes, .trash and .papeliz as they were. The browser vault stays until you delete it.

• Rename, in the vault’s right-click menu on the start page, changes the name Papeliz shows. With the vault open, the gear’s Settings › Vault renames it too, unless another tab has it open.
• Hide takes it off Recent Vaults into Hidden Vaults. Its notes stay in this browser, and Restore brings it back.
• Delete, in Hidden Vaults, erases the vault and every note in it from this browser. It can’t be undone, so Papeliz offers Download a backup first and asks you to type the vault’s name.

While another tab has the vault open, Rename and Delete are refused: “It’s open in another Papeliz tab. Close it there, then try again.”

You can open a browser vault in several tabs of the same browser. Saves take turns, so two tabs never write at the same moment, and each tab picks up the other’s changes. If both changed the same lines of a note, Papeliz asks which to keep.