Removing an extension makes Chrome delete everything it stored, the synced part included, so Chrome sync is not a backup. Wyrd offers three copies that live outside Chrome: a backup file, a folder that keeps itself current, and your own Google Sheet.
What follows you through Chrome sync
| Follows you to your other computers | Stays on the computer where it was made |
|---|---|
| Your keywords and settings | Usage counts and change history |
| Shared-list subscriptions (addresses and names; each computer reads the lists itself) | The categories of your own keywords, and page titles |
| Reminders | Tab bundles older than your 10 most recent |
| Your 10 most recent tab bundles | Tokens for shared lists, and the AI helper's key |
Chrome also asks again on each computer before Wyrd may read a shared list's site, and a token has to be entered again there.
Automatic snapshots
Before your keywords change, Wyrd keeps a copy of how they were: the last 20, with labelled ones before every import and restore, so a big change can be undone. The Activity page lists them to download or restore. They live in Chrome's storage, like everything else Wyrd keeps, so they go when Wyrd is removed. The change history, also on the Activity page, keeps the last 1,000 changes with Restore and Undo.
Backup files
On the Activity page, under Back up and restore, Back up now saves wyrd-backup-(date).json to your Downloads folder. Keep it somewhere safe, such as a cloud drive.
- What is in it: your keywords, settings, shared-list subscriptions, reminders, tab bundles, categories, usage counts, change history, page titles and the suggestions you ignored.
- What is never in it: tokens for shared lists, the AI helper's key, and the contents of shared lists, which are read again from the list.
- It is private. It is a plain text file with your keywords and their addresses, which can include private links, and the private address of your search engine entry. Keep it like any personal file. Wyrd never sends it anywhere.
- Email me a copy. Wyrd has no server, so it cannot send email itself: it downloads the file and opens an email to your own address, ready to send, in Gmail for a Gmail address or in your mail app for any other. Attach the file and press Send.
Automatic backups to a folder
Switch on Automatic backups to a folder in the Features page and choose a folder once. Wyrd keeps wyrd-backup-latest.json there, plus one dated copy for each day something changed, keeping the last 10, and touches nothing else in the folder. It writes when you open Keyword tools, Shared lists, Activity or Settings and, wherever Chrome allows it, in the background a minute after a change. If Chrome asks for your OK again, Back up and restore shows a button for it. A folder that a cloud drive syncs keeps the backup off the computer too.
It needs no extra permission from Wyrd's package: Chrome asks you about the folder itself when you pick it.
A daily backup in your own Google Sheet
With Google Sheet backup and sync switched on and Sign in with Google pressed, Wyrd keeps a backup in the sheet Wyrd tab bundles in your own Google Drive: a minute after your keywords, settings, shared lists, reminders or categories change, one row a day per computer, keeping the newest 10 days. It holds what a backup file holds except the tab bundles, which have their own tab in the same sheet. A Keywords tab lists your keywords, addresses and categories for you to read in Google Sheets; Wyrd never reads that tab back.
- A new install never overwrites a good backup. Until you choose Restore it or Start fresh on a computer, Wyrd writes nothing over the backup it found there.
- Wyrd can open only the files it made in your Drive. To stop, sign out or switch the feature off; delete the sheet in Drive to remove the backups.
Restoring
Open the Activity page, Back up and restore, and press Restore from a file and pick the file, or Restore from your Google Sheet and pick a day. Wyrd shows what the backup holds and replaces what it has only after a second press, after taking a snapshot first. Features that need a permission from Chrome, such as Tab bundles, stay off until you switch them on again in the Features page, and Wyrd says so.
On a new install, the Keywords page's welcome card asks "Used Wyrd before?" and offers both: your Google Sheet, or a backup file.
Moving to a new computer
- Install Wyrd and sign in to Chrome with the same account: keywords, settings, subscriptions, reminders and your 10 most recent tab bundles arrive through Chrome sync.
- For everything else, back up on the old computer and restore the file on the new one, or press Sign in with Google in Wyrd on both.
- Where a feature that needs Chrome's permission, such as Tab bundles, is off on the new computer, switch it on again; then grant access to your shared lists' sites when Wyrd asks, and enter any list tokens.
Removed Wyrd by mistake?
Install it again. If you used Google Sheet backup and sync, press Google Sheet in the welcome card and sign in: Wyrd finds your sheet in your Drive and offers its newest backup. Your tab bundles come back from the sheet once Tab bundles is on again. Without the sheet, restore a backup file. Without either, the keywords are gone: Chrome sync does not keep a copy for you.
The backup reminder
When Wyrd has not been backed up for 90 days, its icon shows ! and the Activity page shows a reminder. Remind me in 90 days puts it off, Don't remind me turns it off, and a box under Back up and restore turns it on again.
Import and export
For sharing keywords with someone, or moving them between tools, Keyword tools exports your keywords as JSON and imports JSON or CSV (keyword, address, description, category, found by the header row). Every import shows a preview first: what is added, what is replaced and what is skipped, and why. Nothing changes until you confirm, and a labelled snapshot before the import lets you undo it.
NextPermissions and data →