---
title: Restore from a backup | Relic Help
description: Put your items back from an encrypted backup file or from an export folder, and what happens to items you already have.
canonical: https://relic.space/help/restore
source: https://relic.space/llms.txt
---
Backups and data

# Restore from a backup

Put your items back from an encrypted backup file or from an export folder, and what happens to items you already have.

Updated 10 September 2026 · Windows, Mac, Linux

Both kinds of copy Relic can make come back through the same row: [Settings › Vault and storage › Import vault](https://relic.space/help/settings-vault-and-storage#import). It has two buttons, one for an encrypted backup file and one for an export folder.

Import vault

Restore items from an encrypted backup file or an export folder. Items you already have are skipped.

Settings › Vault and storage › Import vault: button: Backup file….

## [From a backup file](#from-a-backup-file)

This is the one to use for a file written by [automatic backups](https://relic.space/help/automatic-backups). It is a single file whose name ends in .relicvault, and it needs the backup passphrase you set when you turned backups on.

1. Open the import row
Open Settings with the gear, go to Vault and storage, and find the Import vault row near the bottom.
2. Press Backup file
The button reads **Backup file…** and opens a picker titled _Choose a Relic backup file_. Pick the file you want. The newest one has the latest date in its name.
3. Type the backup passphrase
A panel opens showing the file you picked and a box asking for the **Backup passphrase**. That is the separate backup passphrase, not the passphrase that unlocks Relic. Press **Restore**.
The restore panel under the Import vault row. A line at the top shows the path of the file being restored. Under it, a password box for the backup passphrase, then Cancel and Restore buttons. The panel that opens once you have picked a file.
4. Read the result
Relic counts up while it works, then says what it did: _Restored 128 items (14 files) · 12 already present_. Anything it could not read is counted too. If the passphrase is wrong it says _Wrong backup passphrase._ and reopens the box so you can try again.

## [From an export folder](#from-an-export-folder)

The second button, **Folder…**, takes a folder written by [Export vault](https://relic.space/help/export). Its picker is titled _Choose a Relic export folder (contains vault.json)_, so point it at the folder itself, not at the JSON file inside it. There is no passphrase, because an export is not encrypted. Press **Import** and Relic reports _Imported 128 items (14 files) · 12 already present_.

If the folder is not an export, Relic says so rather than guessing: "No vault.json in that folder. Pick a Relic export." A damaged or newer file gets its own line.

## [What happens after a restore](#what-happens-after)

* **Items you already have are skipped.**Relic matches on the item's own id, not on its text, so restoring the same file twice changes nothing the second time. Nothing you have now is overwritten.
* **Dates are kept.** A restored item keeps the day it was first copied, so your history reads the way it did before.
* **On a computer signed in to sync, the restored items go up.** They are queued like any other capture, so they reach your other devices on their own.
* **Pictures that were not on the computer that made the backup come back without their bytes.** The item is there, and if you are signed in to sync Relic fetches the picture when you open it.
* **Secrets come back as secrets.** They are masked in the list the same way they were before. An export made with the secrets left out restores those items with everything except their text.

Setting up a new computer

You do not need a backup for that. Sign in to Relic on the new computer and your vault arrives on its own. A backup is for the case where sync is not part of the picture: no account, a computer you are about to wipe, or a mistake you want to undo. See [The Vault](https://relic.space/help/the-vault) for what is kept forever and what is not.

Related

[Automatic backupsBackups and data](https://relic.space/help/automatic-backups)[Export your vaultBackups and data](https://relic.space/help/export)[The VaultKeep and organise](https://relic.space/help/the-vault)[Settings: Vault and storageSettings reference](https://relic.space/help/settings-vault-and-storage)