Backup and moving computer

The archive is one SQLite file. radiowriter --where prints where it is.

A copy of that file is a complete backup of the archive. It includes your settings.

The database file contains your email address and API keys

Do not share a copy of the database file. To give the archive to someone else, or to store it where others can read it, use the .json export described below, which leaves the settings out.

⇅ Export and backup

⇅ Export and backup in the sidebar writes two kinds of file.

The .nbib file: articles only

A .nbib file is in MEDLINE format, the format PubMed exports. Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley can import it, and so can this app, with 📥 Import PubMed export.

Under What to export, choose Everything, Flagged only, Still to read or one reading list, then click the download button.

The file contains only the article records. It does not contain what you marked read or flagged, the reading lists or the drafts, because MEDLINE has no fields for them.

The file contains other people's email addresses

The affiliation lines of a PubMed record often include the email address of the corresponding author. An export of about 2,000 records contains a few hundred addresses. They are public on PubMed, but consider this before you publish the file, for example in a public repository.

Importing a PubMed export

📥 Import PubMed export in the sidebar adds articles from a file or from pasted text. It reads PubMed's MEDLINE format, in which every record starts with a PMID- line. To get such a file on PubMed, click Save and choose the format PubMed (a .txt file), or click Send to, then Citation manager (a .nbib file). The Summary, Abstract, PMID and CSV formats cannot be imported.

Add to list chooses the reading list the imported articles are added to: an existing list, or ＋ New list…, which asks for a name. With No list, the default, the articles are saved in the archive only. Articles already in the archive are added to the list too. Articles you had read and deleted are not.

After the import, the app reports how many articles were added, how many were already in the archive, how many were skipped because you had read and deleted them, and how many were added to the list.

The .json file: the archive

⤓ Full backup (.json) writes:

• the articles, with their read and flagged state;
• the PMIDs of the read articles that were deleted;
• the reading lists;
• the drafts, with their text, kind of article and references;
• the search history;
• the resolved citations.

Use this file to move to another computer.

The file does not contain:

• The settings. Your email address, API keys and LibKey ID are left out, so that they are not in a file you may share or store online. You enter them again after restoring.
• The journal metrics. They are loaded again from the SCImago file.
• The PDFs and what belongs to them. The PDF files, the record of which PDF belongs to which article, and the ticks on the highlights are not in the backup. The highlights themselves are inside the PDF files.
• Two details of each draft: the Radiopaedia page chosen for the study window, and which searches are attached to the draft.

Restoring a backup

Under Restore a backup, in the same panel, choose the .json file and click Restore it. Restoring adds what is missing and does not overwrite or delete anything:

• an article already in the archive is skipped;
• a reading list with the same name as an existing one is not duplicated, and the articles it is missing are added to the existing list;
• a draft with the same title as an existing one is skipped;
• a resolved citation already stored is skipped.

The message after the restore gives the number of articles, lists and drafts added. Restoring an old backup into an archive in use does not remove the work in it.

The search history is the exception: it is added every time. Restoring the same backup twice leaves each of its searches twice in 🕘 Recent searches.

Moving to a new computer

1. On the old computer, open ⇅ Export and backup and click ⤓ Full backup (.json).
2. Copy the PDF library folder, if you use it. Show folder in the Library tab opens it.
3. On the new computer, run uv tool install radiowriter, then radiowriter.
4. Enter your email address on the first screen.
5. If you use a SCImago file newer than the included one, put it in the folder that radiowriter --where prints and reload it, as described in Install.
6. Open ⇅ Export and backup, choose the file under Restore a backup and click Restore it.
7. Enter your NCBI API key, Semantic Scholar API key and LibKey library ID again under ⚙️ Settings, if you use them.
8. Add the PDFs again by dragging them onto the Library tab. Their highlights are in the files. The ticks on the highlights are not restored.