Import, export and backups

What each field, switch and setting does, 17 controls in all on this page. This is the text behind the ⓘ beside each label in the apps: hover or click it on the desktop (or press F1 in the field), tap it on the phone.

The line under each name gives the id the code uses for it, and says when only one of the apps has it.

Import, export and backup

Where: Settings › Import / Export (desktop).

Source

import.kind · Desktop only

The format of what you are importing: an OpenSSH config file, a known_hosts file, a CSV spreadsheet, or an export from PuTTY, MobaXterm, SecureCRT or Sternway (JSON). For PuTTY on Windows, “This computer’s PuTTY” reads the saved sessions straight from the registry, so no export is needed; a .reg file exported on another computer works on every system.

• Default: ssh_config.

Paste text

import.content · Desktop only

The contents of the file, pasted in, for when you have the text but not the file.

A CSV column

import.csvColumn · Desktop only

The header, from the first line of your CSV file, of the column that holds this field. For a file that starts “Name,Host,Login”, type Name beside label, Host beside address and Login beside username. Capitals do not matter. Leave a box blank when the file’s header is already the field name (label, address, port…): those are matched automatically. A label and an address column are required; a header that matches nothing is ignored.

• Example: Host

Conflicts

import.conflict · Desktop only

What to do with an imported host that already exists: skip it, replace the saved one, or add it as a duplicate.

• Default: Skip.
• Caution: “Replace” overwrites the saved host.

Key files

import.keyFiles · Desktop only

The private key files the import names (IdentityFile lines, a PuTTY or session key). A ticked key is stored in the vault you import into, where everyone with access to that vault can use it. Importing into your own vault, every key starts ticked; into a team vault or a vault shared with you, none does until you tick it.

• Caution: Only files in your home folder or in the folder of the import file are read. Any other file is listed under “Files outside your home folder” and read only after you choose “Read these files too”. Network paths (\\server\share) are never read.

Import into vault

import.targetVault · Desktop only

The vault the imported hosts, groups and rules are created in. Everyone with access to that vault will see them.

Backup password

backup.password · Desktop only

The password that encrypts the backup file, at least 8 characters. The backup holds every vault, including keys and saved passwords.

• Caution: It cannot be recovered: without it the backup cannot be opened. Anyone with the file and the password has all your keys.

Password of the backup to restore

restore.password · Desktop only

The password the backup file was encrypted with. Items go back to the vault they came from, or to your personal vault when that vault is not here.

• Caution: An item that still exists here is overwritten by the copy from the backup.

Backups and the sync safety net

Where: Settings › Backups; the question a sync asks before it removes many items.

Back up now

backups.backUpNow

Takes a snapshot of everything in your vaults as it is right now: hosts, groups, identities, keys, snippets, known hosts, port forwarding rules and synced settings. It is kept on this device, encrypted with this profile’s key, until you delete it. Sternway also takes snapshots on its own: before an update, before a sync changes anything, before you log out, before an import or a restore, and once a day when something changed.

• Caution: A snapshot lives on this device only. If the device is lost and you have neither sync nor an exported backup file, it is lost with it.
• More: Read more

Restore

backups.restore

Puts your vaults back to exactly what the snapshot holds: what was deleted since comes back, what was changed goes back to how it was, and what was added since is removed. Before anything changes Sternway shows how many items each of those is and takes a snapshot of what you have now (“Before a restore”), so restoring that one undoes it.

• Caution: With sync on, the restored state is sent to your other devices. Session recordings are not part of a snapshot.

Export

backups.export

Makes an encrypted backup file (.sternwaybackup) from the snapshot. The desktop app writes it where you choose; the phone hands it to the share sheet. Unlike the snapshot itself, the file opens on any device with the password you set: in the desktop app through Settings › Import / Export, on the phone through “Restore from a backup file” on this page.

Backup password

backups.exportPassword

The password that encrypts the exported file, at least 8 characters. The file holds every vault in the snapshot, including keys and saved passwords.

• Caution: It cannot be recovered: without it the file cannot be opened. Anyone with the file and the password has all your keys.

Delete

backups.delete

Deletes this one snapshot from this device. Your hosts, keys and the other snapshots are not touched.

• Caution: A deleted snapshot cannot be brought back.

Restore from a backup file

backups.restoreFile · Phone only

Opens an encrypted backup file (.sternwaybackup) that Sternway exported, on this or another device, and puts what it holds into your vaults. Items that are already here are overwritten with the file’s version; nothing else is removed. A snapshot of what you have now is taken first (“Before an import”).

Password of the backup file

backups.filePassword · Phone only

The password that was set when the file was exported. Without it the file cannot be opened, and nothing is changed.

Keep my local data

sync.keepLocal

Keeps everything on this device as it is and sends the items the sync wanted to remove back to the server, so your other devices get them again. Asked when a sync would remove more than 20 items at once, or 5 or more of one kind when that is over half of what you have of that kind.

• Default: This is the safe choice, and nothing is removed until you choose.

Remove them here too

sync.removeHere

Removes the listed items from this device, as they were removed on the other device or the server. Choose it when you deleted them yourself somewhere else.

• Caution: A snapshot from just before is in Settings › Backups if you change your mind.