Files and Help
Saving, Files and Backups
Fleuron saves your work as you write, and keeps backup copies of your book by itself. This article explains how a book becomes a file on your Mac, how to keep it in a cloud folder, and how to find and manage your backups.
Your books stay on your own computer, and in your own cloud folder if you choose one. Nothing is uploaded to Fleuron. See No AI: Your Words Stay Yours.
Saving a book for the first time
A new book, or one you've just imported, is kept in Fleuron's Library until you save it as a file. The status under the book's title at the top of the window says Not saved to a file yet.
- Choose File ▸ Save (or press ⌘S).
- Choose a folder and a name. Fleuron suggests the book's title, for example The Lighthouse Recipe.fleuron.
- Click Save.
From then on, Fleuron saves the book to that file by itself, about two seconds after you stop typing. You don't need to press ⌘S again, though you can: Save writes the file at once and also keeps a backup copy.
Closing the book's window, or quitting Fleuron, also writes the file first.
The save status
The status under the book's title tells you how things stand:
- Saved ✓: everything is saved. Hover over it to see where the file is.
- Edited or Saving…: Fleuron is about to save, or saving now.
- Not saved to a file yet: the book is only in Fleuron's Library. Choose File ▸ Save.
If you move or delete the book's file in Finder, Fleuron doesn't make it again by itself. The book stays in the Library, and the status says Not saved to a file yet. Choose File ▸ Save to give it a file again.
If Fleuron can't write to the file (a full disk, say), a red banner says so and stays until saving works again. Your book is still kept inside Fleuron. Click Try Again, or Download a Copy to save a copy somewhere else.
Save As and Show in Finder
- File ▸ Save As… (⇧⌘S) saves the book under a new name or in a new place. From then on, Fleuron saves it there.
- File ▸ Show in Finder opens the folder with the book's file in it.
Keeping your book in Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or iCloud
Save the book into your Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or iCloud Drive folder. Fleuron keeps the file there up to date, and the cloud app uploads each change.
On another computer, open the file with File ▸ Open…. If the file is newer than the copy in that computer's Fleuron Library, Fleuron opens the newer one.
Tip: Open a book on only one computer at a time, so the two copies don't overtake each other.
Opening a book
- Choose File ▸ Open… (⌘O) and pick a .fleuron file. Each book opens in its own window.
- Choose File ▸ Open Recent to pick from the books you've used lately.
- Or double-click a .fleuron file in Finder.
The same Open… command also opens Word, Vellum, EPUB and other files, which come into your Library as new books. See Importing Your Manuscript.
What's in a .fleuron file
A .fleuron file holds the whole book: the text, its structure and styles, its pictures, and any of your own fonts it uses. So it opens the same on any computer with Fleuron.
It also holds your chapter snapshots, Codex entries, comments and tracked changes. Version history is kept separately, by Fleuron on this Mac. See Snapshots and Versions.
Note: Fleuron writes a new file next to the old one and then swaps it in, so a crash or a full disk never leaves you with half a book.
Automatic backups
Fleuron keeps backup copies of each book in a folder called Fleuron Backups, next to the book's file. Each book has its own folder inside it, and each copy is named with the date and time, for example The Lighthouse Recipe 2026-10-17 14.32.fleuron.
Fleuron makes a copy:
- each time you choose File ▸ Save
- each time you close the book
- every 15 minutes while you write
To keep the folder from growing forever, Fleuron thins the copies the way Time Machine does: every copy from the last 24 hours, then one a day for the last month, then one a week before that. The 5 newest copies are always kept, and so are named versions. Copies Fleuron removes go to the Trash.
When you save a named version in Version History (like “Sent to editor”), Fleuron also makes a backup copy with that name and a ★, which is kept for good.
Note: A book only gets backup copies once it has been saved as a file.
Managing backups
Choose File ▸ Manage Backups… to see the backups of all your books.
- Click a book to see its copies, with their dates and sizes.
- Click Open beside a copy to open it (see below).
- Click Show in Finder to open that book's backup folder.
- Keep up to sets how much room each book's copies may take: 10 MB, 50 MB, 200 MB or any size. Fleuron starts at 50 MB. The 5 newest copies and the versions you named are always kept.
- To clear space, tick copies (or a whole book) and click Move to Trash. Your books themselves are not touched. Fleuron asks again before removing named copies.
If your backups grow past a gigabyte, Fleuron lets you know, at most once a day.
Going back to a backup copy
A backup copy is an ordinary .fleuron file.
- Choose File ▸ Manage Backups… and click the book.
- Click Open beside the copy you want. (You can also open a copy from Finder with File ▸ Open….)
- Fleuron tells you the book is Already in Your Library and asks what to do: Open the one in the Library, Replace it with this file, or Keep both.
Replace it with this file brings the book back to that copy. The book's current text is saved in Version History first, and the book keeps saving to its own file as before. Keep both opens the copy as a separate book: choose File ▸ Save As… if you want to keep it as a file of its own.
For going back a few minutes or hours, Version History is often quicker. See Snapshots and Versions.
Removing a book from the Library
Removing a book from Fleuron's Library doesn't delete its file. The file stays in its folder, and you can open it again any time. See The Library.
Note: A book that was never saved as a file lives only in the Library. Save it with File ▸ Save before you remove it, or it's gone.
If something goes wrong with saving, see Troubleshooting.