Backup & Transfer #

Stello stores all your data on your computer. It does not store it in an online account like you might be used to. Stello's sending accounts are just for the temporary display of your sent messages and can't recover anything for you. So it is important to always have a backup system running for your entire computer or otherwise manually backup Stello's data yourself.

Backing up data #

Stello stores data in Stello Files in your Documents folder. If you can see the Stello Files/Internal Data folder in there, then it has all your data in one place. You can safely copy the entire Stello Files folder to a new computer.

For versions before Nov 2024... #

If Stello Files/Internal Data does not exist then you started with an older version of Stello and need to do an additional step. Find the old data location as below:

• Mac: /Users/*username*/Library/Application Support/stello
• Linux: /home/*username*/.config/stello/
• Windows: C:\Users\*username*\AppData\Local\Packages\GraciousTechPtyLtd.StellobyGraciousTech_e48fz50n7vtmc\LocalCache\Roaming\stello

You should copy the stello folder above into Stello Files and rename it to Internal Data. It will then be located at: Documents/Stello Files/Internal Data. That folder will contain various different files and folders itself. Once you've done this you can then follow the instructions above about copying the entire Stello Files folder to a new computer.

Restoring data on a new computer #

Simply put the Stello Files folder into your Documents folder on your new computer. If you already opened Stello before doing that, then that folder will already exist with blank data. In which case you can delete and replace it with the one from your old computer.

Stello also automatically creates backups of your contacts, so in the worst case scenario you can restore all your contacts by importing the .csv files within Stello Files/Backups/Contacts.

Portable use #

Stello can be used portably so that you can store the app and your data on an external drive if you wish to, such as for security or to use on multiple devices (with the same operating system).

1. Put Stello where you want it
   • Mac: Move the whole Stello app (technically it is the Stello.app folder)
   • Linux: Move the stello.AppImage file
   • Windows: You must uninstall Stello and instead use this portable version for Windows. Please note the portable version for Windows will NOT auto-update and you'll have to get past several warnings to use it. This is simply due to the fact that Microsoft would charge us a lot of money to take the warnings away. There isn't a greater risk than the normal version aside from not receiving automatic updates.
2. Move the Stello Files folder next to the app
   • The app and Stello Files should be in the same folder as each other
   • Putting the app into Stello Files will not work

Whenever Stello detects there is a Stello Files folder next to it, it will use that for your data instead of the default location in Documents.