Have some of your annotations disappeared? Here's how to recover lost notes.

 
We know that saving every single marking on your script is really really important. This is why we have automatic saving on iPad / iPhone and continuous backup creation on Mac.
 
However, if you find that some of your notes have mysteriously vanished, here are some steps you can take...
 
Close all tabs in Scriptation and update in the App Store. The update alone may fix the issue.
 
If the file was opened in another application, you should try the steps in this article to recover your annotations.
 
Check from your notes in other Layers, as the layer containing your notes may be accidentally turned off. To learn how to show/hide layers, click here.
 
Close your file, wait a few seconds, and re-open it. This may cause any missing notes to reappear.

You may have one or more Lost Layers. See this article for information on how to recover notes from a Lost Layer.
 
Perform a Layer Optimization on your file. This may cause any missing notes to reappear.
 
This may seem obvious, but check that you have opened the same PDF file that you were previously annotating in. Many times, especially with long file names, users mistakenly open a non-annotated copy (or old draft) of the same script.
 
Import a clean PDF of your script, and transfer your notes from the file with missing notes, into the clean copy of your file. This may cause missing notes to reappear after the transfer.
 
If your file is stored on Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive, you can restore to an earlier version of your file by logging into their respective web portals. If your file is stored with iCloud or Locally (On my iPad / iPhone) and you have performed all of the above steps, please reach out to support through the email button below.
 

Best Practices for the Future

 
Use Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive cloud storage: These third-party cloud providers allow for version controlled saving, creating a new restorable version after each save instance. Should your PDF file be missing annotations, it's easy to restore to an earlier version from within their respective web portals.
 
Turn on Automatic App Updates to always have the most up-to-date and secure version of Scriptation.
 

What's Next

 
I did the Note Transfer wrong. Help!
How to Restore an Earlier Version of your file with Dropbox
My iCloud isn't syncing properly

Updated on: 25/02/2025