Exporting and Backing Up Your Data

TradeFlow provides two export formats: CSV for spreadsheet analysis and ZIP snapshots for full data portability.

CSV Export

What’s Included

  • All trade fields in tabular format
  • Strategy and account names (resolved from IDs)
  • Tags as comma-separated values
  • Fees, commissions, and duration

What’s NOT Included

  • Chart images (CSV is text-only)
  • Take-profit sub-records
  • Database IDs

How to Export

  1. Go to the Trade Log
  2. Click the Actions dropdown button
  3. Choose one of:
    • Export CSV (all) — exports all trades (or all filtered trades if filters are active)
    • Export Selected CSV — exports only the trades you’ve selected via checkboxes

A .csv file downloads to your computer that can be opened in Excel, Google Sheets, or any spreadsheet application.

ZIP Database Snapshot

The ZIP snapshot is TradeFlow’s full backup format. It preserves everything including chart images.

What’s Included

The .zip file contains:

TradeFlow-backup-YYYY-MM-DD.zip
├── manifest.json          # Metadata: version, date, counts
├── data/
│   ├── trades.json        # All trades (image data replaced with filenames)
│   ├── accounts.json      # All accounts
│   └── strategies.json    # All strategies
└── images/
    ├── <tradeId>-0.jpg    # First chart image for a trade
    └── <tradeId>-1.jpg    # Second chart image for a trade
  • Images are extracted from the base64 data and stored as separate JPEG files for efficiency
  • Trade records reference image filenames instead of containing the base64 data
  • Manifest records the backup version, creation date, and record counts

How to Create a Backup

  1. Go to the Trade Log
  2. Click the Actions dropdown button
  3. Choose one of:
    • Full Backup (.zip) — exports the entire database
    • Export Selected Backup — exports only selected trades (with their images, plus all accounts and strategies)

Exporting Selected Trades

  1. Select trades using the checkboxes in the Trade Log
  2. The Actions button shows a badge with the selection count
  3. Choose Export Selected CSV or Export Selected Backup
  4. Only the selected trades are included in the export

Restoring from a Backup

For Your Own Data

  1. Go to Bulk Import
  2. In the Restore Backup section at the top, select your .zip file
  3. The manifest details are displayed (trade count, accounts, strategies)
  4. Click Import

The restore uses merge-only mode:

  • New records are added
  • Records with matching IDs are skipped (no duplicates, no overwrites)
  • Image filenames are resolved back to base64 data and stored in IndexedDB

For Student Data (Mentor Mode)

  1. Go to Mentor Mode and select a student
  2. Click Import Backup
  3. Select the student’s .zip backup file
  4. Trades and strategies are imported with the student’s ID
  5. Accounts in the backup are ignored (accounts are mentor-only)

Backup Best Practices

:::tip Regular Backups Since TradeFlow stores data in the browser’s IndexedDB, clearing browser data or switching browsers will lose your data. Create regular backups, especially before:

  • Clearing browser cache/data
  • Switching to a different browser or computer
  • Updating TradeFlow to a new version :::

:::tip Transferring Between Devices To move your journal to another computer:

  1. Create a Full Backup on the source machine
  2. Install TradeFlow on the target machine
  3. Restore the backup via Bulk Import :::