Backing Up and Restoring Your References

RefWorks makes sure your data is safe and secure on our servers, but there may be time when you wish to have your own personal copy of your database or you want to move an account to another organizational subscription.  The Backup/Restore feature allows you to create a file that is a copy of your account that can only be restored in RefWorks.

The Backup/Restore feature is also used when you want to share an output style that you have customized with another RefWorks user.

To Back Up Your RefWorks Account:

To back up a copy of your database (including RefID numbers and folders), and custom output styles follow the steps below.  Please Note - Folders that do not contain any references will not be saved. If you have empty folders that you wish to retain add a reference to the folder before backing up.  Also, any preferences set in the Customize area of RefWorks will be included in the backup.

• From either the Tools or the References menu select Backup/Restore.

• By default, Include References is selected.  If you do not want to include your references, deselect this option.

• By default, Include RSS Feeds is selected.  If you do not want to include your RSS Feeds, deselect this option.

• By default, all custom Output Styles are selected to backup.  You can deselect any or all custom output styles.

• Click on Perform Backup.

• Save the file when prompted.  If you are not prompted to save the file, click the link that says Click here to save your backup file to download the backup to your computer.

The default file name is a combination of your organization’s Group Code and your login name.  It will be saved as a .zip or . rwb file.  Please do not change the extension of the file as it is necessary to restore if you need to do so later.

Note:  You cannot open the backup file.  Should you want a viewable copy of your references, use the Export option.

Although RefWorks backs up all databases on a regular basis, we recommend users do this as well.

Using the Restore Feature:

Restoring will overwrite all of the references in your database.  If you need to restore from a back up for some reason, be sure to do so in either an empty database or to an account that does not have any data you want to save.  

Restoring Output Styles will overwrite styles with the exact same name and will add styles that are unique. As a result, you can create several custom styles and back up just the Output styles by selecting the styles you want to include or by selecting Check All to include all custom Output Styles.  Give this back up to a colleague and they can restore just the styles to add your custom ones to their program.  (Be sure you do not back up and restore the database as well.)

• From either the Tools or the References menu select Backup/Restore.

• Select the Restore option.

• Browse for the appropriate back up file.

• Select Include References, Include Output Styles and/or Include RSS Feeds as desired.

• Click on Perform Restore.