Creating a Backup

A backup captures the current state of a device — for example a PLC program or a robot controller configuration — and stores it so you can restore it later. This page shows how to start a backup from the web interface.

flowchart LR
  A[Equipment details<br/>Make New Backup] --> X[Backup dialog]
  B[Equipment row<br/>More options -> Backup] --> X
  C[Select rows -><br/>Backup Selected] --> X
  X --> E[Make Backup]
  E --> F[Follow progress on Jobs]

Before you start

• The device must already exist on the Equipment page and be configured with the correct adapter and account. See Adapters if a device is missing or misconfigured.

If a backup action is missing, your user account does not have the required claim for that action.

Ways to create a backup

There are three ways to start a backup. They all open the same Backup dialog and create the same kind of job — pick whichever is most convenient.

Method 1 — From the equipment's details (recommended)

This is the clearest way, because you can review the device's status and its existing backups before and after you act.

1. Open Equipment from the navigation menu and select the device's name to open its details.

   

2. The equipment details dialog opens. It shows the device's latest status and has tabs for Backups, Jobs and Audit Logs, so you can see its history.

   

3. At the bottom of the dialog you choose between two actions, shown as a split button:

   Action	What it does	When to use it
   MAKE NEW BACKUP	Triggers a new backup job that reads from the device using its configured backup sequence	The normal way to backup — the application connects to the device and captures it
   UPLOAD BACKUP	Lets you upload a backup file you took manually and store it against this device	When you already have a backup file from another source

   The main button shows whichever action applies to this device; the other is available from the ▾ dropdown beside it.

   If the equipment has Upload-only Backup selected, UPLOAD BACKUP is the default action and Make new backup is disabled. Upload-only equipment does not run backup sequences or scheduled backups. See Upload-only Backup equipment.

   For other equipment, UPLOAD BACKUP is also the default when no backup sequence is configured. Configure a backup sequence before using Make new backup, or upload a manually taken backup instead.

   For a normal backup, select MAKE NEW BACKUP.

4. If the equipment is marked as work in progress (WIP), a confirmation dialog appears before the backup dialog opens:

   

   This equipment is marked as wip. Are you sure you want to continue?

   Choose Yes to continue or No to cancel.

5. The Backup dialog opens. Fill in the optional details:

   

   Field	Purpose
   Tags	Labels you can use to find and group this backup later
   Comment	A free-text note describing why the backup was taken

   Depending on your configuration, a Comment may be required before the Make Backup button becomes available.

6. Select Make Backup to start the job (or press Ctrl + Enter). A Backup triggered! message confirms it has started. Choose Cancel to close without backing up.

Method 2 — From the equipment list

A quicker option when you do not need to open the details first.

1. On the Equipment page, find the device's row. At the end of the row, open the More options menu (the ⋮ icon) and choose Backup, or Upload-only Backup for upload-only equipment.

   

2. The same Backup dialog opens. For an upload, select the backup file. Fill in the optional Tags and Comment, then select Make Backup.

Method 3 — Backup several devices at once

Use this method only for equipment that runs backup sequences. Upload-only equipment must be uploaded separately and cannot be included in Backup Selected.

1. On the Equipment page, tick the checkbox on each device you want to backup.

2. A n items selected menu appears at the top of the list. Open it and choose Backup Selected.

   

3. Fill in the Backup dialog as above and choose Make Backup. One backup job is created for each selected device.

Follow the backup

Each backup runs as a job. There are several ways to watch it.

New manual backup and restore jobs store the acting account's ID. Triggered by shows its current display name, including in filters, sorting and alert messages. Renaming the account updates that displayed name; deleting it shows Deleted user (<ID>). Historical usernames remain unchanged and are not linked to new accounts with the same name. Audit-log actor names are separate snapshots: they do not change after a rename, and a deleted actor is shown as <username> (deleted user). Scheduled jobs keep the scheduler label. Editing a job does not change who originally triggered it. Older job records without an actor ID still rely on their historical value not being a hyphenated GUID.

Watching a single job (recommended)

If you started the backup from the equipment details dialog (Method 1), the quickest way to follow it is the status alert at the top of that dialog. It shows the device's latest job and updates live:

• While the job is running, it shows a progress circle with the current step (for example 2/5) and the live status message.
• It then changes to Queued, Retrying, Succeeded (with a green check and the completion time), Failed, or Cancelled.
• Expand the alert to see the full details — Equipment, Created time, Type and who triggered it — together with the live job log. You can copy the log with the copy button.
• While the job is Queued, Running or Retrying, you can cancel it from the expanded alert (the ✕ next to the State field).

This keeps everything in one place: the status alert at the top and the device's Backups, Jobs and Audit Logs tabs just below all update as the job progresses, so you do not have to leave the dialog.

Watching from the Jobs page

To see every backup and restore across all devices:

1. Open Jobs from the navigation menu.

   

2. The job moves through these states:

   State	Meaning
   Queued	Waiting for a free agent to run it
   Running	The backup is in progress
   Retrying	A transient problem occurred; the job is trying again
   Succeeded	The backup finished and is stored
   Failed	The backup did not complete — open the log to see why
   Cancelled	The job was stopped before it finished

3. Select a job row to open its log for detailed messages.

The Dashboard also summarises Jobs in progress and Latest jobs, so you can see at a glance whether recent backups succeeded.

When a backup succeeds it appears on the Backups page, ready to be restored.

Troubleshooting

See Also

• Restoring a Backup
• Using OT Backup
• Adapters