Lost Annotations (and progress?)

[Anetra022]

Hi so I've had Thorium for around 6 months now? But haven't used it for a while and when I went back some of my progress in terms of finished books was reset and I lost my annotations/highlights and was wondering if there is a way to fix this?

[danielweck]

sorry to hear that. what version did you use then? and what version do you use now? is that on Windows? what version of Windows did you use then, and what version now? (it is possible that a major update changed files, especially with a windows store install (did you install Thorium via the official installer or the app store?)

[Anetra022]

If I'm not wrong:

1. Version 3.0
2. 3.1.0
3. Yes Windows
4. Windows 11
5. still 11
6. As for how I installed it i did go to the website but ultimately went to the Microsoft link and downloaded it from Microsoft store

In regards to updates I am up to date with the newest version of Windows but I'm not sure if that contributed to the issue since I don't remember whether I checked Thorium after an update or not (and whether it was normal then) just that the last time I used it my annotations were available.. sorry for the lack of a clear timeline.

[danielweck]

sorry for the lack of a clear timeline.

that's ok :)

let's see ... Windows Store apps use the Roaming App data folder I think, and Thorium (which is an Electron-based application) stores all its files in a well-known location, the folder is named EDRLab.ThoriumReader ... the problem is that Windows Uses cryptic folder names so you would need to search for Thorium's folder in your file explorer. I wonder if you need to show hidden files or if they are visible by default.

I have a Windows 11 virtual machine and a fresh install of Thorium. I will check at my end.

[danielweck]

Ok, here is what I discovered in my tests:

CC @panaC @gautierchomel

The Thorium release deployed to the Windows Store is exactly the same software as the installer available on GitHub, HOWEVER because the application is distributed by the Microsoft Store it uses a different filesystem path to store the Thorium settings:

C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Packages\EDRLab.ThoriumReader_xxxxxx\LocalCache\Roaming\EDRLab.ThoriumReader

(replace USER and xxxxxx with your own)

... BUT, if the folder used by the Thorium actual installer (i.e. not Windows Store) already exists:

C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\EDRLab.ThoriumReader

... then the Windows Store app uses this one instead!! In other words, the AppData\Roaming\ folder takes precedence over the AppData\Local\Packages\EDRLab.ThoriumReader_xxxxxx\LocalCache\Roaming\ folder, which means that previously-installed versions of Thorium via the actual installer cause a new version installed via the Window Store to share settings with the installer variant.

ALSO, please note that the C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\EDRLab.ThoriumReader folder is used by both official Thorium releases and the test releases deployed on GitHub. In this folder there are separate sub-folders:

publications-dev/ contains the ebooks loaded in Thorium's library for the test unsigned releases, publications/ is for the code-signed official releases. Similarly, there is config-data-json-dev/ and config-data-json/. The keyboardShortcuts/ folder is shared, however.

[Anetra022]

I've followed the filesystem path and so far everything you've mentioned is there my question is, is there not supposed to be a file for annotations?

[danielweck]

I've followed the filesystem path and so far everything you've mentioned is there my question is, is there not supposed to be a file for annotations?

First of all, make sure to copy (create a backup) of the EDRLab.ThoriumReader/ folders you found.

Where were they located? Inside the 2 filesystem directories I mentioned? (or just one of them?)

What is inside the config data sub folders? What is inside the publication sub folders?

[Anetra022]

Ok just made a backup.

So technically both pathways worked but only one of them had the publications (the Microsoft store specific one) and I think the other pathway only exists because before I came here to ask for help I thought it was an update issue and went to the website but just ended up downloading it again from there (so the non-Microsoft store version) but then deleted once I realized.

1. The config-data-json file contains 13 JSON files most that start with state. , a cookie jar file, a log file, and an opds_auth file

2. The publication folder has the books I have on thorium and each one of them contains a subfolder of:

a) a direct link of the book (so it boots up thorium and the book)
b) a JPEG file of the cover of the book
c) a JSON file named manifest.json