Backups - SaveKeeper help

Four kinds of copy

Kind	What it is	Made when	Where
Version safety backup	One ZIP of your whole SaveGames folder, every file as it is.	Once per SaveKeeper version, if you choose to create it.	Your backup location
Save backup	One ZIP of a single save.	When you choose Back up to a ZIP file.	Your backup location
Snapshot	A copy of a save as it was when you loaded it.	Automatically, each time you load a changed save.	SaveKeeper's folder
Trash entry	A save or character you deleted, moved rather than removed.	When you delete in Load Game.	SaveKeeper's folder

All four stay until you remove them. SaveKeeper never deletes any of them on its own.

Backing up a single save

In the SaveKeeper panel, open Saves, press Actions beside the save, then Back up to a ZIP file. SaveKeeper writes the ZIP, checks it, and shows where it is:

The SaveKeeper window Backup created. It reads Verified and saved, followed by the full path of the new ZIP, named Main - Day 214 with the date and time, in a SaveKeeper Backups Saves folder. It adds: Includes the game's save files. Data other mods keep elsewhere is not included. Buttons: Show in folder and OK. — A verified save backup. The folder shown is the backup location chosen for this example.

Standard ZIP. Named after the save, its Day and the time you made it, for example Main - Day 214 - 2026-09-27 2115.zip. Any operating system can open it.
What is inside. The save's own game files (the save, its information file, its screenshot and portrait) and a small manifest listing each file with its checksum.
Verified. SaveKeeper checks the finished ZIP against the original before it tells you the backup was made. If the check fails, it says so instead.
Not included: data another mod keeps outside the game's save files. If a mod you use stores its own settings or data elsewhere, back that up the way that mod describes.

The Backups tab

The SaveKeeper panel on its Backups tab. Version safety backups: one entry, Before v0.1.0, with its date, 2698 files and 501.5 MB, and a Show in folder button. Save backups: the folder they are saved in, with Change and Open folder buttons, and two ZIP files, Main - Day 214 and Main - Day 96, each with Restore and Show. — Version safety backups at the top, single-save backups below.

Restore brings a save backup back as a new save in its character's folder. It never replaces an existing save, and the ZIP file stays as it is. If the save's original name is already in use, SaveKeeper suggests another, such as Main (restored):

The SaveKeeper window Restore backup, over the Backups tab. It says a save with that name already exists, names are compared ignoring case and accents, and that the backup is restored as a new save in its character folder, never replacing an existing save, with the backup file left as it is. The suggested name is Main (restored). Buttons: Cancel and Restore. — Restoring a backup whose name is already taken.

If the character's folder is no longer there, SaveKeeper creates it. More on how restores stay safe: Restoring safely.

Backups go to your backup location, which starts inside SaveKeeper's own folder. That folder is on the same disk as your saves, so for backups you really care about, choose a location on another drive, or copy the ZIPs somewhere else.