Situation. Something went wrong. Balise quit unexpectedly, you saved over a file or another tool changed it while you were working.
What you get at the end. Either your work or a clear answer about what cannot be recovered, with the original file intact in both cases.
1. Do not save immediately
The first useful response is to avoid writing anything.
Balise never reconnects a recovered session to your original file without your explicit action. This protection only helps if you do not bypass it in a panic.
2. After a crash: inspect what Balise reopened
On restart, Balise opens recoverable copies in separate windows marked Recovered.
These sessions cannot write to your files. Compare their contents with the file on disk before deciding.
Once you are sure, File > Save As (⇧⌘S) writes wherever you choose.
3. After a mistake: go back through local versions
For a named Markdown, Mermaid, CSV or TSV file, File > Local Versions… shows local history.
Each snapshot shows its date, reason, size and comparison with the current document. Snapshots are created on open, after each successful save, before major transformations and before discarding a local version during a conflict.
Restore a Copy… opens a detached Recovered session. Again, it connects to a file only after you explicitly save.
4. After a conflict: choose between three states
When a file changed on disk during your session, Balise refuses to save and opens a comparison.
You see the saved baseline, your local version and the disk version.
There are three outcomes: leave the conflict undecided, reload the disk version or save yours under a new name. None replaces the disk version without your knowledge.
When uncertain, save under a new name. Two files are better than an irreversible decision made in a hurry.
5. Know what cannot be recovered
A file never saved has no local versions, only a recovery copy.
Local history is bounded: the oldest snapshots disappear. It lives on this Mac and does not follow the file when you send it elsewhere.
Neither recovery nor local versions replace a backup or Git repository.
If something goes wrong
- Saving still refused: When saving is refused
- File inaccessible: When Balise can no longer read a file or folder
- Both mechanisms in detail: Local versions and recovery