# Creating Save Backups

## Overview

Astroneer was built in response to the lead developer playing Astroneer with a friend and losing months worth of progress due to a power outage, leading to save corruption. It was only then that it was discovered that Astroneer by default does not back up save games and the Steam cloud does not keep any file retention.

Because of this, the primary objective of Astroneer Launcher is to allow for an easier way of keeping save backups, never having to worry again about losing save data to a power outage.

### Manual Backups

Manual backups can be taken at any time with just a single button press. We recommend that you close Astroneer before taking a manual back up (just in case!) however we have tested that backups can be taken even when you're playing in a save.

#### Step-by-Step Guide

* [ ] Open Astroneer Launcher
* [ ] Once on the Dashboard, click "Manage Backups". This should open the Backups menu.

![The Astroneer Launcher Dashboard with the Manage Backups menu open.](https://3322698437-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FJtheUPawx4zKRt9cWtjT%2Fuploads%2F2xE99hpRufqsOMlLvoXY%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=9dc896bd-5497-46c1-b84a-b0c51876eea6)

* [ ] Click on "Back Up Saves" to create a Backup
* [ ] Wait for the backup to be taken.

{% hint style="success" %}
**Good to know:** The menu item's text will change to "Backing up saves" and a loading animation will appear in the bottom right corner of the application while a backup is being taken.
{% endhint %}

### Automatic Backups

Automatic Backups are a powerful feature that allows the Astroneer Launcher to take a backup of your saves every time the game is launched

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Important:** Automatic backups can only be taken if you are launching Astroneer through the Astroneer Launcher with the "Play Game" button.
{% endhint %}

Automatic Backups can be enabled during the setup process. If you're not sure if you opted in to having backups taken automatically, you can check by following the instructions below:

#### Enabling Automatic Backups

* [ ] Open Astroneer Launcher
* [ ] Once you are on the Dashboard, click "Preferences"

![The preferences window of the application, showing the "Backup Saves Automatically" open as checked.](https://3322698437-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FJtheUPawx4zKRt9cWtjT%2Fuploads%2F7U86SOo399GSx9qBil6u%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=de19d08c-524f-426c-a086-aa26b8de4688)

* [ ] Make sure that "Backup Saves Automatically When Launching Astroneer" is checked. If this has a cross instead of a check mark, your saves are not being automatically backed up when you launch the game.