Where Does Mnemosyne Store Cards and Backups?
Where Mnemosyne keeps card databases, media, and automatic backups on each desktop OS, plus the custom folder flag.
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Mnemosyne stores its world in a data directory: the card database, review statistics, media files, and a backups folder with dated copies. The location follows each OS convention, and the folder is hidden on Windows, so turn on hidden items before hunting for it.
Linux splits the data across two roots, with the database under local share and settings under config. macOS keeps a single folder in Library. A -d command line flag overrides everything when you would rather keep cards on a synced drive or a USB stick.
Where Mnemosyne stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\Mnemosyne
Hidden by default, so enable hidden items in Explorer first. Holds the .db database, media, logs, and the backups subfolder. Move the whole folder rather than single files, and close the app before copying.
~/Library/Mnemosyne
Single folder for database, media, and backups. The -d flag takes a custom path from the command line when the default does not suit a synced setup. Config details for power users sit in config.py inside.
~/.local/share/mnemosyne
Split across two roots: card data and media under local share, settings under config. The backups folder inside the data dir holds dated restores. Use mnemosyne -d /path/to/dir to point everything at one custom location.
Frequently asked questions
how do I move Mnemosyne cards to a new computer
Copy the entire data directory to the new machine at the matching OS path, not just the .db file. Statistics and media live beside the database, and moving only the database confuses the science log upload. Keep both copies closed during the transfer.
how do I restore a Mnemosyne backup
Open the backups folder inside the data directory and pick a dated copy through File Open. These protect against mistakes, not disk failure, so still copy the whole data directory somewhere off disk regularly. Media files travel with the same backup.
can I store my Mnemosyne data elsewhere
Launch with the -d flag pointing at the folder you want, on every desktop OS. On Windows that means editing the shortcut target after the exe path. The project recommends one database with tags over many small databases.
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