QiRingThe QiRing user guide / 02
Ring storage & portable mode
Where your data lives, and how to take a portable Ring with you.
Mirrors the app’s built-in Help. Keyboard labels show both Windows/Linux and macOS modifiers.
Normal installed builds and development runs keep QiRing data in the operating system's private per-user application directories. AppImage and standalone Windows builds can instead use explicit portable mode.
- Standard storage
- Uses the platform application directories under the
app.qiring.desktopidentifier. This is the safe default for DEB, MSI-installed, macOS, and development builds. - Portable storage
- Uses a private
QiRingDatadirectory beside a supported AppImage or standalone Windows executable. It contains the encrypted Ring, window state, initial-theme preference, and restore-safety snapshots. - Moving a portable copy
- Move the launcher, its
qiring-portablemarker, and the completeQiRingDatadirectory together. If the data directory remains but the marker is missing, QiRing stops instead of silently opening another Ring. - Installed builds
- Portable mode is not supported for DEB, MSI-installed, or macOS application bundles because their installation directories may be shared, read-only, replaced during upgrades, or protected by code signing.
- Path migration
- When upgrading from an older application identifier or Ring location, QiRing validates and copies existing files, leaving the originals untouched. It refuses to guess if different Ring identities are found.
- Exports and recovery files
- Manual backups, recovery-key files, and user-selected automatic-snapshot directories stay in the locations you explicitly choose; portable mode does not move them.