When a file goes missing

What happens, and what you can do, when Context Raven can't find a file where it expects it.

The recovery banner

When a tracked or open file can no longer be found at its saved location, a banner appears above the document with recovery actions:

• Restore file — recreates the file at its original path using known text: the same file's still-loaded buffer, its last accepted copy, or its newest local history snapshot. The recovered copy is shown before you restore it and is marked as not saved. Restore is offered only when the app has a non-empty known copy.
• Locate… — opens a file picker so you can point Context Raven at the file's new location, if it was moved or renamed outside the app.
• Remove from list — stops tracking the file. Nothing on disk changes.

The banner distinguishes three cases:

• Known empty: “This file was empty; there is nothing to restore.” An empty last accepted copy is authoritative; the app does not fall back to an older snapshot containing deleted text. Only that accepted copy can show a file was empty — an empty older version counts as no copy.
• Git-tracked note without a copy: the app tells you to bring it back with git or look in the Trash.
• No copy at all: “The app has no copy of this file's text. Look in the Trash or locate the file.”

These cases offer Locate and Remove from list, without Restore. An unknown placeholder also has no Save As or Copy backup. A recovered copy from a snapshot warns that its text may be an older version; a last accepted copy does not carry that warning.

The app keeps the last accepted copy while the missing file remains in the list. Typing into a recovered copy does not save it automatically while the file is missing; use Restore or Save As. Text typed into an unknown placeholder cannot be used by Restore.

When the file returns or you use Locate, an unedited recovered copy or placeholder adopts the file's current disk bytes without writing. If you edited either buffer, including typing into an empty placeholder, your text is kept. The app first offers the disk bytes to local history through the usual snapshot path, then treats your buffer as an ordinary unsaved edit and saves it normally. The history rules still apply: git-tracked files use Git rather than a local snapshot ring.

Other actions while a file is missing

Rename, Move to Trash, and Reveal in Finder are disabled, since they all need a real file on disk. Copy File Path still works, since it just copies where the file used to be.

Folder-tracked files

A file inside a tracked folder that stays missing for 30 days is removed from the sidebar automatically.

Shared files

If a shared file moves or is renamed, Context Raven looks for it again the next time the app launches, and re-points the share automatically when exactly one file with identical content can be found. Otherwise you'll see a persistent notice that the file is no longer on this computer, with a Stop sharing action for it. See Share to cloud.