Files
When a document's edit history can't be loaded
What CoCalc does when a file's, notebook's, or board's edit history is too large to load, and how to get to your file.
What this means
CoCalc keeps the edit history of a document (what TimeTravel shows) beside its file. Rarely, that history holds an entry too large to load, most often a huge notebook output. The document then cannot be opened from its history. The file on disk is never changed by this, and you can always get to it.
Files
When the saved file provably includes every edit, CoCalc archives the history and restarts it from the file automatically, and tells you.
Otherwise you choose: Restart history from the saved file… removes edits made after the file was last saved from the live document, or Close the file, and download it from the file explorer first.
Notebooks
Nothing is restarted automatically. You can choose Restart history from the
saved notebook…, which rebuilds the notebook from its saved .ipynb, or
close the notebook and download the .ipynb from the file explorer first.
If the history changed while you decided, you are asked again.
Boards
A board's host is the only program that writes its .board.json, so the
host rebuilds the board from that file automatically. You then see: "The edit
history of the board could not be loaded. It was archived, and the board was
rebuilt from its saved file; edits not yet saved to the file may be missing."
If the board cannot be rebuilt, or cannot be edited at all (its file is missing, too large, or not a board), the board's card in chat says why, and offers what does not depend on the rebuild:
| Why | What you can do |
|---|---|
| The file is too large, or has too many records, for a board to edit | Open the saved file as text, or Download the file. Repair or split it, then Retry. |
| The file is not valid JSON, or not a board | The same: open it as text, or download it, fix it, then Retry. |
| The file is missing | Restore the file from the project's snapshots (the .snapshots folder), or from TimeTravel of the .board.json if it was ever opened as text, then Retry. |
| The rebuild took too long or failed | Open the saved file as text or Download the file, both of which work however often the rebuild fails, or Retry. |
| No answer came in time after the rebuild was sent | The board may already be rebuilt: Retry opens it. You can also open the file as text or download it. |
| A rebuild is already running | Retry in a moment. |
Download the file is the project's ordinary file download: it works for a file of any size, including one too large for the text editor. When a file is too large to open as text, downloading it is the way in.
The archived history
The old history is archived in the document's own storage, within the archive's size limits; entries too large to keep are left out. Only CoCalc support can retrieve an archive, and an archive is kept only as long as the history's retention allows: there is no promise beyond that. Use TimeTravel for the history after the restart.