How to move your trading journal to a new PC

Your trades can be rebuilt from MetaTrader 5; your notes and screenshots cannot. Here is the safe order for moving or restoring a journal.

New laptop, a reinstalled Windows, or a computer that died: at some point your trading journal has to move. The good news is that the part of your history that came from MetaTrader 5 can always be rebuilt, because the broker still holds it. The part that cannot be rebuilt is everything you wrote yourself: notes, tags, ratings, screenshots and goals. This page explains what lives where, how to move an AI Trading Journal to a new PC safely, and what to do if you have no backup.

Split your journal into two kinds of data

Kind of data	Where the original is	Can it be rebuilt?
Closed trades: symbol, lots, prices, times, profit, commission, swap	Your broker's server, through MetaTrader 5	Yes, as long as the broker still provides that history
Setup, emotion, plan followed, rating, tags, notes	Your journal file only	No. Only a backup protects it
Screenshots you attached	Your journal's screenshots folder	No. Only a backup protects it
Monthly profit target and loss limit	Stored in your journal	No, but quick to re-enter

Everything in the second, third and fourth rows is what a backup is for. See our guide to backing up a trading journal for the general reasons, and the steps below for this app.

How AI Trading Journal stores your data

The journal is a file on your own PC, in the Documents\AI Trading Journal folder. It is local-first and needs no account. Notion is an optional extra copy you can connect, never a requirement. The app also makes a daily automatic backup, a .zip file containing the journal, your goals and your screenshots, saved to a folder you choose. There are Back up and Restore buttons for doing it by hand. See what a local trading journal means for the wider picture.

Moving to a new PC: step by step

On the old PC, make a fresh backup. Use the Back up button, choose a folder you can reach from the new computer (a USB drive, or a folder you sync yourself), and let it finish.
Copy the .zip to the new PC. Check the file opens as an archive and that its size looks sensible compared with your journal.
Install the app on the new PC. Use the installer from the site or the Microsoft Store listing. See the Microsoft Store page.
Log in to your MT5 account in the terminal on the new PC and leave the terminal open. The app reads the terminal that is running on that computer.
Use Restore and pick the .zip. Your entries, notes, tags, goals and screenshots should return.
Let the app sync. A first run reads the whole account history the terminal can see, and the scheduled task then adds new closed trades about every five minutes. Check a few trades against the History tab.
Handle the license. A paid license works on one device at a time, so the old PC and the new one should not both be in use. If the app asks you to activate again and you are unsure how to free the old device, write to us on the contact page with your details.

The order matters in one place. If you sync before restoring, the app may build fresh entries from MT5 and you will then be merging them with the backup. Restoring first, then letting the sync add what is missing, is the cleaner path. If you did sync first by accident, check the Journal page for duplicate-looking dates before writing more notes.

If you have no backup

Then you recover what you can. Install the app, log in to MT5, and let it read the account history: every closed trade the broker still provides comes back, with its profit, commission and swap. What you cannot get back is your own writing. If you attached screenshots, search the old drive for the screenshots folder inside the Documents\AI Trading Journal folder, or for the app's daily backup .zip files, since the backup may have saved a copy in a folder you chose. A failed disk may still be readable by a repair shop or by plugging it into another computer. Do not reinstall over the old data before you have copied it away.

If you connected Notion

The Notion copy, if you connected one, is a cloud service of its own and holds the history, notes and screenshots that were sent to it. It is an extra copy and not a replacement for a backup, because it depends on your Notion workspace and on the connection having been active. Check what it holds before you rely on it, and see how MT5 to Notion works for what is sent.

A routine that avoids the problem

Choose a backup folder that is not on the same drive as the journal. A folder you sync to another place is better still.
Open a backup .zip once a month to check it is not empty or damaged.
Before reinstalling Windows or replacing a PC, make a manual backup, even if the daily one ran.
Keep a copy of your license details in a safe place so you can reactivate calmly.

A worked example (hypothetical)

A trader has 14 months of entries, 200 attached screenshots and a monthly target. Their laptop screen breaks. The daily backup writes to a folder on an external drive, so they plug it into a spare PC, install the app, log in to MT5, restore the latest .zip and wait for the sync. The Journal page shows every note and screenshot, and the sync adds the three trades closed since the last backup. The trader who never set a backup folder has only the trades from MT5 and has to start writing notes again. The difference is a few minutes of setup.

Limits of this page

Button names and menus may change between app versions. Check the app on your screen.
License moves depend on your license terms; contact us if you are stuck.
We cannot recover a journal file from a damaged drive.
The app runs on Windows with MetaTrader 5 only.

Frequently asked questions

How do I move my trading journal to a new computer?

Make a backup on the old PC, install the app on the new one, log in to MT5, restore the .zip, and let the app sync. Then check a few trades against the History tab.

Will my trades come back without a backup?

Closed trades come back from your MT5 history if the broker still provides it. Notes, tags, ratings, goals and screenshots only come back from a backup.

Where does AI Trading Journal keep my data?

In a file on your own PC, in the Documents\AI Trading Journal folder. Notion is an optional extra copy.

Can I use my license on two computers?

A paid license works on one device at a time. Contact us if you need to move it.

How often is the backup made?

The app makes a daily automatic backup to a folder you choose, and you can use the Back up button any time.

Related guides

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