StoryFolder Help

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Local vs cloud ​

StoryFolder is a hybrid desktop + cloud app. Knowing exactly what lives where helps you make confident decisions about confidential or sensitive videos.

What's local-only? ​

These never leave your computer:

  • Your video files, whether you imported them from disk or downloaded them via a URL.
  • The full-resolution thumbnail cache used by the editor.
  • The local working database with your project state.
  • App preferences (UI settings, column widths, release channel).

What's synced to our servers? ​

  • Your account info — email, name, password hash, subscription state.
  • Your projects' metadata — project titles, source URLs (not the video), settings.
  • Your shot lists — start times, durations, frame ranges.
  • Your notes — every value in every note field, across default and custom.
  • Your activated machine fingerprints — used to validate your machine slot.

When you publish, StoryFolder uploads:

  • A copy of the thumbnails for the visible shots to a CDN so web viewers can see them.
  • The same shot list and notes that are already on the server.
  • Your privacy settings (public / link-only / password).

The original video file is still not uploaded. For URL imports, the published page embeds the original source (YouTube/Vimeo) using its own URL.

What if I import a confidential video? ​

If you're working with confidential or pre-release material:

  • The video itself stays on your computer. Importing it does not upload it.
  • Your notes do go to our servers (so they sync). Treat them with the same level of confidentiality as the video — they describe the video.
  • Don't publish a share link unless you're cleared to. Or, if you must share, use password protection to limit exposure.

If you have strict requirements (NDAs, air-gapped environments), contact us. We can talk through your options.

Can I work fully offline? ​

The editor and most note-taking work fine offline once a video is imported. Things that require an internet connection:

  • Signing in / activating a new machine.
  • URL imports (obviously).
  • Publishing or updating share links.
  • AI field discovery (calls a server-side model).
  • License validation (runs occasionally; will use a cached license for short outages).

Does my data stay synced across machines? ​

Yes. Sign in on a second computer and your shot lists and notes appear there too. The video files themselves need to be re-imported on the new machine (since they're local).

Next step ​

→ Privacy & sharing