How To: Back Up TweetDeck Groups and Preferences

While configuring a new netbook (Lenovo S10), I wondered how to retrieve my profile and group settings from TweetDeck on the Mac so that I could transfer them to the PC. And I remembered that last week at 140|The Twitter Conference (@140tc), Vicki Harres (@prnewswire), shared a tale of woe when her IT folks didn’t back up her TweetDeck groups when they gave her a new laptop.

Digital native Joey Mornin (@joeymornin) gave me the first clue. This information is located in two files: preferences_twitterUserName.xml and td_N_twitterUserName.db (where N is a number).

The location on the Mac:
Home > Library > Preferences > TweetdeckFast-xxx > Local Store

The location on the PC, Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\TweetDeckFast-xxx\Local Store\

Note: Windows blocks “invisible” folders like Application Data by default. Here is how to make the folder visible:

(1) In Windows Explorer, from the Tools menu, select “folder options”:

(2) Select the radio button “Show hidden files and folders”. And while you’re at it, make it possible to see the file extensions by de-selecting “hide extensions of known file types.” (I think it is criminal that Microsoft still makes this the default setting, given that naive user behavior — clicking on malicious email attachments — remains a primary source of malware installation and virus propagation on the web).

Remember to click “apply”!

The location on the PC, Windows Vista (source, I don’t run Vista!)
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\TweetDeckFast-xxx\Local Store\

Copy and overwrite! (Click-and-drag the “good” file on top of the folder containing the file you want to change.) Remember, you have to overwrite the existing files when Tweetdeck is not running!

Automagic Backup and Restore – Windows
Poking around the intertubes, I found a set of scripts that Windows users can run to backup and restore their TweetDeck preferences and groups. Scott Kingery provides a zip of the scripts, which can be run from a USB drive and work with Windows 7, Vista and XP.

Automagic Syncing – Windows
Jerome Paradis has a detailed tutorial on how to use LiveMesh to sync TweetDeck groups between Windows and/or Mac computers. You’ll need a (Microsoft) LiveMesh (beta) account (doh!). However, my LiveMesh account reports that Mac support is “coming soon.”