# On-Demand Manual Backups

While Cloudback automatically backs up your repositories daily, you can also create manual backups at any time. Manual backups are useful in the following scenarios:

* When testing a newly configured backup storage
* When you need to download the latest version of your repository without waiting for automated backups
* When you aim to secure a specific version of your repository, eg:
  * Before making significant changes to your repository
  * Before deleting a repository
  * Before transferring a repository to another user
  * Before migrating a repository to another platform

## Creating a manual backup

Follow these steps to create a manual backup:

1. Go to the [Cloudback dashboard](https://app.cloudback.it).
2. Find the repository you want to back up.
3. Select the repository by checking the checkbox in the first column.
4. Click the **Trigger** button in the top toolbar.

The backup will be queued immediately and starts as soon as a worker is available. Manual backups are prioritized over scheduled backups. You can monitor its progress in the dashboard.

**Note:** If a backup is already in progress or queued for a repository, the manual trigger will be rejected. There is also a 1-minute cooldown between manual triggers per repository - repeated triggers within 1 minute will be rejected with an error indicating the last trigger time.

![Trigger repository backup manually](/files/jN57XD2GajxBOCKXZuN3)

### Backup Now from Repository Details

As an alternative to the checkbox-and-trigger flow, you can trigger a backup directly from a repository's detail page:

1. Click on the repository name to open its details page.
2. Click the **Backup now** button in the repository header.

This is the quickest way to trigger a backup for a single repository without returning to the main list.

### Bulk Manual Backups

You can trigger backups for multiple repositories at once:

1. Select multiple repositories by checking their checkboxes.
2. The **Trigger** button in the top toolbar shows a count of selected items.
3. Click **Trigger** to queue all selected repositories for backup.

Please be aware that [email notifications](/managing-backups/email-notifications.md) are not sent out for manual backups. This feature is exclusively available for automatic backups.

## Learn More

* [Backup Details](/dashboard/backup-details.md)
* [Email Notifications](/managing-backups/email-notifications.md)
* [Backup Status Badge](/dashboard/backup-status-badge.md)


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