I would find it very helpful if there was a button in the "Settings" menu to reset the settings to default settings. If it is too complicated to do this for all sections individually, a button in the settings overview would be a really big help. Unfortunately, I often changed several things in a submenu at the same time during setup and then no longer knew what the original settings were.
Or as an alternative: Of which folder could you make a backup copy that contains all the settings from the settings menu?
Another option is to create a backup with timeshift, for example. Do you then have to include the hidden files of home directory? This is deactivated by default.
The problem with including your /home directory can lead to a loss of where you are up to if you are writing a document, or saved a picture after the last system snapshot has been taken. I thought Deja Dup was what is used for backing up desktop settings, but would await confirmation from someone who has used this. I never have.
1 Like
Deja Dup (aka Backup) is what I use to regularly to save backups of /home.
2 Likes
From what I understand on how Gnome works, everything is stored in binary form inside ~/.config/dconf. But I'm not sure if everything is in this one file, and whether other related utilities also use it i.e., Gnome Tweaks and by extension Zorin Appearance.
I wouldn't recommend using Timeshift for your own personal files. It works better for system configuration files that don't change very often and that you can therefore create smaller incremental backups out of.
For personal files (let's say everything in your home folder) Deja Dup is more appropriate. And of course, when using multiple backup solutions, don't overlap their directories as you risk introducing inconsistencies whenever you need to recover.
2 Likes