Difficult to use - impossible to maintain

Support
1

Sorry - but am I alone in finding Duplicati nearly impossible to use??

The developers have to know there are major issues with usability. I’ve used it a few times to restore a couple of files over the past year and discover that simple things like getting an older copy of a file will send you down a rabbit hole of improper messages (like “starting backup” when you are doing a restore) and “recreating database” that takes so long it makes me question my mortality…
Are there changes on the horizon for this application - or has it just begun to collapse under it’s own weight of trying to do too much?

2

Hi @dindan, welcome to the forum :waving_hand:

That is quite an assumption :slight_smile:

What is great usability for one person might be awful for another, so usability is somewhat subjective.

Usage patterns also vary wildly, so I would not expect to understand all issues. Especially for expert users that are very familiar with the inner workings, it is hard to find things that are not logical for new users.

If you see something like that, please do create an issue so we can track and prioritize it:

There is a known issue where some index files are lacking information, causing extremely slow database recreates. But why do you need to recreate the database? If you have the backup configured, you can use the job (which includes the database) and restore without needing the whole recreate step.

Certainly!

3

Welcome to the forum @dindan

Your specific points are fixed or improved in the 2.2.0.0 Stable release. 2.1.0.5 Stable says:

image

Show shows its change log. You can also find this and more in GitHub here or in forum here.

This is the next stable release building on the 2.1 line and adds more features and stability fixes, and we are super excited to share this version!

A big thanks to the supportive Duplicati user base who continues to contribute with fixes, issue reports and feature requests.

The most visual change for this version is the use of the new user interface, but there is also a massive list of fixes and improvements in this version. Below is a summary of some of the larger changes.

Reading the release notes is a good way to see or impact changes. For example, first Beta:

v2.1.2.0_beta_2025-08-20

New user interface

The new user interface is rewritten from scratch and has the same general structure as the previous one, but we made some things more user friendly.

Even though it’s similar to the old interface, maybe you would find the new one easier to use.

Release channels and versions gives advice on what you might want. I think most use Stable, creating a problem where non-urgent change requests have to catch the next Stable release.

Release plan for 2.3 in GitHub doesn’t look like it’s ready. 2.2 is still cleaning up issues found, however they seem to be mostly in special cases that most don’t see. Maybe you could try it?

In addition to opening issues in GitHub, the forum here can sometimes help look into situation. Sometimes it winds up needing a code fix (GitHub holds the queue), but sometimes it doesn’t.

EDIT 1:

To get a little more specific, new UI says image after I filed an Issue. Fixed in July.
Recreate speed depends on specifics, but 2.1 did blocksize increase, 2.2 improved cache and several problems in the index files. New and faster SQLite might show up in 2.3. We will see…

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“if you have the backup configured…” Seriously, that is the usability issue.Of course I have the backup configured otherwise I wouldn’t have a backup. But, there are so many options, so many ways to get it wrong. All I did was try to restore a file - that’s it. I did not click on anything indicating there would be the need for a lengthy database restore. Recreating the database was what Duplicati decided was necessary to restore a 19Kb file from two days ago. And getting the list of available files also took so long I had time to reflect on the many poor choices I’ve made in life…

5

You can restore without currently having backup configured on current system.

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First two might be disaster recovery. Below those are the jobs configured in this Duplicati.

Restoring files in the manual shows the old UI, but the idea is similar. You get your choice.

Downside of flexible systems is you have to decide what you want. Do UI & manual help?
Manual is linked at bottom of page. Sometimes the UI has direct page links. Would it help?
Problem there is it’s English, and web links can break. Some other areas have built-in help.
I’m not the developer, so make no promises, but it’d be nice if specific aids could be found.

I don’t think it does if you choose your configured job. The disaster recovery options do that.

Another way to choose your job is to start from it, like:

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This dropdown doesn’t have room for much description, but it also isn’t “Direct restore”.
The fact that the job is here means that it’s configured – and probably with a database.

Old UI as seen in the manual had similar text to new, but new UI steers you there well:

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There was an objection to “cloud”, so that is changing. Maybe other change could be done?

As mentioned, there’s less flexibility now for change to 2.2 now that it’s had a Stable release.
Maybe messages can change. It’s not my call. Manual needs some changes anyway for 2.2.

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It would be helpful if you could explain why you clicked where you did (I know it is not always obvious why).

I have changed the order of the buttons on the restore page, so the option to restore from an existing configuration are on top, and the slower methods are at the bottom. I assume this would make it more attractive to use the “correct” buttons, but I am not sure if this would work for your case?

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In reversed order, the divider that now says “Or existing” has lots of room to explain slow ones.

Right now, we don’t even know what was clicked. That should be said along with a try at “why”.