[longrod]

This makes a lot of sense. I use Notesnook [0] which also encrypts everything client side. It also doesn't export attachments in the automatic backups. I asked the devs and this is done to save user's bandwidth and also to make everything more reliable. Suppose the user's internet is slow or metered, what should be done then? Would the backup never be taken? That's obviously a bad idea since the notes are too important not to backup.

So it makes a sacrifice on the attachments to make sure backup of the more important stuff keeps working even when there's no internet. Moreover downloading all the attachments takes a lot of time and doing it every day (or whatever interval) wouldn't be a good user experience.

I think the Notesnook guys were thinking of adding cloud-to-cloud backups for attachments to work around this reliably.

[0] https://notesnook.com

[nirvdrum]

I'm not familiar with the tool, but naïvely I'd think offering an "include attachments" checkbox would give the user control over backup size. I know that might complicate the UI a bit and maybe even confuse user by having the option, but expecting all of your data to be backed up and only discovering that it isn't after it's too late isn't stellar UX either.