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When Elephas cannot open your library safely, it stops on a message instead of risking your data. Every startup message below means your documents and chats have not been changed. Find your message and follow its fix.

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Before you start

  • Restart Elephas once before anything else. Several of these errors are temporary.
  • Do not delete the Elephas data folder or the “Elephas Next” entries in Keychain or Credential Manager to “reset” the app. That makes your library unreadable. See where your data is stored.
  • Have your log file ready in case you need to contact support. It is in your data folder, named elephas.log. See contact support.

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Startup messages and fixes

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Steps

1

Quit and reopen Elephas

Press ⌘Q to quit, wait a few seconds, then open it again from Applications.
2

Restart your Mac

A restart reconnects Elephas to your login keychain, which fixes most keychain messages.
3

Check the data folder

In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder, paste ~/Library/Application Support/Elephas Next, and press Return. Choose File › Get Info on the folder and check that your user account has Read & Write under Sharing & Permissions. Do not move or delete files inside it.
4

Update Elephas if the message names a newer version

Download the latest Elephas from elephas.app and drag it into Applications, replacing the older copy. Your library is stored separately and is not touched.

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How it works

The text Elephas reads from your documents, the search index and your chats are kept in encrypted databases on your computer. Your documents stay stored on your computer as ordinary files. Each database is unlocked with a key stored in your operating system’s credential store: Keychain on Mac, Credential Manager on Windows, under the name “Elephas Next”. At launch Elephas reads that key, opens the database and checks it is readable. If any step fails, it stops and tells you, rather than creating a new empty library or changing the file. That is why these messages say your data is untouched. A database written by a newer Elephas is never opened by an older one, because the older app could damage a format it does not know. Updating to the latest version fixes this.
If the “Elephas Next” entries are deleted from Keychain or Credential Manager, Elephas cannot unlock your existing library, and there is no way to recover the key. Never remove those entries unless you mean to delete your data.

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Troubleshooting

Large libraries take longer to open, especially right after an update. Wait a minute. If it never finishes, quit Elephas, reopen it, and contact support with your log file if it still hangs.
If Elephas shows the setup download again on a computer you have used before, a component went missing, not your library. Let it finish, or see first-run download failed.
That is an install problem, not a startup error. See Elephas won’t open after installing.

Where your data is stored

Update Elephas

Contact support

App won't open