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Using Your Notebook

Updating your notebook

How to check for notebook updates, upgrade to the latest version, and keep your custom cells when you do.

Your notebook improves over time. New features, fixes, and refinements land in new versions. This guide covers how to check for updates, how to upgrade, and how to keep any custom work you've added.

How versions work

Your notebook's Account cell has a Version section. Run it and you'll see your current version number and, if a newer version exists, a link to the latest.

The link in your original welcome email points to the version available when you subscribed. It doesn't update automatically -- your saved copy in Drive stays exactly as it was until you choose to upgrade.

How to update

graph LR
    R[Run Account cell
New version + link] -->|copy link, File > Open from GitHub| C[Latest version
opens in Colab] -->|File > Save to Drive| N[New copy
in Drive] -->|copy cells from| O[Old copy
in Drive]

1. Run your Account cell -- Check the Version section for a newer version link.

2. Open the new version link -- It opens in Colab from GitHub, just like the first time.

3. Save a copy to Drive -- File > Save a copy in Drive.

If you save with the same name, it overwrites your old copy. If you want to keep both (useful when migrating custom work), give the new copy a different name or add the version number.

Tip: Keeping both copies open in separate tabs makes it easy to compare and move things across.

Keeping your custom work when you update

When you upgrade to a new version, your added cells and edits won't be in the new copy. To preserve them:

1. Open your current notebook in one tab -- The copy in your Drive with your custom cells.

2. Open the new version in another tab -- From the update link in your Account cell.

3. Copy your custom cells across -- Select a cell, copy, switch tabs, paste where you want it.

4. Save the new version to Drive --

If you only added new cells (didn't edit existing ones), this is straightforward -- just move them over. If you edited existing cells, compare them side by side and decide what to keep.

When to update

Not every update is urgent. But new features, bug fixes, and improvements only land in new versions. Your Account cell tells you what changed -- check it periodically and update when something useful lands.

Check your Account cell for new versions, open the link, save to Drive, and copy any custom cells across. That's the whole process.