NovelAI Story Says "Not in IndexedDB Storage" After a Power Outage: What Can You Recover?
TL;DR:
If a local-only NovelAI story displays a "Not in IndexedDB storage" error, the company servers cannot restore it, meaning recovery depends entirely on locating a previous manual export or checking another browser profile.
● Do not clear browser site data or reset the browser while troubleshooting, as this action permanently deletes all locally stored stories.
● Recoverit File Recovery can scan local storage for deleted .story, .scenario, TXT, or ZIP exports, but it cannot recreate the lost IndexedDB browser database.
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In this NovelAI recovery case, a power outage interrupted generation. The story still appeared in the index afterward, but opening it returned Story is not in IndexedDB storage; the user also confirmed that this story was stored locally only. That makes browser storage, not NovelAI's server, the critical location.
Do Not Clear Browser Storage While Checking for Another Copy
NovelAI's current story-storage FAQ says locally stored stories live directly in the browser and are not saved on NovelAI's servers. If local browser storage is cleared, NovelAI says those local stories are permanently deleted. Before resetting the browser, clearing site data, or changing profiles, check any other device or browser profile where the same local story might still exist.
Check Exported Story Files Before Attempting Recovery
NovelAI supports exports as .story, .scenario, plaintext, and other forms, and the Account page can download all stories as a ZIP. If you previously exported the story, use that intact file instead of trying to reconstruct the browser database. The Download All Stories guidance is also useful for preserving any stories that still open.
Decision Check
- Story opens on another device or browser profile: Export it immediately.
- A local
.story,.scenario, TXT, or ZIP export exists: Preserve that copy and import or read it from there. - The only copy was the missing local IndexedDB entry: NovelAI has no server copy to restore for this local-only story.
Recoverit Is for a Deleted Export, Not NovelAI's Cloud
If a previously saved NovelAI export was later deleted from a readable computer or external drive, Recoverit File Recovery can scan the local storage. Recoverit's current technical specifications explicitly include JSON, TXT, and ZIP; custom .story and .scenario extensions should be treated as best-effort and verified in the scan results. Recoverit cannot recreate a server-side story that NovelAI never stored or guarantee recovery of browser IndexedDB content after it is lost.