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BackupTool.com
HOW IT WORKS / FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

Files go to your storage.
Reports come here.

Keep the backup tools you already use. See their reported results, follow up on missing signals and give clients a dated record. Here is how each part works.

YOUR STORAGE.
YOUR CONTROL.
THE SERVICE / IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

Your backup tool makes the backup.
BackupTool helps you oversee it.

When you manage several WordPress websites, checking each backup plugin separately takes time. BackupTool brings the reported activity into one private workspace, highlights signals that need attention and keeps the follow-up readable.

Your existing backup software still creates and stores the files. You keep responsibility for its schedule, storage settings and recovery process.

01 / GET CONNECTED

Start with one WordPress site.

You need a supported backup plugin on that site and permission to install the BackupTool Connector. A cloud connection is optional.

  1. Add your website

    Enter the site’s HTTPS address and a name you will recognize. Choose how often you expect a backup report and how much extra delay is acceptable.

  2. Pair the small connector

    Install the companion WordPress plugin on the site you want to monitor. Copy the workspace’s event endpoint, site identifier and one-time key into its settings. Each site has its own key; keep it private.

  3. Confirm contact, then a real job

    Send a connection heartbeat to check delivery. Next, run a real backup in your existing backup plugin. A heartbeat establishes contact; the job report establishes what that plugin reported.

Before the first backup report arrives, the reporting window starts when you add the site. Later windows start from the reported completion time. These are elapsed-time expectations, not a replacement for the schedule in your backup plugin.

Which backup plugins can report to the workspace?

UpdraftPlus: completion and warning reports through its completion hook. Failure reporting depends on the plugin producing its report hook.

Backuply: future successful-completion timestamps. Its adapter does not capture warnings, failures or backups made before pairing.

WPvivid: success and terminal-failure hooks, inspected against official version 0.9.136. Legacy errors marked for automatic resume are excluded from final-failure reports.

Plugin editions and versions can behave differently. Confirm a real reported job with your own setup. If your plugin is unsupported, its backups can still run, but BackupTool cannot automatically infer their results.

02 / UNDERSTAND THE MONITORING WINDOW

When does a signal become overdue?

Try an interval and grace period. This simplified model measures elapsed time from a reported backup, with no calendar scheduling.

ILLUSTRATIVE TIMING / SUCCESSFUL LAST REPORT

Within the expected window

20 hours have elapsed. The report becomes overdue after 25 hours.

Last report25h threshold72h
A clock is an observation, not a diagnosis.

The hub evaluates the deadline when monitoring runs. A missed report may reflect a delayed job, a connector issue or another cause.

ARCHITECTURE / TWO SEPARATE PATHS

Files take their own route.

BackupTool receives signed metadata. Your backup software owns the archive transfer.

WordPress siteYour backup software
BACKUP FILES
Customer storageBackup archives
BackupTool.comMonitoring only
Your archives never pass through BackupTool.
01 / CLIENT

Backup software runs

A supported connector adapter reads the backup plugin’s job result. Backup files stay with your backup software and storage provider.

02 / CONNECTOR

Metadata is signed

HTTPS and HMAC signatures protect event delivery. Failed deliveries are queued for another attempt.

03 / WORKSPACE

A record is updated

The hub records the job observation and checks timing expectations. Email notifications require opt-in and working mail delivery.

03 / ALERTS & INVESTIGATION

Turn an observation into a next step.

A missing report is a reason to investigate. It can mean a delayed backup, a stopped job, a disconnected connector or another delivery problem.

Keep the investigation in one place.

The incident desk records a missed signal, reported failure or warning. Acknowledge it, start investigating, add a note or set a reminder to review it in one hour, one day or one week.

When a successful report resumes, the incident shows that change. You review the evidence and explicitly resolve it with an explanation; a new report does not silently close the investigation.

Choose how you hear about it.

Observation emails use your configured recipient and email opt-in. Optional queued follow-up adds repeat alerts for unacknowledged incidents, UTC quiet hours and a temporary maintenance window. You can also enable a daily unresolved-incident digest.

Optional Slack delivery sends a site name, signal, timestamps and workspace link to your configured incoming webhook. Investigation notes and recovery records stay out of those Slack messages.

04 / OPTIONAL STORAGE CHECKS

Is the selected archive there?

Connect your own Google Drive, Amazon S3 or Backblaze B2 access to request metadata for one exact archive. You can use job monitoring without connecting storage.

An archive is the backup file produced by your backup software. Metadata is information about that file, such as its reported size and modification time, rather than its contents.

Select the exact object.

Use Google’s file chooser to select a Drive file, or configure an exact S3 or B2 object reference with the required provider access. Public file sharing is unnecessary.

Record a dated check.

Choose “Check metadata now.” The history records the time, provider, object reference, result and reported size where available. “Present” means metadata was accessible at that time.

Repeat only with consent.

Optionally authorize checks every six hours, day or week for that saved object. You can flag provider-reported file age or a size drop of more than 20% compared with the same object’s previous check.

Presence and freshness answer different questions.

An older archive can still exist. An unchanged file will naturally age. Use presence-only checks for an immutable backup; enable an age limit only when you expect that exact file to be updated. Selecting a different object pauses the old schedule until you consent again.

These checks do not automatically find your newest backup, open archive contents or prove recovery. Google’s selected-file permission can allow broader operations on selected files, but BackupTool’s implementation requests metadata only. Provider requests may incur provider charges.

05 / CUSTOMER-RECORDED RECOVERY

Keep the outcome of a test you perform.

A successful backup report and a file being present do not establish that a website can be restored. Recovery is a separate question.

Record what was actually checked.

If you perform a restore test outside BackupTool, enter its date, outcome, archive reference, environment, checks and limitations in Recovery records. Keep the account of the test specific enough for someone else to understand.

BackupTool stores your record. It does not restore websites or independently verify what you entered. If no test has been recorded, the report says so.

06 / CLIENT REPORTS

Give the client a record they can read.

Choose a site and a UTC date range. Job results, connector contact, archive checks and customer-recorded tests appear as distinct sections.

ON DEMAND

Build a detailed report.

Choose which sections to display, then print or save the report as PDF in your browser. Excluding a section from this view does not delete the workspace’s records.

OPTIONAL SCHEDULE

Email a branded summary.

Select owned sites and a brand name, then opt into a weekly or monthly HTML summary sent to your configured recipient. Weekly summaries cover the previous week; monthly summaries cover the previous month. PDF attachments are not generated.

CLEAR SCOPE

Understand the counts.

Reports describe retained records, not every backup that may have run. Job metadata is retained for 90 days; archive history keeps the latest 30 manual and scheduled checks. Customer-recorded tests remain until the site is removed.

Client-ready does not mean evidence-free.

A report can show a job’s reported success while also showing that no archive check or restore test was recorded. Keeping those facts separate makes the record useful when a client asks what was checked.

07 / DAILY REVIEW & HANDOVER

Know where to look next.

Daily review brings current job signals, connector-contact concerns and enabled archive-check flags into a portfolio view. Follow each prompt back to its site evidence.

Make a repeatable review routine.

Start with sites that need attention. Read what happened and when, inspect the source tool where needed, then keep your investigation in the incident desk. The workspace helps you organize the work; it does not diagnose every cause automatically.

Prepare for the next custodian.

Download an owned-site HTML handover with current reporting expectations and retained job, contact, archive, recovery and incident records. Open it locally and print or save it as PDF.

BEFORE YOU START

Know what is available.

The demonstration uses sample data. Availability of signup, payments and optional features is controlled separately.

Private accounts.

Each account owns its monitoring records. Shared team assignment is not included in this release. Configure only sites and storage you are authorized to access.

Optional features stay optional.

Cloud checks, queued follow-up, Slack and scheduled reports require configuration and opt-in. Optional AI drafts, where enabled by the operator, are customer-reviewed assistance rather than verified findings.

No automatic trial charge.

The trial lasts 7 days and does not create a paid subscription. Public signup and real payments remain closed during development review. A paid subscription requires an explicit checkout when live sales open.

PAGE-SPECIFIC ANSWERS

What moves, and when?

What happens when my site cannot reach the hub?

The connector queues individual metadata events and retries delivery. A missing signal can have several causes; review the client plugin logs and connection.

Do backups pass through BackupTool?

No. Backup archives follow the route configured in your backup software. Only monitoring metadata is sent to the hub.

FROM EXPLORATION TO YOUR WORKFLOW

See the workspace in action.

Explore a labelled sample portfolio before connecting a real site.

Explore the demonstration