How to preserve settings when updating?

[mikolajek]

I suppose FC saves its settings somewhere in a file. Won't this file get overwritten when extracting the app new version from the archive?

Is there a way to preserve the existing settings? I exported them to json, but not sure that's enough.

[hosanxiv]

Your exported JSON is enough as a backup, but in the normal (non-portable) setup an update should not overwrite the live settings.

The current settings logic uses:

• settings.json next to FluentCleaner.exe only if that file already exists (portable mode).
• Otherwise, %APPDATA%\FluentCleaner\settings.json.

That path selection is visible in AppSettings.cs. The Export/Import buttons serialize the same settings object, and Import saves it back to the active settings location (implementation).

So the practical update paths are:

1. Normal mode: extract/run the new version; it should continue reading the roaming AppData file. Keep the export as a backup.
2. Portable mode: preserve/copy the old settings.json beside the new executable before launching it. If the whole old folder is deleted, that portable file goes with it.
3. If needed, use Settings → Import with your exported JSON; that restores the values and writes them to the active settings file.

One small detail: portable-vs-roaming is chosen when the app starts, so after placing settings.json next to the executable, restart FluentCleaner.