# Is it possible to recover a notebook that is hanging?

**URL:** <https://talk.observablehq.com/t/is-it-possible-to-recover-a-notebook-that-is-hanging/290>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [February 10, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/is-it-possible-to-recover-a-notebook-that-is-hanging/290 "2018-02-10T23:10:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![darthmall](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/darthmall/32/193_2.png) [@darthmall](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/darthmall)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/is-it-possible-to-recover-a-notebook-that-is-hanging/290/1 "2018-02-10T23:10:47Z")

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A couple of times now I’ve done something a little boneheaded that causes a notebook to become unresponsive. Since the notebooks are always evaluated when they’re opened, there doesn’t seem to be a way to recover the notebook: every time I open the notebook to delete the offending cell, it hangs. It seems like I have no other choice but to delete the notebook and start over, is that right?

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**Author:** ![mbostock](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mbostock/32/9_2.png) [@mbostock](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mbostock)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/is-it-possible-to-recover-a-notebook-that-is-hanging/290/2 "2018-02-10T23:35:03Z")

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There’s a (as-yet-undocumented) “safe” mode you can use to recover your notebook. Just add “/safe” to the URL. Your edits there will be saved as normal, but none of the code is evaluated.