# Warn before reloading if unsaved cells

**URL:** <https://talk.observablehq.com/t/warn-before-reloading-if-unsaved-cells/2074>\
**Category:** Feedback\
**Created:** [June 20, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/warn-before-reloading-if-unsaved-cells/2074 "2019-06-20T18:29:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carlosdp](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/carlosdp/32/1850_2.png) [@carlosdp](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/carlosdp)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/warn-before-reloading-if-unsaved-cells/2074/1 "2019-06-20T18:29:44Z")

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I just wrote a bunch of markdown into a cell and accidentally clicked Command+R before the cell changed and lost all I had written. It would be cool if Observable could intercept Cmd+R and check for any unsaved cells, and do the “Are you sure?” alert before allowing the reload (or close window/tab for that matter) to prevent this, given that the auto-save behavior is based on de-focus or running the cell.

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**Author:** ![jrus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/jrus/32/586_2.png) [@jrus](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/jrus)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/warn-before-reloading-if-unsaved-cells/2074/2 "2019-06-21T00:00:05Z")

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Also see my previous post about this topic,

> [@bug: page navigates away with unsaved changes in a text box](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/bug-page-navigates-away-with-unsaved-changes-in-a-text-box/1959):
>
> While typing a long function in a cell, I somehow got my copy of Firefox here to interpret the backspace key as page navigation before my typing had been committed. The browser navigated back in history, leaving the page. When I went forward again to return to my notebook, my typing was lost. This reminded me that I need to disable the moronic default backspace behavior in my Firefox here, but there is also an Observable bug here (which I have run into a couple of other times for other reasons,…

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**Author:** ![jrus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/jrus/32/586_2.png) [@jrus](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/jrus)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 2:17am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/warn-before-reloading-if-unsaved-cells/2074/3 "2021-03-23T02:17:24Z")

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I made a github issue about this:

> <https://github.com/observablehq/feedback/issues/56>
>
> Description: If a notebook author reloads a page or navigates/closes a browser tab with uncommitted cell changes, these are lost. Observable...
