Your progress stays in your browser, and no account is required. Nothing to create to get started: by default, nothing is sent to a server. To change device or browser, you carry your progress in a backup file. This lesson says what is stored, how to back it up, restore it and erase it.
An optional account also lets you sync your progress between your devices, with no file to move. This lesson explains how to create it, what combines from one device to another, what you are asked to decide, and how to leave it or delete it.
Why no account is required
The whole computation happens in your browser: the path, the statuses, the next step. The site therefore needs to know nothing about you to work. By default, your progress is sent to no server, and no one but you sees it.
Without an account, nothing changes: your progress stays in this browser, and no feature of the site asks you to create one. The optional account, presented further down, only adds a second copy of this progress, which you find on your other devices.
What is stored
The browser's local storage keeps, for this site only:
- your goals: job aimed at, courses, skills and certifications;
- the lessons marked as read;
- your quizzes: best score and missed questions, for reviews;
- your declarations of what you know and your placement tests;
- the imported DSOXLab results;
- your tool choices.
The My data tab of “My learning” shows a summary, under “What is stored”.
Back up and restore
“Download the backup” produces a JSON file with all your progress. On another device, “Restore” reads it back: the file's entries replace yours, the rest stays as it is, and a report says what was restored. An old backup remains readable: if a skill, a job or a course has been renamed since, your progress follows the new name, and a resource added since simply shows as not started.
The My data tab gathers the summary of what is stored and the backup actions:
On this screenshot, the “Account” card is at the top left, next to “What is stored” and above the file backup: it is what opens syncing, presented in the section below. The “Never backed up” line of “What is stored” disappears as soon as an account is linked, since the account becomes a second copy.
Sync your devices with an account
An optional account links this browser to a copy of your progress, so you can find it on another device. The working copy always stays in your browser's local storage: the whole site reads and writes it without knowing anything about the account. The account keeps a second copy, which the site compares with the first and updates in both directions, section by section (goals, preferences, the lessons read in a course, quizzes, lab proofs): that is syncing. The account does not replace the backup file: it stays available, with or without an account.
How do you create an account and sign in?
Everything happens in the My data tab of My learning, in the “Account” card (marked “optional”). As long as this browser is linked to nothing, it shows “No account yet” and two buttons: “Create a free account”, which opens the sign-up screen directly, and “I already have an account”, which opens the sign-in screen. Two shortcuts lead to the same card: the “Sync your devices” row of the Today tab, visible as long as nothing is linked, and the “Sign in to my account” link of the first-visit screen.
The screenshot shows the card in its starting state, before any sign-in. The button you choose takes you to a screen hosted by Amazon Cognito, the AWS authentication service, in the language of the page. When signing up, you create an account with an email address and a password of at least 15 characters, with no other rule imposed: a passphrase works, as NIST recommends, then enter the verification code sent to you by email. The site never sees your password: on the way back it only receives a one-time code that it exchanges for tokens, following the standard OAuth with PKCE protocol.
These tokens, which prove your identity to the sync service, live only in the page's memory: no local storage, no cookie, no web address. As long as they exist, the page has an open session. They expire after 60 minutes and disappear on every reload. That is why the site makes a discreet round trip to the sign-in service when it has to sync, as the part on triggering explains.
What happens at first sign-in?
Before copying anything, the site shows you what the browser and the account contain. One line per section shows “This browser” and “The account” with a summary of each side, and a badge: “same on both sides”, “This browser”, “The account”, or “≠” when the two differ. The case detected sets the choices offered, and in every case the browser's progress is set aside before any write: it comes back when you sign out. If another account was linked to this browser before yours, its data is removed first.
| Case | Title shown | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Browser and account both empty | “Account linked” | Nothing: your next progress is synced |
| Browser filled, account empty | “This browser already holds progress” | “Copy to the account”, “Don’t copy”, “Later” |
| Browser empty, account filled | “Your account holds progress” | “Use the account”, “Later” |
| Both filled | “This browser and your account each hold progress” | “Combine with my account”, “Use the account only”, “Later” |
When only the browser is filled, “Copy to the account” sends your progress, whereas “Don’t copy” links the browser without sending anything: it then starts empty, and its earlier progress waits for you at sign-out. When only the account is filled, “Use the account” restores it in this browser. When both are, “Combine with my account” adds up what can be added, and “Use the account only” replaces the browser with the account. “Later” links nothing and changes nothing: the card offers to sign in again.
What combines on its own, and what do you settle?
Progress almost only moves forward: it combines without asking. What changed on one side only since the last sync is simply sent or received. When both sides changed, three families combine automatically: the lessons read (the union of both lists), the quiz results (the best of each counter, never a sum that would count the same history twice) and the DSOXLab lab proofs (the union, without duplicates). Nothing is lost.
Decisions do not combine, because no rule can choose for you: your goals, your preferences (tool choices, declared skills), the track chosen in a course when it differs, and any unreadable section. The “To settle” screen lists them with each side's content and offers, for each one, “Keep this browser”, “Keep the account” and, when possible, “Combine both”. “Apply my choices” runs it all, and the version set aside is kept in a “Restore point”.
A second screen, “Erased in this browser”, handles a section that disappeared from here but still exists in the account, although this browser stayed linked: a partial clean-up of its storage, for example. A full erase also removes the link and leads to the first sign-in screen. Nothing is erased from the account without your confirmation: “Erase from the account too” confirms the deletion, “Get it back from the account” brings the section back. The “Restore point” can be downloaded from “Manage my account” in the same format as a backup, so “Restore” reads it back.
How is a sync triggered, and how do you read it?
A linked browser syncs by itself when My learning opens, at most once a minute per tab, through an invisible round trip to the sign-in service. The lessons you read send nothing as you go: their changes wait for the next time the page opens, or for a click. The “Sync” button appears when parts are waiting, and “Sync now” is in “Manage my account”. After a pass, a message sums it up: “2 sent”, “1 received”, or “Nothing to sync: everything is up to date.”. A sync started by itself stays silent when it sent and received nothing.
This screenshot shows the waiting state: the title says “1 part of your progress is waiting to be sent.”, the line under the title gives the last sync, and the two actions are “Sync” and “Sign out”. Once everything is sent, the title becomes “Synced”, followed by your email address when a session is open. During a pass, the card shows “Syncing…”.
The “My learning” button in the header also carries the account state, from any page. A grey cloud, outlined, means “Account: not signed in, sync available”; a cloud in the accent colour means “Account linked: progress synced”. The cloud is read from the local link (the mark saying this browser is linked), without any network: it says this browser is linked, not that the last sync succeeded.
These two screenshots compare: only the cloud colour changes. If the sign-in session has expired and the discreet round trip fails, the card shows “Sign in again to sync” with the message “Your session has expired. Your changes stay in this browser in the meantime.” and the “Sign in again” button. If the account cannot be reached (offline, outage), the message “The account cannot be reached. Your progress stays in this browser.” says so, and the changes stay waiting: the list of what is waiting is computed in the browser, without network.
How do you sign out, export or delete the account?
Signing out gives the browser back the progress it had before signing in. The “Sign out” link removes the account's data from the browser, puts back the progress set aside, revokes the session and returns to the home page. Since whatever was not synced would be lost, the site first shows “Some changes are not in the account yet” if any remain, with “Sync first”, the file backup button, “Sign out anyway” and “Cancel”.
The card folds the rare actions into “Manage my account”, visible when a session is open. It holds “Sync now”, “Download the account data” (a JSON file of everything the account contains), the “Restore point” when there is one, and the “Delete my account” area. To delete, you type the word DELETE then “Delete permanently”: the account and all its content are erased for good, and the browser gets back the progress it had before signing in. If your password was entered more than 10 minutes ago, it is asked again one last time.
Where is your data with an account?
Your data is in two places: this browser, always, and the account if you have one. The account is hosted at AWS, in the eu-west-3 region (Paris): the identity (email address, password) at Amazon Cognito, and the copies of your progress in a database of the same host. The account has a size limit: past it, the message “The account has reached its size limit.” says so, and the browser keeps its working copy.
Limits to know
Without an account, there is no synchronisation between devices: each has its own progress, until you restore a backup on it. Clearing the site's data in your browser, or browsing in private mode, loses any progress not backed up. Back up before changing machine.
With an account, these limits recede without disappearing. A progress that is already synced survives an emptied browser: sign in again and you find it. But whatever was not yet sent stays in this browser, and a change made on one device reaches the other only at the next sync. Keeping a file backup remains a good precaution.
If your read lessons have disappeared
The site never resets your progress on its own: only the “Erase…” button removes it, and it requires you to type a confirmation word; a restore only replaces what the chosen file contains. When lessons ticked yesterday show up unticked, the browser has emptied the site's storage, most often for one of these reasons:
- a setting that deletes cookies and site data on close, in the privacy settings of Firefox or Chrome, or a cleaning extension;
- a private browsing window, whose storage disappears when it closes;
- another profile or another browser than the day before, for instance after a reinstall;
- an almost full disk: the browser may then evict the data of sites it considers non-essential.
A browser update does not normally erase this data: if your progress disappears right after one, first check the settings above and the profile in use. The remedy is the same in every case: restore your latest backup, then make one regularly, for instance at the end of each module. If you keep the clean-up on close, add this site to its exceptions. Each course plan reminds you of this risk: next to the percentage read, the “back up” link leads straight to the backup.
With an account, signing out or deleting the account also replaces this browser's progress with the one it had before signing in. That change is intended: it follows a gesture of yours.
If this browser was linked to an account, the clean-up also removed the link, the local mark saying this browser is linked: the “Account” block shows “No account yet” again. Sign in again: the account is full and the browser empty, which matches the case “Your account holds progress”, and “Use the account” brings everything back.
Erasing your progress
In the “Start over” area, the erase button removes goals, lessons read, quizzes and lab results. The operation is irreversible without a backup, and the site offers to make one just before.
Erasing stays local: it never touches the account. If this browser was linked, the link is removed with the rest, and the account's progress is intact. To delete the account itself, use “Delete my account” in “Manage my account”.
Key takeaways
- No account required: by default, everything lives in your browser.
- A JSON backup carries your progress from one device to another.
- An old backup can still be restored, even after renamings.
- Lessons unticked although you erased nothing: the browser emptied the site's storage; restore your latest backup.
- Erasing is irreversible without a backup.
- The account is optional: it copies your progress so you can find it on another device, without replacing the file backup.
- At first sign-in, the site shows what the browser and the account contain before copying anything.
- Lessons, quizzes and lab proofs combine on their own; goals and preferences are settled by a choice.
- Signing out gives the browser its earlier progress back; deleting the account erases it for good.