Once you have Generated and Previewed your Bio and like what you see, you can save all of the data used to create your bio (called Bio Builder Data) and send it to yourself in an email directly from the Bio Builder. Note that if your Bio Builder Data gets too big it could get split between multiple emails.
Warning: the Bio Builder Data Saved in your email is NOT the same thing as the HTML code you paste into your bio. Learn the difference between Bio Builder Data and HTML code.
To save your data simply enter your name and email address and specify which format you prefer to read your email (html or plain text) and then click "Save and Send My Data".
Learn how to retrieve your data in the Bio Builder from the saved data in your email.
If you don't want to use our automatic email save option, you may choose to save your data manually in a text file on your computer. Click here for a lesson on saving and restoring your data without email.
Back to FAQ List
The following are the instructions for reloading data from your saved data email into the Bio Builder. Click here for instructions on getting the HTML Code from the Bio Builder into your actual bio.
Open your saved data email the subject line of the email should start with "Bio Builder Data for ..."
If you saved the data in html format it should look something like this:
or if you saved it in plain text it will look more like this:
Notice the section titled "Your Bio Builder Data" and the code with all of the # signs. The code containing the pound signs is what you will need to copy and paste back into the bio builder to reload your data. Note: if you used the text version of email the different items are separated with rows of dashes. The dashes are not part of your Bio Builder Data. Do not include these dashes when you are copying and pasting the code from your email.
Warning: the Bio Builder Data Saved in your email is NOT the same thing as the HTML code you paste into your bio. Learn the difference between Bio Builder Data and HTML code.
Start by selecting the Bio Builder Data from your email where you see 'saved_color_form#nv#' and make sure you select all of the code in the section with the # signs. Copy this code and go down to the very bottom of the Bio Builder where you see "Your Saved Bio Builder Data". This is where you need to paste your saved data. (Click here for a detailed lesson on Copying and Pasting text)
After you have pasted your saved Bio Builder Data from your email into the Bio Builder as shown above, you are ready to click the button shown titled "Load My Previous Bio Builder Data". Now that you have reloaded your data, you should see all of your information in the form above, and you are ready to pick up where you left off. If we encounter problems reloading your data we will pop up a warning dialog. (Click here to learn more about problems with reloading saved data)
Click here for instructions on getting the HTML Code from the Bio Builder into your actual bio.
Note that if your Bio Builder Data gets too big it could get split between multiple emails.
Back to FAQ List
There are two very common reasons why you may not receive your saved data email:
- You had a typo in the email address, and the message was undeliverable (or was sent to someone else).
- Your email account's junk/spam filters intercepted and blocked the email. Why would the emails get blocked? There are two main causes, a) your filter settings do not accept emails from , or b) your filter saw something suspicious or dangerous in the email (most common). The saved data emails can contain chunks of HTML or JavaScript code encoded for use in the bio builder. Many mail filters do not accept emails containing code like this because they consider it a security threat. However, since you intentionally sent the code to yourself, then you should know whether or not it's safe better than the default junk mail filters. If your mail filter settings automatically delete junk mail, then you need to change this setting. If your filters will trap junk mails and deliver them to a junk mail folder, then at least you have the power to sort through your own junk emails and make decisions about what you want to keep for yourself. Note: most junk mail folders will automatically delete emails after a preset amount of time, so if you save your data, and don't see the email in your inbox, check the junk mail folder right away so you can move the email to a safe folder before it gets deleted.
Either way, don't stress. When you save your data via email it also saves a copy that we can resend to you. If you loose your data, or never receive it, you can request a data restoration. Warning, if you didn't receive your email because of spam blockers, any attempts to resend the data might not work either so here are some tips to help you tell your email provider it's not spam.
Tips for AOL Users:
- When you log into AOL's email system the top right should have a button called "Settings" enter the settings and choose "Spam Controls" from the menu on the left. First make sure that your spam filter is set to Medium or Low.
- Next click the button to "Control From Whom I get Email". We recommend that you set it to "Allow mail from all senders" but you can play around with those settings, whichever one you choose make sure that will end up on the "safe sender" list.
- Then click the button to "Control the Content of my Email" and uncheck any of those boxes.
- Finally to make sure that even if AOL thinks the email is spam you still can retrieve it from the spam folder and decide for yourself whether it's safe. Make sure that the "Blocked mail should be:" "Delivered to the Spam Folder".
- Be sure to save all of your changes to the spam filters and file a data restoration request when you're done.
- Important Note: Once you read (open) the bio data email in your AOL account, it will move the message to your "Old Mail" folder. Messages in this folder are automatically deleted after 7 days, so unless you update your bio multiple times a week, this is a big potential for data loss. Therefore if you open your saved data email, please remember to "Move" the message to your "Saved" folder.
Tips for Gmail Users:
Make sure you've added to your Contacts list. Gmail always delivers messages from your contacts. Now file a data restoration request and let us know you've added us to your safe list, so we can safely resend your data from the bio builder.
Tips for Hotmail Users:
- From inside of your hotmail mailbox at the top right you should see two links "Options" and "Help".
- Click "Options", make sure you are in the "Mail Options", and then click "Junk E-Mail Protection"
- Click on the link titled "Junk E-Mail Filter" and make sure your filter is set to "Low" or "Enhanced". Exclusive will not work because it will only allow you to receive emails from addresses in your list of contacts.
- Click OK to accept your changes and return to the "Junk E-Mail" Protection page.
- Click "Block Senders" to make sure that there aren't any addresses that end in in your blocked sender list (if you find any in the blocked list, remove them).
- Click OK to accept your changes and return to the "Junk E-Mail" Protection page.
- Now select the option titled "Safe List".
- Add to your safe list, and then emails sent from any stlwed.com address should show up in your inbox.
- Now file a data restoration request and let us know you've added us to your safe list, so we can safely resend your data from the bio builder.
Tips for Yahoo Users:
- From inside of your yahoo mailbox at the top right you should see three links "Mail For Mobile", "Upgrades" and "Options".
- Click "Options", make sure you are in the "Mail Options", and then click "Block Addresses"
- If you see or any other stlwed.com email address in the blocked address list, select it from the list, and click "Remove Block" to start receiving mail from stlwed again.
- Return to the "Mail Options" page (from step 2), but this time click "Spam Protection"
- Near the top you should see the title "Spam Filter" and it will specify whether "SpamGuard" is Off or On. If your SpamGuard i on it will give you the option to specify what to do with "messages SpamGuard identifies as Spam". Make sure you select the option to "Save these messages in the Bulk Folder" and I would suggest setting the time limit as large as you can (1 month). That way if yahoo's spam guard filter mistakes your bio data for spam, at least it will get delivered to your spam folder (instead of getting blocked and deleted). Then when you save your data via email, check your yahoo inbox for the data, if it's not there be sure you check your spam/bulk folder and if you find it there, move it to your inbox (or else it will get deleted after the time limit expires).
- Now file a data restoration request and let us know you've added us to your safe list, so we can safely resend your data from the bio builder.
- If we resend your data and that still doesn't get through let us know, you may need to disable your spam filter altogether (but most likely it is in your "bulk mail" folder if you followed steps 4 & 5 above).
- To turn of your spam filter repeat steps 1 and 2 to get to the "Mail Options" page. This time select "Spam Protection"
- Near the top of the Spam Protection page you should see a section titled "Spam Filter". There will also be a link titled "Turn SpamGuard OFF" click the link, and then be sure to click the "Save Changes" button on the bottom left hand side of the page.
Back to FAQ List
My Previous Bio Builder Data Failed to Reload. Now What?
If your previous data failed to load properly when you clicked the "Load My Previous Data" button, you may see the following message:
And the section titled "Your Bio Builder Data" may have turned yellow (as shown below).
The warning dialog and color change are there to tell you that something caused an error while reloading your data.
The most common cause for this error is that you may have accidentally pasted your 'Bio HTML Code' with all the <tags> instead of your 'Bio Builder Data' with all of the # signs in the "Your Bio Builder Data" field. Click here to find out the difference between the two types of code.
If you are sure that you pasted the correct data with all of the # signs there are other reasons you may see warnings when reloading your data. In some cases you bio may appear to have loaded correctly, but in other cases the errors could be severe enough to prevent your data from reloading.
It was recently discovered that users with gmail accounts were having their saved data corrupted in the emails. The characters "<WBR>" and spaces were being randomly placed in the middle of the Bio Builder Data at random. This was only happening when the saved data was sent via "HTML" format instead of "Plain Text" format. To prevent this bug from reappearing, anytime you send your saved data to a gmail email account it will be sent in "Plain Text" format. If gmail is corrupting data in emails, there is a good chance that some other email systems are corrupting it too.
If you happen to have a problem where your bio data will does not reload, please scroll down below to submit a Help Request and/or Bug Report. The sooner you notify us of the corrupt data, the sooner we can fix your data and prevent the corruption from happening again to you and other users.
Back to FAQ List
If you suspect that something is not working properly, or need personalized help, please submit a "Bug Report" (AKA Help Request). The tool to submit a Bug Report is found at the very bottom of the page (below the "Saved Bio Builder Data" section).
When you submit the Bug Report, any of your data in the "Bio Builder Data" section above will be sent to STLWed so that we can try to duplicate your problem. If your "Bio Builder Data" has been corrupted, you may need to file a data restoration request. Please double check the email address that you enter, because we will use that email address to contact you when we have a solution to your problem. Note that we do not guarantee any fixes will be provided for the free bio tools, and some tech support requests (such as data restoration) may require a small fee. There is also a section available for questions and comments so you can give us more details about the exact nature of your problem. The more details you give us the faster we will be able to diagnose the problem.
Notice the button titled "List Saved Data Errors". This button will display an message telling you which sections of your data produced the errors. For example:
Since the Error List included saved_color_form, you should recheck the color scheme of your bio to see if your colors were reloaded properly. Here is a list of possible sections that could get corrupted, and their corresponding title in the form, so you know where to check for errors in the reloaded data.
| Name of Form | Corresponding Section |
| saved_color_form | Color Scheme |
| saved_border_form | Border Color Scheme |
| saved_background_form | Background |
| saved_justify_form | Text Justification (left or center) |
| saved_font_size | Font Size |
| saved_font_form | Font |
| saved_main_title_form | Main Title |
| saved_date_form | Wedding Date (and countdown) |
| saved_main_info_form | Main Picture and Main Paragraph(s) |
| saved_main_photos_title_form | Main Photos Title |
| saved_image_form | More Pictures |
| saved_image_form_2 | Even More Pictures |
| saved_vendor_form | Vendor Information |
| saved_main_wedding_title_form | Main Wedding Title |
| saved_wedding_day_info_form | Main Wedding Picture and Main Wedding Day Paragraph(s) |
| saved_wedding_image_form | Wedding Pictures |
| saved_main_post_wedding_title_form | Main Post Wedding Title |
| saved_post_wedding_info_form | Main Post Wedding Picture and Main Post Wedding Day Paragraph(s) |
| saved_post_wedding_image_form | Post Wedding Pictures |
| saved_main_extra_html_title_form | Extra HTML Title |
| saved_extra_html_snippets_form | Additional HTML Snippets |
Back to FAQ List
If you've already reloaded saved data from an email before, reloading from multiple emails shouldn't be any more difficult. If this is the first time you're attempting to re-load your saved data, please review the instructions for reloading data from a single email first.
If the saved data from your bio builder gets too long it will get split between multiple email messages. When this happens the subjects for the emails will look like 'Bio Builder Data for Jane Doe (Part 1 of 2)' Reloading your old data is exactly the same as before the only difference is you have to copy and paste more than once. Start by copying the saved data from one email into the bio builder data section at the very bottom of the bio builder form. Then click the button to 'Load Your Previous Bio Builder Data'. Some of your data will now appear in the form above. Before going to the next email notice the button called 'Reset Saved Data Below' it should be located right next to the 'Load Your Previous Bio Builder Data' button. Click the Reset Button and 'Your Bio Builder Data' will empty so you are ready to paste the data from the next email. It does not matter what order you paste the data in from the emails. Once you have copied and loaded the data from each email, your bio builder data should be back in the form and ready for further updates/edits.
Back to FAQ List
Both the 'Bio HTML Code' and the 'Bio Builder Data' get re-generated every time you click the 'Generate Bio Code' Button. However, your 'Bio Code' (AKA 'Bio HTML Code') is the code that you copy and paste into your bio. It contains HTML code with lots of things that look like: <tags> (see below) Learn how to get your 'Bio HTML Code' into your actual bio.
Your 'Bio Builder Data' is the mangled version of all the information you've entered into the Bio Builder that allows you to re-load your data the next time you visit the Bio Builder to Edit/Update your bio. The mangled text should start with 'saved_color_form#nv#' and will contain lots of # signs (see below). Learn how to save your 'Bio Builder Data'
Back to FAQ List
If you pasted your code into you bio, but your bio looks strange and has lots of # signs in it you probably pasted your 'Bio Builder Data' with all the # signs into your bio code instead of your 'Bio HTML Code' Click here to find out the difference between the two types of code.
Back to FAQ List
Here are the old instructions on backing up and re-loading your data (prior to the email option).
There is a section at the very bottom of the Bio Builder (shown below) that contains all of the Data you entered above in a mangled format with lots of # signs. The mangled text should start with 'saved_color_form#nv#' and will get re-generated every time you click the 'Generate Code' Button to before previewing your bio. We strongly recommend that you save this bio builder data onto your computer. This will prevent you from having to re-enter everything the next time you use this Bio Builder.
Detailed instructions (Click here for a detailed lesson on Copying and Pasting text):
- After you've already generated and previewed your bio, click in the big white box shown below with the title "Your Bio Builder Data" and hold down the 'Ctrl' key and press 'A' to select all of the text, or right-click in the box and choose 'Select All' from the popup menu.
- Then press the 'Ctrl' key again and press 'C' to copy, or right click again in the box and select 'Copy' from the popup menu.
- Now open Notepad (or some other text editor on your computer - do not use Microsoft Word, it will reformat the saved text with additional white space). Click in the blank text document in Notepad and press 'Ctrl' and 'V' to paste the text, or right click in the blank text document and select 'Paste' from the popup menu.
- Now save the document in Notepad by going to 'File' and selecting 'Save As'.
- The next time you use the bio builder first open the saved document in Notepad.
- Click in the text area with all of the #'s and, press 'Ctrl'+'A', and then 'Ctrl'+'C'. (this will select all of the text and copy it) or right click in the text and choose 'Select All' from the popup menu, and then right click again and select 'Copy'.
- Now you can paste the mangled text back into the same field you originally copied it from (show below) by clicking in the box and pressing 'Ctrl' + 'V' or right clicking in the box and selecting 'Paste' from the popup menu.
- Now click the 'Load My Previous Bio Builder Data' Button and your ready to edit all of your data in the fields above.
Back to FAQ List