Use your local workspace.
Save a small shortlist. Keep the source text. Back up the data before you change where you work.
Start with a few skills and jobs
- Open the workspace. Select Your skills.
- Enter skills separated by commas or new lines. Select Save skills.
- Open Shortlist. Select Add a job.
- Enter the title, employer, and permitted source text. Save the job.
- Select two or three jobs. Open their comparison.
You can save jobs without skills. Text matches show the same words. They do not score fit or prove eligibility.
The limit is 20 skills and 1,000 skill characters. The shortlist can hold 50 jobs, with 30,000 characters per job.
Read the evidence before you act
WatScout reads labeled source lines for location, work term, duration, deadline, and pay.
A missing label stays unknown. Conflicting source values stay visible. Open a fact's source lines or read the full saved text.
Open the original posting to check for later changes. The saved text does not update itself.
Checked guidance links to official university sources. Pilot examples use fictional student facts and jobs.
WatScout does not submit applications. Confirm requirements and deadlines with the original source.
Back up and restore your skills and jobs
The website and the Chrome extension have separate storage. The extension panel and full workspace share the extension storage.
Use these steps to move saved data between browsers or between the website and extension:
- In the current workspace, open Your skills, then Back up or restore saved data.
- Select Download backup. Check your Downloads folder for the JSON file.
- Open the receiving workspace. Open Back up or restore saved data.
- Select the backup file. Check its name, date, job count, and skill count.
- Read the merge preview. Restore clears unsaved skill edits on that page.
- Select Restore backup. Check the saved skills and shortlist.
The file is plain text. It contains your saved skills and job text. Keep it in a private folder.
The file excludes private model tokens, session files, and temporary capture drafts.
Restore adds missing skills and jobs. Existing duplicate jobs keep their current source text.
Different jobs with the same ID receive new local IDs. The preview shows how many IDs will change.
Cancel makes no change. Invalid files and failed storage writes leave your saved data unchanged.
After another page changes saved data, select the file again for a new preview.
Recover from a problem
The panel cannot read the current job
Open the job's Overview tab. Select the WatScout toolbar icon on that tab. In the panel, select Read open job again.
The toolbar action gives access to that tab. Switching tabs does not give access to the new page.
Saved data cannot load
Keep the page open. Select Read saved data again. Do not clear browser data as a first repair step.
If data still cannot load, keep your existing backup. A new backup cannot recover unreadable saved data.
A save or restore fails
Your earlier saved data stays in storage when a write fails. Keep the page open and try again.
If browser storage is full, download a backup before you remove saved jobs or other browser data.
The website and extension show different jobs
They use separate storage. Download a backup from the workspace with your jobs, then restore it in the other workspace.
Different browsers, browser profiles, and private browsing windows can also have separate storage.
You need to remove or update the extension
Download a backup first. Removing the extension deletes its saved data.
After you install the current package, restore the backup and check the saved source text.