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The Emergency Kit

The Emergency Kit is the text file that holds your Account Key. Save it somewhere safe the moment you sign up.

2 min Updated 22 July 2026

1What's in it

The Emergency Kit is a plain text file named cognos-emergency-kit.txt. It holds your Account Key, the email on your account, and a short note on what to do with it.

2Save it at signup

  1. On the "Secure your encrypted backup" screen, save the key

    Select Download Emergency Kit to save the file, or Copy Account Key to paste it into your password manager.

  2. Tick the confirmation box

    It confirms you've saved the key and understand it can't be recovered if lost.

  3. Select Create encrypted backup

    Cognos sets up your encrypted backup and takes you into the app.

The Secure your encrypted backup screen showing the Account Key, Copy and Download buttons, and a confirmation checkbox.
Save the Emergency Kit before continuing — this screen appears only once.

3Where to keep it

Avoid shared drives, plain email to yourself, or unprotected cloud notes — anyone who reads the file can unlock your data.

4If you lose it

Keep reading

Your Account KeyThe Account Key is the single secret that unlocks your encrypted data. Cognos never stores it, so keep it safe.Signing inLog in with your email and password. On a new device, you'll also enter your Account Key to unlock your data.Your privacyA plain-language summary of what Cognos can and can't see — and the controls that keep it that way.