The classic JKSV workflow reaches its full power with Pokémon: back up the save on the Switch, edit it on a PC with PKHeX, and restore it to the console. PKHeX is a free Pokémon save editor that runs on PC, and JKSV is the bridge that gets the save off the console and back again as real files. This guide walks the full loop safely. You need JKSV from our download page and a Switch 1 with Atmosphère. More per-game guides are on the game saves hub.
Step one: export an unpacked folder
Launch JKSV with Title Override, find your Pokémon title, and create a new backup for your user. Choose the unpacked folder format rather than ZIP for this job, because PC editors work on the save files directly and a folder is what they expect. The backup lands in /JKSV/ at the root of the SD card. Before anything else, copy that entire backup folder to your PC and set one copy aside untouched, renamed with the date. That untouched original is your insurance for every step that follows.
Editing always carries risk: a bad edit can corrupt a save, and modified saves used in online play carry additional risk. JKSV and this site cannot make an edited save safe for online use, and no honest guide will promise that. Work on a copy, keep the original, and decide your own comfort level about where an edited save gets used.
Step two: edit on PC with PKHeX
On the PC, open PKHeX and load the save file from the copied backup folder. PKHeX is a free editor built specifically for Pokémon saves, and it presents the save’s contents — boxes, party, items and more — in a form designed for inspection and editing. Make your changes deliberately, use PKHeX’s own checks where it offers them, and save the edited file back into the working copy of the folder, never into your untouched original.
Keep edits modest and legal-looking if the save will ever go near another player or any online feature, and understand that even careful edits are detectable in principle. The safe uses of this workflow are things like recovering a lost Pokémon, fixing a mistake, organising boxes, or experimenting entirely offline.
Step three: restore with JKSV
Copy the edited folder back to the SD card’s /JKSV/ location, keeping its structure exactly as JKSV created it, because JKSV restores by folder structure, not by hunting for files. Back on the console, open JKSV, select the title and your backup, and restore it. JKSV’s own safety options may make a fresh backup of the current save before restoring, which is one more layer of protection — leave such options enabled. Then launch the game and confirm the save loads and shows your changes before you consider the job done.
For moving saves between machines rather than editing them, see Zelda save transfers and JKSV to Ryujinx transfers, which use the same export machinery for a different purpose.
Rules that keep this safe
Four rules cover almost every disaster story in this workflow. Always keep an untouched original backup. Always edit a copy, never the only file. Always restore and launch the game to verify before deleting anything. And never treat an edited save as guaranteed safe online, because it is not. Follow those, and the JKSV plus PKHeX loop is a controlled, reversible process instead of a gamble with hundreds of hours of catches.
More game workflows, from Animal Crossing island backups to Minecraft world backups, are linked from the game saves hub. Back up first, edit second, verify third — every time.