Since Tails 5.8 (December 2022), your data corresponding to each feature of the Persistent Storage is stored to the USB stick immediately. You don't have to restart Tails anymore after enabling a new feature.
For example, when you enable the Tor Browser Bookmarks feature of the Persistent Storage, your current bookmarks are saved in the Persistent Storage immediately.
<p>We are often asked to implement new features of the Persistent Storage: Tor Browser preferences, Tor configuration, desktop background, mouse and touchpad settings, and so on. See the [[!tails_gitlab groups/tails/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=✓&state=opened&label_name%5B%5D=C%3APersistence desc="list of issues about the Persistent Storage in our GitLab"]].<p>
<p>Since Tails 4.13 (November 2020), <em>Thunderbird</em> uses its own OpenPGP keyring, different from the keyring used by <em>GnuPG</em> and <em>Kleopatra</em>. You don't need to enable the GnuPG feature anymore if you only use OpenPGP encryption in <em>Thunderbird</em>.</p>
When the Additional Software feature is turned on, a list of [[additional software|additional_software]] of your choice is automatically installed every time you start Tails.
The corresponding software packages are stored in the Persistent Storage. They are automatically upgraded for security after a network connection is established.
<p>The packages included in Tails are carefully tested for security. Installing additional packages might break the security built in Tails, so [[be careful with what you install|additional_software#warning]].</p>
All the files in subfolders of */live/persistence/TailsData_unlocked/dotfiles* are also linked in the corresponding subfolder of the *Home* folder using Linux symbolic links.
A shortcut is provided in the left pane of the *Files* browser and in the **Places** menu in the top navigation bar to access the */live/persistence/TailsData_unlocked/dotfiles* folder.
<p>The Dotfiles feature only links specific files, and not entire folders, from the Persistent Storage. Accordingly, empty folders are ignored, as shown in the above example.</p>