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Automatically make back ups of your document
to help you recover your work
Using WordPerfect's built-in
backup features and other
backup methods |
WordPerfect has two options under Tools,
Settings, Files to save backups of your current work:
Note two things about these backup options:
- They have different purposes and work in
different ways. See below.
- Even with these backup settings enabled (i.e.,
with checkboxes ticked) . . . you still have
to save files when you close them.
For the best insurance against data loss in
WordPerfect (as well as other program data), see the end of this
page under "The best method."
For solutions (or information that might help
find solutions) to some related problems, please read through
the material below.
Option 1: "Timed
document backup every X minutes"
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Purpose
The first (checkbox) feature is designed to
allow you to recover your work after a power failure, program
lock-up, or system crash -- that is, after an abnormal
method of exiting WordPerfect -- such as shutting off the computer
while an unsaved document is still open. It is not a replacement for saving your files periodically. In
fact, it merely creates a temporary backup of each currently open and changed file on your drive. These temporary backups
are normally and automatically deleted when either the edited
documents or the WordPerfect program is closed in a normal fashion.
Most users will want to have this feature
enabled. It is generally considered to be a Good Thing.
[Incidentally, the 'conventional wisdom' is
to set the timed backup time to not less than 5 minutes nor more
than 10 minutes. As Joell Haugan, a Corel C_Tech, states: "Having
them come too fast leaves open the possibiltiy of one backup
not finishing before the next one starts. Hopefully, under normal
situations, this wouldn't happen ... but couple a large file
with a busy computer and there could be a fatal corruption."]
How it works
With this feature enabled, under normal conditions
-- that is, when no crash has occurred -- the time backup feature
works like this:
When you make a change to an open file, WordPerfect
periodically creates a temporary file with a name like
WP{WP}.BK1 in the backup folder named in Tools, Settings,
Files. As long as the file remains open for editing (even
if you do no further editing), this temporary file will be periodically
updated according to the number of minutes specified in the Tools,
Settings, Files dialog. In essence, it takes a "snapshot"
of the edited document every "x" minutes and stores
it in a temporary disk file.
The usual case
If the on screen file is then saved, or if
WordPerfect is closed and exited normally, the temporary timed
backup file(s) will be automatically and immediately deleted.
Its job is done, so there is no purpose in keeping the temporary
file.
The not-so-usual case
If the WordPerfect program had an abnormal
termination (e.g., a crash or power failure), the temporary
timed backup files created during the previous session will continue
to exist on the drive until you next load WordPerfect; they can
then be used to restore the previously opened and changed files.
WordPerfect will automatically detect these
temporary files and pop up messages when you load the program
to ask you how you want to deal with them. Normally you would
open them to examine them and make a disposition (save? delete?),
but you can also delete or rename them directly from the message
dialogs.
Note the following about abnormal
terminations and these temporary timed document backup files:
1. If you do not delete the temporary timed
document backup, or rename it or save it under a different name,
you might get a message in the next few minutes when WordPerfect
attempts to back up the timed back up file itself. If you try
to delete the file, you might get another message saying you
"...do not have
the rights..." to do this. Close
the open timed back up file and things should return to normal.
2. After an abnormal termination, if you see
the message about a backup file existing and you open it (as
explained above) to save or delete it, and you still get
a message the next time you open WordPerfect (something like,
"..To save the
backup file please open or rename it..."), it is possible the backup folder was corrupted,
too. Here's a tip from Wolfgang Deiminger on the Corel WP12 newsgroup:
"Find the location of the backup folder
(in WP, do Tools, Settings, Files, Document Tab). Then,
with WP closed, use Windows Explorer to delete the folder and
create it again. This should sort things out."
3. If you receive a message that the temporary
timed backup file exists (e.g., "Document 0 backup file exists..."), and even after you renamed or deleted it you still
get a message that this temporary files exists, here's a tip
from Charles Rossiter (Corel C_Tech) that might help:
"Use Windows Explorer to browse to your
specified [timed] backup folder [shown in Tools, Settings,
Files, Document tab, Backup folder] and delete [the] file
wp{wp}.bk!
What probably happened is that you opened
a backup file, and then saved it without changing [the] filename.
This can create the file wp{wp}.bk! ... and give a [Windows version
of a] message about wp{wp}.bk0."
Q: "What if I close the document without
saving it and I ignore, or answer 'No' to, the message that asks
if I want to save the changes I have made to the document?"
This is not considered
an abnormal termination of the program as explained
above, so the temporary timed backup file(s) will be automatically
and immediately deleted.
WordPerfect naturally assumes you want to
discard the changes -- and any temporary timed backup file --
if you ignore or answer 'No' to the message.
If you have accidentally lost work because
you failed to save your work when WordPerfect asks if you want
to do so, you might consider using a macro (or third party program)
to help you save your work more frequently as you edit your documents.
See the last section on this page.
Note: Some programs, notably databases or
those that are designed around a database (e.g., Quicken) will
automatically save an entry when you press the Enter key. But
word preocessors do not do this. If they did, and blindly
wrote over the previously saved version of the file while
you are editing and experimenting with various creative ideas
... well, most people would become very upset over such a loss
of the previous material, so WordPerfect will not automatically
save your work in a way that overwrites a previous version. [Exception:
See the Save original document as a backup
at each save section below. If this option is enabled,
WordPerfect creates one backup of each saved document
on disk, so it will overwrite the previous backup file (it will
have a .BK! filename extension) on each subsequent manual save.]
Q: "Can the timed
document backup be used to recover accidentally deleted
material from the active document?"
The short answer is maybe.
Let's take an example where a system crash
is not involved, and see what happens as you edit files
on screen and then delete some important material. You might
have done this by using File, Close (and then answered "No"),
or by exiting WordPerfect without saving your work. (TIP: If
you selected some material and hit the <Delete> key, the
best thing to do is use Edit, Undo as soon as possible.)
If you has previously enabled the timed document
backup option, any material in the actively edited file, or any
other loaded file where a change has been made, is temporarily
saved to disk (after the selected time delay) in a file
named something like WP{WP}.BK1, in the backup folder specified
in Tools, Settings, Files.
As mentioned, this protects against a power
failure or crash. It does not save you from yourself.
If you close a file without saving it, or delete so much material
that you exceed your personal settings in Edit, Undo/Redo History,
Options, you might not be able to recover all material. This
temporary timed document backup file would exist only until
you close the edited file or exit the program, whereupon it is
automatically deleted.
HOWEVER ... if you have deleted a lot of material
in the currently open file, you might be able to recover
it if you are lucky enough to be able to open the backup file
before the next timed backup overwrites it. (The edited file
must still be open, or else WordPerfect will immediately delete
the WP{WP}.BK* file.)
Notes
1. Recovery of any material from a deleted
WP{WP}.BK* file might be possible with a separate file
recovery program if recovery procedures are instituted before
anything else is written to disk. The best approach is to avoid
getting into a situation where you need to take such drastic
measures.
2. If you keep getting an error message, "The specific backup folder no
longer exists," try this (from
Answer ID 754208 at Http://support.corel.com):
"... This error message is usually caused
if WordPerfect can no longer write to the backup folder or the
folder has become damaged in some way.
The easiest solution to this problem is to
reboot your computer and try WordPerfect® again. If problems
persist, rename the location of the backup directory. To do this,
follow the instructions listed below:
(1) Go up to the Tools menu and select
Settings.
(2) Click on the Files button and select the Document
tab.
(3) Type 'C:\Backup' ( without the quotes ) in the Backup
Folder box.
(4) Click on Ok. Click Yes to create the directory if your prompted.
NOTE: To prevent this problem from occouring
in the future, ensure that your virus scanner is NOT checking
the WordPerfect backup file directory."
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Option 2: "Save
original document as a backup at each save"
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Purpose
The second (checkbox) feature
works as you might expect. If you enable it, it automatically
creates a backup copy (with a .BK!
filename extension) of
your active document each time you save the active document to
disk. The next time you save the file, the previous backup
is deleted and a new one is created.
Thus, if you have saved the
active document at least once you will always have at least one
backup copy of that document.
WordPerfect's Help says that this feature
"guards against accidentally replacing a file that you did
not intend to replace," and this might be valuable to you.
If so, check the box to enable this feature.
Notes
1. The backup file is placed in the same
folder as the original, with a .BK! filename extension.
That is, the current document (e.g., MyFile.wpd) will have a
similarly named backup but with a different filename extension
(e.g., MyFile.bk!).
Making the backup in the same folder as the
original prevents the possibility of a file being backed up to
a "backup folder" and accidentally overwriting a backup
from a different file (located in another folder) that might
have the same root filename. (If you want a backup to go somewhere
else, see the SaveCopy
macro.)
Be aware that with this option enabled you
will decrease available disk space because all
your WordPerfect files created after the option is enabled will
have a backup file from that point onward. But with today's large
hard drives this should not be much of an issue.
2. If
you cannot find the backup file(s) or
distingush the backup file(s) in the same folder from the original
file(s), you might be a "victim" of Windows default
settings, which hides certain filename extensions. See the Footnote below.
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The best method: Save your
work to disk frequently, and make multiple backups with different
file names as insurance against data loss
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In general, a WordPerfect document must be
saved to disk before any recovery is possible, or (if you have
enabled the timed document backup feature; see above) the system
must have crashed (thus leaving the temporary backups on disk),
since until it is saved the material exists only in the computer's
memory or in a temporary file on disk. Unless, of course, you
get lucky and can quickly recover the material from the .BK*
file with a text editor or viewer or even by opening the .BK*
file in WordPerfect. (Note that WordPerfect must remain open
to do this. If you close it, WordPerfect will delete the timed
backup file.)
The second option (under Tools, Settings,
Files), "Save original document as a backup at each
save" (discussed above), is one way to make reliable
automatic backups of your WordPerfect files. However, as noted,
this makes only one backup of the current document.
There are other methods to prevent -- or at
least minimize -- the possibilty of losing data due to "operator
error," and which can make multiple backups
of the current document, each with a slightly different filename
or with an automatically incrementing filename extension. For
example:
- See the MULTISAV
macros and the tips on the MultiSav
download page. The "save as you type" methods there
do not depend on the user remembering to save a file periodically:
they save after the user presses a key at the end of a paragraph
or sentence. The NewFN# macro in that suite can automate the creation of
sequentially numbered backups (MyBook001.wpd, MyBook002.wpd,
etc.).
- Also see SAVECOPY,
a macro that makes a copy on another drive or partition when
you save the file. The copy serves as a backup, and if it's on
another physical drive, it will be much more immune to disk problems.
- There are third-party programs that
make automatic backups of any saved file that meets your specifications.
These programs allow you to include/exclude files from the backup,
and can back up to a variety of locations/drives/media. For
example:
- PC Magazine's InstaBack
2 (for Windows 2000, XP & Vista; download: US$7.97).
"Instantly and Automatically Back Up Your Data" whenever
you save a file in specified programs. InstaBack can also create
multiple versions of backed up files by saving each new backup
with a number added to the original filename extension. It saves
backups to the drive/folder you specify. You can also do scheduled
backups.
- Centered Systems' SecondCopy
(US$29.95) backs up (or optionally synchronizes) saved files
-- one copy of each, optionally compressed into a password-protected,
standard ZIP file; it can also automatically move/store multiple
older copies ("versions") in a separate archive; backups
can be made on a user-defined time schedule or when files change.
- VCom's AutoSave
(US$49.99) makes an automatic, user-defined number of sequential
back ups ("versions") of each saved file (or can synchronize
them with another computer).
I have not found a technique or separate program
that saves the current on screen material to disk without
some kind of user intervention; all such methods depend on
the user making a deliberate File Save, whereupon they immediately
make one or more sequential backups of the original. |
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Barry MacDonnell's