Finding unsaved work

[Zaahir]

Hi Guys,

I have been working on a certain document for a few months but did not save it. I had it open in Xara and would update the info every now and again. Whenever I closed Xara and reopened it, the document would always open up.
Recently I noticed Xara stopped opening documents that I had open. Going into backups I cannot find that document. My backups are set to automatically do a back up every 15 mins and to backup open documents on program close and restore on program start. I have backups going back a few years but just cannot find this specific one.

I've searched through all the untitled documents in backups

Is there any other way to retrieve this document?

[handrawn]

I don't actually use the xara backup; main reason is that historically I had XAR files with the same name in different projects and the xara backup cannot differentiate, so I use a different [ third party] method of backup

I see you had issues back in may :

https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...Designer-Pro-X

I would agree with acorn, it is pushing your luck to have more than a couple of files open at a time and rely on the backup to save without also doing a manual save

why did your program stop doing what it should be doing, as set in your options>backup tab ? it seems to me there is something wrong with your system

if there is no backup and no manual save, there is no file; unless you moved the backup location on disk recently in which case it might be in the old location

it might be as well to check your disk for errors and your windows OS too

[Acorn]

Zaahir, search for files like I:\XPro+\Backups\OpenDocList_00003650_XtremeProSub .txt.
Clearly you will have a different Backup folder and product so a wildcard *OpenDocList*.txt will show all such files listing open files generated by your Product as it was closed. Clearly if you have a Product crash, this save will not have happened so you go to the next one in order.

The contents of these files show the full paths to what was open and when.
An example:

1
0
6 motion-path.xar#0
"AuoNumbering.xar" "I:\Dropbox\Xara\AuoNumbering.xar" "I:\XPro+\Backups\AuoNumbering_12Feb23_1527.xa r"
"CSS- Nested Number Lists.xar" "I:\TG\CSS- Nested Number Lists.xar" "I:\XPro+\Backups\CSS- Nested Number Lists_16Feb23_1834.xar"
"JS - Page Numbering.xar" "I:\TG\JS - Page Numbering.xar" "I:\XPro+\Backups\JS - Page Numbering_12Feb23_1527.xar"
"JS - PrintDotJS Utility.xar" "I:\TG\JS - PrintDotJS Utility.xar" "I:\XPro+\Backups\JS - PrintDotJS Utility_19Feb23_1832.xar"
"Untitled1" "" "I:\XPro+\Backups\Untitled1_19Feb23_2020.xar"
"Untitled3" "" "I:\XPro+\Backups\Untitled3_21Feb23_2223.xar"
"motion-path.xar" "C:\Users\xpa\Downloads\motion-path.xar" "I:\XPro+\Backups\motion-path_22Feb23_0006.xar"

You may be searching for an Untitled1 through to Untitled20.

You ought to start with the latest OpenDocList file and work back...

... please, at least, save all your work daily in future. Hard disk space costs pennies, your time and ingenuity are priceless.

Acorn

[Zaahir]

I don't actually use the xara backup; main reason is that historically I had XAR files with the same name in different projects and the xara backup cannot differentiate, so I use a different [ third party] method of backup

I see you had issues back in may :

https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...Designer-Pro-X

I would agree with acorn, it is pushing your luck to have more than a couple of files open at a time and rely on the backup to save without also doing a manual save

why did your program stop doing what it should be doing, as set in your options>backup tab ? it seems to me there is something wrong with your system

if there is no backup and no manual save, there is no file; unless you moved the backup location on disk recently in which case it might be in the old location

it might be as well to check your disk for errors and your windows OS too

Thanks for your response. I guess I will have to get out of that bad habit of not saving manually.

[bwood]

@zahiir. I’ve been caught a number of times on this one. Another option would be to use the “save as” option. When save as is used Xara automatically in the dialogue box shows the title of your document. Just add a quick date after the name. I do have back up on as well.

Many of us have different ways of saving. I save to a slim external, a thumb drive, and the desktop itself.

[Zaahir]

@zahiir. I’ve been caught a number of times on this one. Another option would be to use the “save as” option. When save as is used Xara automatically in the dialogue box shows the title of your document. Just add a quick date after the name. I do have back up on as well.

Many of us have different ways of saving. I save to a slim external, a thumb drive, and the desktop itself.

@bwood - Thanks for the tip, much appreciated