XAR File Error

I was wondering if anyone could help.

Part way through designing my site using web designer 6. Each time I go to save the document (File > Save) or (File > Save As) I receive an error message; failed to copy XAR files and the document doesn't save.

If I give the document another name, then it saves. So far Im up to copy 5... but it won't simply save the document I already have open under its existing name, i.e. update it to its newest version.

Can anyone tell me what XAR files are and why there might be a problem and how to overcome it?

Thanks...

Hi Meg,

A .xar file is the native file format for Xara Web Designer (although named .web it is still a .xar format).

When you use File > Save or File Save As what folder are you attempting to save to and are you typing in a filename extension?

Hi Soquili,

Im just saving to a folder of my own work - this error message has only started appearing recently, say the past 2 weeks or so.

Im not typing in a file extension. Even just using File > Save I still get the error message "failed to copy XAR files". It won't save over the existing file, but it will save using a new file name as if it is a new document.

Im making 2 copies of it - to be sure I have a backup, so I save one copy to a folder on the hard drive and another to a memory stick. Both files have the same name. When I've finished up working for the day I save to one and then the other - but the error message appears on either - or both, but only started recently.

Sorry if it seems a bit simple, im just starting out

This sounds as if the permissions for your folder may have been changed by something. If you can save using a different name but not the original name the original file may have read only attributes. This is not something Xara's software would have changed but Windows itself.

Use Windows Explorer to view the files in your folder. Right click on one of your Web Designer project files and select Properties on the popup menu (located at the bottom of the dialog). In the Properties dialog you can see if the original file has 'Read-only' set. See attached image.

Hi, thanks for that suggestion - I'd not thought of checking that. It's not read only though - all the versions of the document have 'archive' ticked in the check box.

Im now trying to save again and have encountered the same problem, though this time it's saved the file ok to the hard drive but wont save to the memory stick. I've just caught sight of the file extensions though - and i must have put the 1,2,3 etc (to call it a new name) in the wrong place when Ive saved before; so to start with the file was website.web and I've put the 2 after the file extension by accident instead of the file name, so I just noticed it's now called website.web2.web and website.web3.web... but I guess that won't affect it though because it still has .web on the very end and it's saved to one place like that if not the other.

Other things save fine to the memory stick, just not this :(

...Well I found a way around - I just copied the file from the hard drive onto the memory stick - replacing the file that was already on there... but I still don't get why it's happening. The full error message is "Failed to copy XAR support files". But I dont know what it support files may be!

Meg if you are creating index.htm for your web page the support folder is named index_htm_files. All the files located in that folder are the 'support' files.

The support folder is located along your design file and it's name is based on it. For example, if your design file name is "mysite.web", the support folder is "mysite_web_files".