Xara save files confusion

[bwood]

Using Pro+ and Windows 10.
I’ve always been a bit confused in regard to where Xara saves files.
I had a page which became corrupted and had to roll back to a previous page.

I have a folder on the desktop. It’s called Web. My original folder for a particular site.
And I have found my backup folder.

When a page became corrupted I immediately went to my backup files. But the backup file was very dated, even though I’ve set my backups to 10 min.

I then went to the Web folder on the desktop, and found something that was much closer to what I needed. Opened that, and did a ‘save as’ with a date and solved the problem.

I’ve no doubt this is a user problem rather than an Xara problem, but I just need to understand the file storage of Xara.
Thanks all.
-Bill

[Acorn]

Bill, first off, never save anything important on your Desktop.
Keep it for Shortcuts and small beer.

If you have two drives, aim to have one for System and programs (C:\), the other for Data (e.g., D:\).
So Xara Backups should never be the default Xara option as it uses the System appdata location.
Instead use D:\Xara Backups\(version) to separate different XDA and avoid one version breaking another's working design. It happens!

Similarly, you can now create D\ Xara Designs\.
Sub-folders can be versioned too and you can use Web, TG, Doodles, Customer XYZ under each.

I actually make mine under my Dropbox folder so i get automatic backups on save and they are immediate available across my LAN to any other machine i use.
If I am roaming, I still get Internet access and downloads this way.

I also save off to a USB monthly and separate ones for any customer weekly.
I have access to Cloud+ should i have minor changes to designs.

I try and name my files with long but logical name so it is obvious. Never, ever create a design file as index.xar or index.web!
I use Everything as my File Manager.

I have a simple Masters folder where I keep things like a log.txt file with first line .LOG.
I have an off-page Link > Link to file to this so when working I click on it and then the pop-up link and I get a text file with an automatic datatime stamp.
When you save the design file, it creates this log file in an adjacent folder.
Searching for a client, a process, anything you record is so much simpler.
For this I use Notepad++ > Find in Files.
As it is off-page, it is never published.
I use Markdown and the file quickly becomes my site documentation, costs, logons, timesheet, detailed design issues, server configurations, ...

Acorn

[bwood]

Thanks @acorn. Well explained. I do have an external back up drive.

[Chris M]

I create a folder in Documents called Xara. I then create sub folders, Backup, Masters, Widgets, whatever.
Next, I tell Xara where to save the backup Utilities > Options > Backups (tab) > Browse (button). I browse to Documents/Xara/Backups
When saving a new project, I File > Save As and choose .web (.xar) and save in Documents/Masters


There are numerous backup solutions, choose whichever you find most comfortable with. If you have no preference, use the Windows Backup. Type backup into the Windows search box, or just click Start and type it. You are greeted with a Wizard that suggests a drive, or asks you to add one. Follow the prompts and you're done.

[Egg Bramhill]

I'm really disorganised, totaly useless. My saviour is Everthing.

[handrawn]

I use mythicsoft filelocator [aka agent ransack] for search, and acronis true image for continual background backup of data and system

acronis have rebranded true image to acronis cyber protect home ; the use of the word home seems to be the in thing, eset are now using it for their account

more to the point acronis is now SAS only, fair enough as it is now a more than just backup it is a security suite but it does not have a firewall so it won't be replacing eset for me; I'll stick with my 2021 version as long as i can

[bwood]

Bill, first off, never save anything important on your Desktop.

So Xara Backups should never be the default Xara option as it uses the System appdata location.
Instead use D:\Xara Backups\(version) to separate different XDA and avoid one version breaking another's working design. It happens!

Similarly, you can now create D\ Xara Designs\.
Sub-folders can be versioned too and you can use Web, TG, Doodles, Customer XYZ under each.

I actually make mine under my Dropbox folder so i get automatic backups on save and they are immediate available across my LAN to any other machine i use.
If I am roaming, I still get Internet access and downloads this way.

I also save off to a USB monthly and separate ones for any customer

Acorn

A lot to unpack and learn here Acorn. I’m going to use ‘save as’ a lot more than I used too, and back up those files to an external drive. I’m learning.
What do you mean by Xara uses the system adddata location ? Checking the manual for Pro+ Xara indicates the backup as such. Intermediate users as myself would use this as the only back up. But now using the save as, then date to keep things straight. I won’t be backing up, the Xara back up folder.
Glad I’m doing this now, as I must move to a new computer soon. Thanks
-Bill

[Acorn]

A lot to unpack and learn here Acorn. I’m going to use ‘save as’ a lot more than I used too, and back up those files to an external drive. I’m learning.
What do you mean by Xara uses the system adddata location ? Checking the manual for Pro+ Xara indicates the backup as such. Intermediate users as myself would use this as the only back up. But now using the save as, then date to keep things straight. I won’t be backing up, the Xara back up folder.
Glad I’m doing this now, as I must move to a new computer soon. Thanks
-Bill

Bill, I said "appdata".

Open a Windowos Explorer window and for the path type'%localappdata%' without the quotes.
Xara's lurking in there with a very deep folder like'%localappdata%\Xara\XtremeProSub\18\Cache\des igns\eng'; mine takes up 3.2GB of storage and I have 13 other XDA using similar.
No wonder I want to shift to a Data drive as all 15.4GB is on my fast C:\ SSD simply because Xara thought it clever to do so. These locations are simply storing the downloaded templates and components needs to keep the XDA useful.

Acorn

[Daniel]

Bill, first off, never save anything important on your Desktop.
Keep it for Shortcuts and small beer.

There's no reason not to save things to the Desktop. There's nothing special or more vulnerable about files on the Desktop than there is about files saved in any other folder.

[handrawn]

the point, I think, is never save anything important on the system drive; acorn only specifically mentioned desktop because that's where bill said his work was

acorn went on to demarcate a system drive and a data drive

if you save data on your physical system drive and your system gets screwed you may find it difficult to retrieve the data, at best it is going to be an unnecessary complication when restoring

sounds like good practice to me