Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I followed all the info in the tutorial and found the backup directory.

All it has is the "manually" saved file I did at the end of the day last night.

It does not have any of the autosave backups there. I autosave every five minutes.

Where are the autosave backups?

How can I recover all the work I did so far today?

AutoRecovery only saves the data required in case of crash. Note that even deactivated, AOO will try to save those data also in case of crash.
Note that the feature is called AutoRecovery, not AutoSave.
Your file is actually saved when you save manually only.

This is a very common mistake.
There is an extension for a real autosave, see: All my work gone even with autosave on?

Please add [Solved] at the beginning of the title in your first post (top of the topic) with the *EDIT button if your issue has been fixed.

So autosave is basically useless.

Now i have to spend several HOURS (maybe a day) to redo what i did this morning. It will be very hard to duplicate what I had entered as it is a lot more work to do it again and i may miss things.

Oh well.

But when you closed the file, you were asked to save the file, weren't you?
Was the loss due to a crash or just dismissing the changes?

I accidentally dismissed the changes when closing thinking that what was open was a new empty file. It had actually scrolled down to the bottom where there is no data entered and it "looks" empty.

I will be more careful in the future and do manual saves about once an hour since autosave does not work. I was hoping that every five minutes would save a lot of time if something went wrong (as it did now).

Actually, the program should be updated so that all "autosaves" are actually saved to the disk and kept there. I am sure that most users are not aware that "autosave" does not actually save it. Not sure where the autosaves go but obviously not to the disk which is the only place it should go. Only when someone encounters a problem do they find out the autosaving was not actually happening.

This update should not be too hard to do. instead of saving it where it is saved now just write it to the backup folder.

Again, there is no such autosave feature. Read again, it's all about autoRECOVERY. So you can't say it doesn't work, it is not intended to do what you were EXPECTING.

Imagine you edit a document, AOO autosaves it every 5 min. After 1 hour, you realize that it's not good and want to cancel what you've done. Then you can't dismiss the changes because they were saved 12 times already. You may be able to undo until a certain point but not necessarily from the begining.

The current way it works, the user has full control of the file management.

There would be two types of backup. One would be the one where it is done manually as it is now.

The second would be the autosave backups which would be saved in a separate directory.

Of course, at any time (as it can be done now), if you don't like what you have done you can easily make any changes and then manually save it again.

As it stands now, it is too easy to lose a lot of work if something happens accidentally as it did for me. Since autosave would be in a separate directory at least many hours of work would be available and the user could revert to any of the autosaves. As an example, someone could revert to (say) what had been done as of 15 minutes ago and continue from there. It would increase options and no work that is wanted to be saved would ever be lost except for that done since the last autosave.

Since autosave info is now available after a crash now there seems to be no reason why these autosaves could not be written to disk. Autosaves could be available for autorecovery as it is now. Something to consider.

You might consider installing the Timestamped backup extension, which will allow you to make multiple, timestamped backups of your document. Note that this must be invoked separately from your normal Save.

There is no AutoSave feature. There are only AutoRecovery and Save a backup copy.

See [Tutorial] How to find and un-delete AOO temporary files for a description of AutoRecovery and where the files are stored.

From the tutorial: On Windows ...

the temporary folder is specified in Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Paths ..., and is located by default at C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Local\Temp\.


Nothing is being written or saved there. It is now 4/15, I have been using OO Calc since early this morning but the latest entry in this directory is 4/11, 4 days ago. OO Calc is still open and being edited without saving in about an hour or so. So autosave is not putting anything there. Is is being kept in memory only? If not, where is autosave being kept? It has to be somewhere or autosave is doing nothing.

In any event, since it is NOT "autosave" but "autorecovery" the name needs to be changed so that there is no misunderstanding about what it does. And then add a real autosave that can be recovered at any time without a PC crash.

waynec444 wrote:In any event, since it is NOT "autosave" but "autorecovery" the name needs to be changed so that there is no misunderstanding about what it does.

Where have you seen such an AutoSave feature???

waynec444 wrote:In any event, since it is NOT "autosave" but "autorecovery" the name needs to be changed

It is called AutoRecovery.

waynec444 wrote:From the tutorial: On Windows ...

the temporary folder is specified in Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Paths ..., and is located by default at C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Local\Temp\.

The file is not placed in \temp - it is placed in C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup

AutoRecovery (note: not AutoSave!) is designed to protect you if AOO or the PC crashes. If AutoRecovery is switched ON, the first AutoRecovery creates a new file C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup\fred.odt_0.odt which is the complete file (with all edits and added graphics) as it is at the time of the AutoRecovery save. This file is then updated on each AutoRecovery save and carries the time stamp of the last update. An AutoRecovery only takes place if an edit has been made and the AutoRecovery time has elapsed. AutoRecovery files get deleted by AOO when no longer needed.

NB I updated the tutorial today to remove the confusion between AutoSave, which I had incorrectly used; and AutoRecovery, the correct name.

Showing that a problem has been solved helps others searching so, if your problem is now solved, please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.

Hagar Delest wrote:Where have you seen such an AutoSave feature???

Hagar

When I wrote [Tutorial] How to find and un-delete AOO temporary files I incorrectly used AutoSave instead of AutoRecovery. I have today corrected all instances of AutoSave in the tutorial to AutoRecovery.

I see that it says AutoRecovery NOW. I thought it originally said AutoSave in a previous version. I do not remember it saying AutoRecovery when I first activated it. I am sure it said AutoSave as "recovery" is entirely different.

In any event, AutoSave that saves to disk should be added. Or at least the AutoRecovery files should be written to disk so that it is available at any time and for any reason (this can be done easily without changing the current way it is done). AutoRecovery should be an automatic function for everyone, not just an option for a few who happen to discover the option and activate it. Whatever has been added or changed up until a crash should be available to be restored upon restarting the program. Other programs have this so it can be done.

"The file is not placed in \temp - it is placed in C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup"

No it is not. ONLY the last manually saved copy is there.

Actually none of the info in this thread solved my problem. The only way I can mark this solved is a change in the way the entered info is saved to disk every few minutes and is easily accessible if needed. Hope you understand.

I ended up spending ten hours going through my browser history and attempting to find and re-enter whatever data I think I had entered before. It was very time-consuming and I probably missed some info i had entered before.

But, thanks for the info that has been provided. Hope some changes to the program are made soon.

As said twice in this thread, if you want the feature, install the Timestamped backup extension.

OK, some spanking needed for John_Ha
However, nowhere in AOO is such autosave feature talked about. The help file is to be checked as the genuine documentation.

Hagar Delest wrote:OK, some spanking needed for John_Ha

Promises! Promises! Nothing but promises!

waynec444 wrote:"The file is not placed in \temp - it is placed in C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup"

No it is not. ONLY the last manually saved copy is there.

Please read the tutorial more carefully as you are confusing the temporary file and the AutoRecovery file. You will find the tutorial says

[This is about the temporary file]

When you open My Documents\fred.odt, AOO takes a copy of fred.odt and places it in the C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Local\Temp folder as something like C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Local\Temp\sv6a8vhe.tmp\sv6a8vt4.tmp. This file is then never changed. It carries the same date and time of creation stamp as My Documents\fred.odt.

and

[This is about the Autorecovery file]

[While editing fred.odt] AutoRecovery creates a new file C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup\fred.odt_0.odt which is the complete file (with all edits and added graphics) as it is at the time of the AutoRecovery save. This file is then updated on each AutoRecovery save and carries the time stamp of the last update.

Further testing shows the AutoRecovery file alternates between being named fred.odt_0.odt and fred.odt_1.odt.

Now that I have the extension and it supposedly has been installed, now what? How do I set it up? Where?

An Icon should appear on your Standard toolbar - on my computer a blue floppy disk with an orange clockface on it. Clicking on this will cause a timed dated backup to be made.

There should also be a "Save and Time-stamp backup" entry on OO's file menu.

Neither place. Must not have installed.

Do not see where it was even dowlloaded.

But there was a screen that said "add and I clicked on "add."Nothing happened after that.

The extension you downloaded should be named timeStampBackup_v1-2-0.oxt. If correctly installed it should show in Tools | Extension Manager.

There are several ways to install an extension; using the Extension Manager you can use the Add button to open a dialog to allow you to select the extension, then simply click Open.

When I click "add" it brings up a generic directory of my hard drive. Now what?

You navigate to the place where the extension file is saved, click on it once to select it and press Open.

In anticipation of your next question; no, I don't know where it was saved, but many browsers these days use a directory named Downloads to save downloaded files. On Windows 7, this directory is under C:\Users\[your_user_name].

I already looked in both places where downloads can be located. It is in neither of them.

Note that the dialogue for the extension is shown when I click on extension manager. But when clicking add I get a directory. When I look for the extension in the places where it would be it is not there. Since it is showing in the initial box for extensions something was added somewhere to show this specific extension in the manager page. It is the only extension I have tried to install so it is the only one shown.

It must have downloaded somewhere else and have no idea where it would have gone.

If it shows in Extension Manager, it should be installed. You might try closing and reopening AOO just in case that is needed to show the icon and File menu entry.

As to where your download is - try searching for the file in File Explorer.

I already looked in both places where downloads can be located. It is in neither of them.

What is a problem with the download places (or with the installing or usage) or the extension?
(The TimeStamp Backup extension was created by my son and me.)

Unfortunately we can not upload the newer versions onto the extension page.
(There is some problem with the upload since the extension page was renewed. But the latest version of the extension is available from the website of my company.)

It appears to be working without doing anything except clicking add (it added it without finding the downloaded file in the directory that pops up). Unfortunately it apparently was added twice so there are two identical backups each time. How can I get rid of one of them?

Also, where do i set up the keyboard shortcut?

It would be nice if this extension did an automatic backup every few minutes as autorecovery does without having to do it manually.

It would be nice if this extension did an automatic backup every few minutes as autorecovery does without having to do it manually.

Unfortunately there is not any programmable Timer object/feature in the LO API/StarBasic.