deleting backup files

[Peter Gold]

One of the essential FrameMaker procedures that every unique
FrameMaker user should learn is to save all files *before* doing
anything that might need to be undone; even with the addition of Undo
in FrameMaker 7.2, Undo is limited.

Further guidelines:

* When making global changes to files in a book, open all the files
that will be affected (from the book window, Shift+File > Open All
Files in Book)

The reason to perform global operations on open files is that open
files are changed, but not saved. You can back out of changes to an
individual file by using File > Revert to Saved (or File > Close > Do
not save changes); you can back out of changes made to all open files
(in a book or not) by deselecting any open book file(s), and using
Shift+File > Close All Open Files > Do not save changes (for each open
file). You can back out of changes made to all open files in a book;
from the book window, use Shift+File > Close All Files In Book > Do
not save changes (for each open file). This doesn't affect the book
file; to back out of changes made to the book file, from the book
window, use File > Revert to Saved, or File > Close > Do not save
changes. Then reopen the book file.

Files in a book that are closed when you perform global operations,
like update, find/replace, etc, are opened, then the changes are made,
and the files are closed. The status line in the book window displays
the progress of these actions, but there's an alert (error message)
only if there's a problem opening or processing the closed files.

* If some of the files have unsaved changes that you want to protect
from errors that the global procedure might cause, save these files
before performing the global procedure(s.)


HTH
________________
Regards,

Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

On 7/24/07, Fred Ridder <docudoc at hotmail.com> wrote:
> You don't need the .backup to back out of an unwanted editing
> change because right there in the File menu is the "Revert to last
> saved" command, wich does exactly what it says and does not rely
> on the the .backup file created by the "automatic backup" mode.
>
> I can see where a global find and replace could be a case where
> it might be necessary to use the .backup files to back out of the
> change. But in my own workflow I tend to use variables for anything
> that is likely to need to be changed globally, and variable changes
> are easy to undo without reverting to an older version of the doc.
>
> But it's important to note that manually reverting to the .backup
> is actually taking you back to the version *before* your last save
> because the .backup file is *not*a*backup* of the version you
> saved. It's the file as it existed *prior*to* the last save. The only
> time that this is what you really want to do is when you have
> made *and*saved* some unwanted changes and need to revert
> to the second previous saved version. The .backup file is always
> one save behind the changes you have made, so you'll be throwing
> out both the current changes and the last saved set of changes
> if you revert to the .backup.
>
> Fred Ridder