One of the precautions to take is create backup versions of your file. They need different file names so you aren't simply overwriting. Here are some links to some "old school' macro based methods of doing that
True Autosave Macros for Office - File History
This file you are working on is HIGH VALUE (to you). You MUST take extra steps to protect the time and creativity you have invested in this file. You MUST make frequent backups.
A good general rule for backups is:
Remember 3-2-1 to have good backups --
o
at least 3 copies of any file,
o
at least 2 different storage mediums (say on your hard drive plus at least one of the following: thumb drive, DVD or the cloud),
o
at least 1 copy offsite -- in case of fire etc! (ie the “cloud” meets this requirement, so does using a thumb drive moved to a different building, or a server in a different building)
Steve Gibson
PS: yes “correct” the plural of medium is media, but I don’t speak latin! <grin>
You can do your backups manually or make use of automated tools. A strategy I have used is timed backups during the editing session (5 minute). Then the final end of day save is copied to second medium. I rotate the “second” medium with an
Offsite copy. Once a week I go in and clean up the 5 minute incremental backups to keep just the end of day copy (to free up space!)
I have used the “autohistory” tool at codeplex. It is easy to use, but like any automated process it uses up a lot of space.
Unfortunately, although Office apps have been around since the the mid 1980’s, MS has not figured out that we need a good “Autosave” backup feature. In the past there was a “versions” feature in some office apps, but it only kept incremental copies
of files, not full files. Win7 has a file “versions” feature, but it is tied into “System Recovery Points”. Not very useful.
The following links tell how to setup macros that run automatically and use SAVEAS to save full copies of the file with the date/time included in the file name. You have to manually delete the “extra” backup files, but you control the process rather
than Windows or Office. It is a bit more work, but I find it worth it for very important files that are changing frequently.
Autohistory for Word 2007 / 2010, Excel 2010 (Version Control)
https://autohistory.codeplex.com/
Creates a Date&Timestamped copy of file every time you perform a normal Save. You can access any of the older versions. It creates a folder for each document affected. You have to the option of creating a single “universal” backup location.
The History is located in a NEW GROUP on the View Tab.
Timed Automatic backup Word documents
**http://www.gmayor.com/automatically\_backup.htm**
Graham has created an addin that does something MS should have done 20+ years ago.
<snip>
Contrary to popular opinion, Word has no integral means of automatically saving the current document, nor of backing-up the current document. What it does have is an option to save
AutoRecover information after a specific and configurable interval and an option to save a backup copy of the
previously saved version of the document with the default file extension of
WBK (and although there is no reason to do so, Word also allows the option to change this extension to the user’s choice). This is not a true backup in as much as it is not a copy of the
current version of the document.
A function to create a true automatic backup is provided by the
**Save In Two Places add-in which is detailed in a separate page**,
There is also available from this web site a complementary add-in which provides numbered versions of a document.
**Again that has its own web page.**
</snip>
Save Dated & numbered Backup versions of a document - Word
**http://www.gmayor.com/save\_numbered\_versions.htm**
Save Numbered Versions Add-In for Word 2007 & 2010
**http://www.gmayor.com/SaveVersionsAdd-In.htm**
Save Numbered Backup Versions of Document
**http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/SaveIncrementedFilename.htm**
Saving Everything Macros
**http://word.tips.net/T001469\_Saving\_Everything.html**
Summary: Need to force users to save their work? It may be as simple as implementing an AutoNew() to force every new file to have a filename, and an AutoClose() to save the current document BEFORE closing. It could, however, also
have something to do with training users.
Controlling Names of Backup Files
**http://wordribbon.tips.net/T011760\_Controlling\_Names\_of\_Backup\_Files.html**
Save the current document in two locations add-in for Word 2007 & 2010
**http://www.gmayor.com/SaveInTwoPlacesAddIn.htm**
Performs a normal save in one location, then does a DOS copy to the second location (ie USB)
Making Backups as You Work
**http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=731710&seqNum=5**
Win8 Tip: Enable File History
**http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-tip-enable-file-history-143579**
zApps-apps Collection for 2007/2010/2013 - 7 day free trial Word, Excel, PowerPoint
**http://www.greatcirclelearning.com/software/zapps-apps/zapps-apps-collection**
The zAPPs-apps Collection adds functionality to Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint and Excel to automate common work tasks and automatically save local copies of your files. Your ability to reuse content is optimized,
your ability to work with images is enhanced, and copies of your files are saved locally every time you save so that you can instantly go back to a usable copy if you have a crash or overwrite content you need. The zAPPs-apps Collection streamlines and accelerates
your work process.
The Collection contains 16 tools that run in Excel, PowerPoint and Word to help you:
Helping You Recover Your Work in Office 2010**– Autorecover**
**http://blogs.technet.com/b/office2010/archive/2009/09/22/helping-you-recover-your-work-in-office-2010.aspx**
Have you ever closed Word after making a bunch of changes, and then accidently clicked ‘No’ when asked if you want to save your changes?
Then you suddenly realized what you have done, only to find that there was no way to recover your work?
You are not alone. In fact, so many people were in similar situations that we improved Office 2010 so you can get that document back!
We call this feature Versions and I would like to spend a little time introducing it to you.
Recovering More of Your Work with a Shorter AutoRecover Interval
**http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=731710**
Automatically Saving Your Work Frequently – Word and Excel
**http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=731710&seqNum=2******
Making Backups as You Work in Word 2007
**http://www.msofficetuneup.com/2008/06/01/making-backups-as-you-work-in-word-2007/**
Note: this site has been taken off line
Even if you’re using the macros earlier in the chapter to save your work frequently, you can still lose data if your hard drive crashes. So we’ve all learned from hard experience not only to save our work regularly, but also to make periodic backup
copies. The macro I use most often in Word is one that does both in a single procedure! That is, the macro not only saves your work, but it also makes a backup copy on another drive, such as a removable disk, a second hard drive, or a network folder. Listing
1 shows the code.
Listing 1 A Procedure That Creates a Backup Copy of the Active Document on Another Drive
Sub MakeBackup()
Dim currFi1e As String
Dim backupFiIe As String
const BACKUP_FOLDER = 'G:\Backups'
With ActiveDocument
‘ Don 't bother if the document is unchanged or new
If .Saved Or .Path = ** Then Exit Sub
‘ Mark current position in document
.Bookmarks.Add Name = “LastPosition"
‘ Turn off screen updating
Application. ScreenUpdating = False
‘ Save the file
.Save
‘ Store the current file path, construct the path for the
‘ backup file, and then save it to the backup drive
currFi1e = .FullName
backupFi1e = BACKUP FOLDER + .Name
.SaveAs FileName:=backupfile
End With
‘ Close the backup copy (which is now active)
ActiveDocument.Close
‘ Reopen the current file
Documents.Open FileName:=currFi1e
‘ Return to the pre-backup position
Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToBookmark, Name:=”LastPosition"
End sub
The backupFile and currFile variables are strings that store the full pathnames for the active document and the backup version of the document. Use the BACKUP_FOLDER constant to specify the folder in which you want the backup stored.
The procedures first check to see if the backup operation is necessary. In other words, if the document has no unsaved changes (the Saved property returns True) or if it’s a new, unsaved document (the Path property returns “”), bail out of the procedure
(by running Exit Sub).
Otherwise, a new Bookmark object is created to save the current position in the document, screen updating is turned off, and the file is saved.
We’re now ready to perform the backup. First, the currFile variable is used to store the full pathname of the document, and the pathname of the backup file is built with the following statement:
backupFile = BACKUP_FOLDER + .Name
This is used to save the file to the specified folder. The actual backup takes place via the SaveAs method, which saves the document to the path given by backupFile. From there, the procedure closes the backup file, reopens the original file, and
uses the GoTo method to return to the original position within the document.
TIP
Using a Bookmarkobject to reset the insertion point is useful because it takes you back to the exact point in the document where you were before the backup started. However, you may be interested only in returning to the last position
within the document where an edit occurred. If that’s the case, use the following statement in place of the
Selection.GoTo statement:
Application.GoBack
Note, however, that there’s a bug in the GoBackmethod, whereby Word doesn’t save the last edit position (technically, it’s a hidden bookmark named \PrevSel1) in some cases. Specifically, when you exit Word, if you elect to save changes in the last document
that gets closed, Word doesn’t save the last edit position in that document.
**** **http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=731710&seqNum=5**
Saving in Document Format from a Macro
**http://word.tips.net/T000427\_Saving\_in\_Document\_Format\_from\_a\_Macro.html**
Use the Cloud
**http://www.labnol.org/software/google-docs-with-microsoft-office/18815/**
Although using the cloud does not inherently include timed backup, it does provide a useful backup function. Saving copies to the cloud eliminates the danger of losing your physical local copies, ie losing a HD or USB Thumb drive.
A Real AutoSave
**http://word.tips.net/T000157\_A\_Real\_AutoSave.html******
As well, Windows 8 / 8.1 has a couple of features you can take advantage of. Specifically "File History"
File History – Protect Personal Files
Protecting user files with File History http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/07/10/protecting-user-files-with-file-history.aspx(Official MS description of File History)
Understanding Windows 8′s File History - https://windowssecrets.com/top-story/understanding-windows-8s-file-history/****
Enable Windows 8 File History to protect your data (revisited)http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/enable-windows-8-file-history-to-protect-your-data-revisited/7171
Introducing Windows 8: How To Backup Data With File Historyhttp://www.7tutorials.com/introducing-windows-8-how-backup-data-file-history
A New Way to Backup: File History in Windows 8http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/extremewindows/archive/2012/12/20/a-new-way-to-backup-file-history-in-windows-8.aspx
**How to Use the File History Feature in Windows 8 to Restore Files******http://www.howtogeek.com/108900/how-to-use-the-file-history-feature-in-windows-8-to-restore-files/
**How to Use the New File History Feature in Windows 8******http://www.howtogeek.com/74623/how-to-use-the-new-file-history-feature-in-windows-8/
How to use File History - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/how-use-file-history**** (short intro video)
What to Do When Your File History Backup Drive is Out of Space?
http://www.7tutorials.com/what-do-when-your-file-history-backup-drive-out-space
What if something goes wrong in File History? http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/what-something-goes-wrong-file-history
And Skydrive / Onedrive
How to Recover Previous Versions of Your Documents from OneDrive
http://www.7tutorials.com/how-recover-previous-versions-your-documents-onedrive
While working with documents it is inevitable that, at some point, you need to use an older version of a certain document. Luckily, if you synchronize your work with
OneDrive, this service will store each version of your documents and make them available for download and restoration, when needed. Here's how to download or restore an older version of any document,
using OneDrive.
Recover More than one version of a File in Carbonite
http://askthecomputerlady.com/questions/2014/03/how-to-restore-previous-file-version-with-carbonite/
When you need to recover an earlier version of a file that has been backed up with Carbonite, you can do so with the following directions.
- Locate the file you want to restore on your computer.
- Right-click on the file.
- In the context menu, point to, “Carbonite” then click on, “Restore previous versions…”
- A window with available previous versions will appear. Click on the version you want to restore, and click, “OK” to restore the file.
Elizabeth
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