Safeguarding Your Data:
AVAproject Takes Auto-Backups to a New Level


It happens to the best of us. A sudden loss of data can be a devastating blow to productivity, say nothing of one’s peace of mind.


We know the scene all too well; hours spent toiling away at the computer, inputting data – line after endless line, putting the finishing touches on the latest doc someone desperately needs by the end of day... and then it happens - the screen goes black.

For whatever reason; whether a memory leak, I/O conflict, sudden power outage, or some other meaningless techno-babble that means absolutely nothing and offers little comfort in a time like this! Losing data can be frustrating, infuriating… and costly. Fortunately, modern productivity software has data recovery systems in place for just such an emergency. In the event of a crash, a file is not completely lost and is loaded from temporary storage getting it back quickly – hopefully with a minimal loss of data. Word and Excel, both popular programs from Microsoft, employ such methods of data recovery. In the event of an unexpected shutdown, the software attempts to recover the most recent document the next time it is launched. In the case of Word and Excel, they load the recovered files from their recovery locations and immediately delete the backups, thus putting the onus on the user to save any recovered files.

In AVAproject, a slightly different approach was taken when it came to rescuing users from the unplanned disruption of work and the recovery of files. In fact, AVAproject has three separate features designed to prevent accidental data loss. (Note: These options are already active by default when the software is first installed, however the settings can be modified in the ‘AVAproject Preferences’ dialog under the ‘Saving & Backups’ tab)

AVAproject preferences is accessed from the Menu bar under Tools


  1. Pre-Save files to local “Temp” directory

    The typical office computer network is a very complicated thing; a mind-boggling myriad of routers, switches and other unnamable boxes woven together with endless miles of cable. What chance does one lone file have to successfully navigate this digital labyrinth and find a happy resting place on some far away hard drive? Actually, its chances are pretty good… but still, things happen. When this setting is enabled, AVAproject “pre-saves” a copy of the current project file to a local hard drive before it is saved onto the network. If anything should happen during the process of writing the file out to the network drive, a clean copy can always be found locally.

  2. Auto-Save files

    As the name implies, this feature causes AVAproject to periodically save a copy of the current project while it’s being worked on. These files are saved to a “temp” (for “temporary”) directory on the PC and can be recovered should the need arise.



  3. Multiple-Revision Backups

    The latest addition to AVAproject’s Auto-Save feature is perhaps the most useful of all. Put simply, instead of saving a single “backup” copy of the project file being worked on, AVAproject maintains several. The backup filenames are supplemented with a number (".1", ".2", ".3", and so on); each time a project file is opened, the numbers are incremented and the most current version becomes “.1”. In the event anything should happen to the project file, one can go back through several versions of it until they find the one they want.

    The new “Backup” feature provides yet another powerful benefit – the ability to “roll back” to previous revisions of the file. If, for example, one were to make changes to a project (perhaps deleting a group of openings) and realize that it was something they shouldn’t have done – they can simply go back to an older “backup” and recover the information they changes or deleted.

    That actual number of revisions that AVAproject save is established by the user, and is limited only by the amount of hard drive space one wishes to set aside for backups.

    Note: “Multi-Revision Backups” is a new feature introduced in AVAproject 15.4. Please refer to the enclosed ‘Release Notes’ for additional details.

It is always important to have backups in place to reduce the chances of file loss. Additionally, using AVAproject’s backup features is one more way to ensure the protection of your valuable data, providing comfort and peace of mind that even in the event of catastrophe, all is not lost.


We welcome any questions, comments or suggestions about any topic mentioned in this edition of AVAwire. Please visit our website for more information, or contact us directly at (416) 239-9099.