Lost drawing (reverted to last saved)

Stephen Deering

 I think I lost some work due to "revert to last saved drawing" I think I am guilty of two Cardinal sins.

Firstly did not save my drawing

Secondly I opened a drawing which must have been the base of the drawing which I was working on. I must have, by habit clicked revert to last saved version. Though I do not remember doing that.

I checked in my temp file and it was not there. Does anyone have any idea how to retrieve that drawing (worth an ask but think I know the answer)

Thanks (just in case)

Cheers

Stephen Deering

Hmmmmm, I found a bak file and changed the file extension. However they were different file names completely. That means  that   when  opening a new file the program is DISPLACING an already open drawing with itself!? I believe this has happened on a number of occasions before. Can anybody shed any light on this?

John Gaunt

Not sure I follow altogether, but in the past I have found if Windows Explorer is set to hide file extensions it can cause confusion.

For instance, a file which looks like XXX.bak in a file manager can actually be XXX.bak.dwg. Maybe that trap doesn't exist any more, but it was one.

Stephen Deering

Thanks John, what I am now trying to get my head around is: I had drawing 'X' and Y open. went and found drawing 'Z' and opened it, but drawing 'Z' displaced drawing 'Y' (the tab for drawing "y any more) this is not the first time this has happened. So  now I had only "x' And 'Z' 

  They were all different drawings. So I did not hit the ' opened last saved version'  which was the only explanation I could think of.

I am trying to find out what happened as I do not want it to happen again

Cheers

Jason Bourhill

Hi Stephen,

.bak should be a copy of the drawing immediately prior to your last save. You can always right click on a file in Windows explorer and pick on properties. This will display the file name and extension in the dialogue that comes up.

When you looked in you temp folder did you look for .SV$ files? This is the default file extension for autosave files. A quick way to get to the temp folder is to type %TEMP% in the windows explorer address box. Time between autosaves is governed by the SAVETIME system variable. The default period is 60mins, personally I set it much shorter 10 - 15mins. Autosaves are only done if you have not saved yourself in the time period set. You can change SAVETIME at the command line or search for it in SETTINGS. You can also change where autosave files get saved by changing the SAVEFILEPATH. I tend to set this to a known location, such as C:\BCAD\AUTOSAVE. Changing the SAVEFILEPATH can also be useful to users in company environments where they don't have appropriate permissions to view the contents of the default temp folder location.

Depending on what version of Windows you are using and whether it's enabled, you may be able to revert to an earlier version of the file using windows shadow copy. In windows explorer try right clicking on the file or folder and picking properties. In the dialogue that comes up look to see if you have a tab called "Previous Versions". If it's there pick on it, and if it is on you should see the dialogue populate with links to earlier versions of your file or folder.


Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

Roy Klein Gebbinck

@ Stephen: You are talking about "tab for drawing Y". Are you perhaps using an add-on?

John Gaunt

I wondered on a similar line, if the file had only disappeared from the Recent File list, not from its place on the disk.

That's only verifiable in a Windows explorer outside any program.

Also, it is possible for the popup Open or Save file dialogue to have its settings changed, showing files in different order etc. I have had that happen accidentally.

Stephen Deering

Hi thanks for your input and assistance guys.

I am aware of my temp file and how to change the file extension but what gets me is the fact that opening a new drawing DISPLACES an already open one %!*&!!!. It just happened again I have no idea why. They are totally different drawings! I just opened up a drawing to cut and paste from, cut from the newly opened drawing..........lo and behold the drawing I was to paste to had gone. Had to get it back from my temp file...again.

I am not authorizing any such thing. can anyone explain? It is getting tedious. Has been happening since I downloaded the program kind of randomly, but blamed myself, until now where i have replicated the behavior without any authorization 

Cheers

Roy Klein Gebbinck

Do you check the Window menu in the Bricscad menu bar after a dwg has apparently been "displaced"?

Greg Skelhorn

Hi Stephen. Perhaps you can provide a step-by-step list of what to do to produce such a displacement it would enable better suggestions for you. I can tell you I frequently work with multiple drawings open at the same time. Often the same drawing name from different directories. I also switch between them and make use of the clipboard copy / paste operations.

A single instance of the Bricscad application may have several drawings open. You can switch using Ctrl+Tab or as Roy mentioned via the Windows menu. Perhaps you are expecting to see more than one Bricscad application on the Windows Taskbar and use Alt+Tab to swich between them?

If there is a true error in the way Bricscad is handling you drawings I suggest creating a support request. I have found Bricsys very very good at resolving issues. You will still want to write-up the step-by-step procedure to recreate the displacement in the support request.