Protect Forms By Backing Them Up

In HotDocs Automator, you can choose safety precautions to protect your work from system failure.

To protect your work from system failure

  1. At the HotDocs library, click the Options button. The HotDocs Options dialog box appears.
  2. Click the Form Documents folder. The right pane changes to show several options for working with forms.
  3. From the Recovery (HotDocs Automator only) group, make selections based on the following information:
    • Select Create backup copies of original templates to have HotDocs create a backup file when you open a form for editing in HotDocs Automator. If ever you need to revert to the file as it was when you created it, you can open the backup file and save it using the original file name.
    • Select Maintain auto-recovery files while editing templates to have Automator create a log file that lists all changes made directly in the form. If there is a system failure while you are working, the next time you open the file, it will use the log file to reapply all changes made to the form, so you won't lose any work. (The log file, however, doesn't back up the component file.)

Backup files are created in the same folder as the original file. If the folder is write-protected, the backup file is created in the temporary folder defined by your TMP or TEMP system variable. The backup file has the same name as the original file but with the extension ~FT, or ~PT. (If, for some reason, the backup file can't be created with that name, it will have a number instead of the F or P in the extension—for example, ~2T.) Each time you open the original file, its current content will be saved to the backup file, overwriting the previous content.

Â