BUG: Auto Backups

6 views
Skip to first unread message

Norm

unread,
Jun 8, 2009, 4:17:35 PM6/8/09
to yWriter
I wonder if anyone has the same problem I have been having with
yWriter5. I have version 5.1.0.1. It concerns the View Auto Backups
under Tools. I haven't had to use this feature too often but lately it
has been a little annoying for the following reason: when I click on
this feature, I get the list of past back-up files by date, which is
correct. When I first began using the autobackup feature, the backed-
up scenes were listed with the RTF file numbers as follows:
RTF_000012_Scene_2.rtf, then after a week or two, the scenes were
listed as follows: Sc125 13.50.30 Scene 2.rtf or as: Sc147 13.08.46
Scene 1 Harry picks a fight.
Having the RTF file number to reference in Auto Backup makes it very
easy to call up a previous version of that scene (say - from a month
past) and difficult without it. Why would the way the scenes are
listed in Backups have changed and is there any way to get the Auto
Backup feature to list the files again by RTF #?

Otherwise, I think yWriter 5 is a great program. It lets you focus on
the creative tasks and allows you to see the both the trees and the
forest of your work more easily.

Thanks,
Norm

Dave Shaw

unread,
Jun 9, 2009, 9:54:05 AM6/9/09
to ywr...@googlegroups.com
Simon made this change back in late January. I don't know the rationale,
but I suspect it's easier for some people to be able to find their scenes by
description than file number. I don't see any settings that would change it
back, but I don't claim to know everything about the program.

Dave Shaw
---
The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that
English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words;
on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them
unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary. - James D. Nicoll

Simon Haynes

unread,
Jun 9, 2009, 10:02:04 AM6/9/09
to ywr...@googlegroups.com

Dave Shaw wrote:

>
> Simon made this change back in late January. I don't know the rationale,
> but I suspect it's easier for some people to be able to find their scenes by
> description than file number. I don't see any settings that would change it
> back, but I don't claim to know everything about the program.
>
> Dave Shaw

I can easily add the rtf filename. I just got frustrated looking for several backups where I had no idea which RTF file it had been stored in, and so I changed the filenames to reflect the scene contents rather than an arbitrary rtf filename.

Cheers
Simon
--
Software designer & programmer
+ Free apps for writers and readers http://www.spacejock.com
Author of the Hal Spacejock series
+ "Better than Red Dwarf" http://www.spacejock.com.au

Chris....@csiro.au

unread,
Jun 10, 2009, 8:10:03 PM6/10/09
to ywr...@googlegroups.com

Simon, is it okay to change the RTF filenames created by yWriter to more closely reflect the chapter numbers, or will that screw things up? If not, is there a way to do it from within yWriter so the program recognises the changes?

Essentially, when I imported the original novel from Word I had a lot of trouble due to word's formatting and a table of contents I had etc, and ended up with about 300 chapters, most of which were nothing more than a heading - I must have done something wrong because I also ended up with several copies, one after another.

I cleaned it up and removed all the excess stuff ages ago, but it left me with very non-sequential RTF filenames, and every time I insert a new chapter or scene, it gets even further out of whack. Ie, ..345 before ..23.

Not really an issue I guess, just my stupid sense of tidiness - a personal hangover from years of working with individual files/chapters which needed to be in order.

Basically, it'd be really nice to hit "renumber chapters" and have it change the filenames at the same time so there's no confusion as to what's what.

Cheers
Chris

Chris....@csiro.au

unread,
Jun 17, 2009, 11:00:57 PM6/17/09
to ywr...@googlegroups.com

Simon, would it be a big ask (not being a programmer) to include a feature to incorporate several novels into the one wWriter 'file' - ie, an entire trilogy (or more) under the one umbrella, yet still divide them up so you only need to 'look' at one at a time?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm considering splitting a novel into two books, and I'd love to be able to leave the chapters in the one file yet still divide them into the two novels. I suppose I could do that anyway, but I'd lose some features like being able to break them down into beginning, middle, and end, as chapters would all be lumped together.

I've also got two more books planned in the series, and having them under the one umbrella would be fantastic when it comes to messing around opening old files etc. The previous chapters would all be there for quick reference, as well as all the associated notes/character info and other useful items.

Cheers
Chris

Jennie Dorny

unread,
Jun 20, 2009, 1:51:41 PM6/20/09
to ywr...@googlegroups.com
Hi, I'm Jennie, and replying for the first time to a question.

I found out about yWriter very recently and have been following your
discussions, requests and advice (which most of the time I don't understand
because I'm rather clueless with computer language).

To make a long story short, I've published two books in a series, not in
chronological order, obtained that rights be reverted to me, and launched
into re-writing the whole series (half is in French and half in English).
What I'm doing right now with yWriter is using the chapter/scene element,
writing in the small box reserved to the description of the scene what
happens in each (generally more than one sentence). I started with the first
(published) book, went on with the second (unpublished), am in the middle of
the third (published) and will finish with the fourth (unpublished). The
chapters are not definite at all, but I'm at chapter 62 and have created
125. Once all scenes have been defined, I'll have a huge outline of the
whole series (or more exactly book in several volumes), and will move things
around.

I don't know yet whether I'll use yWriter to write the texts (or import them
since I have basically everything already written in word files scattered
everywhere).But, since I absolutely need to have an overview of the four
volumes to add scenes or chapters, or move them around, I am doing it this
way, instead of having one file per volume, which seemed overly complicated
for me because I'm not certain of what I can do, or not do (but will
learn!).

I'm sure I'll ask questions later on.

Cheers!
Jennie

eluria

unread,
Jul 3, 2009, 1:31:46 AM7/3/09
to yWriter
I second this! Perhaps name the chapter files (.rtf) to follow the
follow the chapter title (the one displayed at the left panel), ala
Liquid Binder (another writing software).

Also, I would like to suggest a choice of theme colours or maybe a
palette that use can customise that "skins" the interface (although
this would just be super-additional and relatively unimportant
feature).

-Hayati
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages