~/Documents/Nisus Documents/Backups

Have a problem? A question? This is the place for answers from other Express users.
Post Reply
offbyone
Posts: 5
Joined: 2007-01-21 13:19:52
Location: France

~/Documents/Nisus Documents/Backups

Post by offbyone »

I am particular about what goes into my ~/Documents directory, and what does not go there; that is a user's own untouchable territory, in my opinion, and I do not like that Nisus Writer Express continually adds Nisus Documents/Backups to my Documents directory.

I have not found any settings option where I can control where these Nisus Documents/Backups are stored, other than this unacceptable location, chosen by the application. I have deleted Nisus Documents/Backups several times in Finder, but Nisus Writer Express continually recreates these directories in ~/Documents.

This is a make-or-break issue for me. I am using Writer Express during a 30-day trial period. I am happy with what I have found about the app. so far... all except this 'feature'. If Writer Express persists in writing to my ~/Documents directory, without giving me some way to choose another location for backups, I will not buy the product. If anyone else knows that there is a solution to this, I would appreciate very much knowing about it.
User avatar
xiamenese
Posts: 543
Joined: 2006-12-08 00:46:44
Location: London or Exeter, UK

Re: ~/Documents/Nisus Documents/Backups

Post by xiamenese »

offbyone wrote:I am particular about what goes into my ~/Documents directory, and what does not go there; that is a user's own untouchable territory, in my opinion, and I do not like that Nisus Writer Express continually adds Nisus Documents/Backups to my Documents directory.
I am always bemused by people's objections to the Nisus Documents/Backups folder. I admit that it would perhaps be nice to allocate one's own folder address, but since that folder--at least on my machine--is basically empty, it's not a problem.

I have "Autosave to Document Manager" turned off in preferences and "Save to temporary backups only" turned on. If NWE crashes ... a very rare occurrence with 2.7, the temporary backup is there and the next time I open NWE I am asked if I would like to restore it. At some point I open Document Manager and delete the file concerned.

For the rest, until Nisus implements an "Open from Template" system, I use the Document Manager to fulfill that function, and store my .dot templates in it.

This means that ~/Documents/Nisus Documents/ contains my templates and a basically empty ../Backups/ folder. Where it is putting its temporary files while working, I couldn't care less. Certainly not a deal-breaker for me!

Mark
User avatar
scottwhitlock
Posts: 174
Joined: 2004-10-26 07:10:40
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: ~/Documents/Nisus Documents/Backups

Post by scottwhitlock »

xiamenese wrote: I am always bemused by people's objections to the Nisus Documents/Backups folder. I admit that it would perhaps be nice to allocate one's own folder address, but since that folder--at least on my machine--is basically empty, it's not a problem.
Then you must not move between machines that often, because one of the problems of not being able to allocate a Nisus Documents folder (especially on an external drive) is that, if you want to use this feature, you are stuck to your local machine unless you want do cumbersome copy/backup/synchronize operations everytime you move between them. I would like to be able to designate an external drive folder as my Nisus Documents folder, where it can save there as need be, and then be able to take that folder with me and have it available to another copy of Nisus immediately upon mount.

S.
MacBook Pro 15
2.66 Ghz Core i7
8GB RAM
10.8.3
NWP 2.0.4
iPad 3
User avatar
xiamenese
Posts: 543
Joined: 2006-12-08 00:46:44
Location: London or Exeter, UK

Re: ~/Documents/Nisus Documents/Backups

Post by xiamenese »

Then you must not move between machines that often, because one of the problems of not being able to allocate a Nisus Documents folder (especially on an external drive) is that, if you want to use this feature, you are stuck to your local machine unless you want do cumbersome copy/backup/synchronize operations everytime you move between them. I would like to be able to designate an external drive folder as my Nisus Documents folder, where it can save there as need be, and then be able to take that folder with me and have it available to another copy of Nisus immediately upon mount.

S.[/quote]
It's true, as I have used a laptop for years, all my data goes with me. But even if that were not the case, I still don't use the Nisus Documents folder for anything other than templates. I have all my files arranged in other folders based on what they are related to, which include files of other types, not only NWE files, and as I said, I don't use "Save to Document Manager". The files are mostly in the Documents folder it is true.

If I am not taking my laptop with me but will need a file--which does happen--I copy it onto a flash disk for the occasion and then back again when I return.

If I used a portable hard disk, I would be saving my documents in that, not to the Nisus Documents folder as a matter of course ... in fact that's precisely what I did when my first version TiBook's hard disk (10GB) was running out of space, I used a portable USB hard disk for all my data.

To me, the fact that an app creates a default folder, doesn't mean I have to put all my data in that folder. I think I started ignoring such folders when I had to try and find a file on a friend's LCII on which he used Claris/AppleWorks ... which buried all the data about 20 folders deep in the System folder! Now that I did find unacceptable.

Mark
Anne Cuneo
Posts: 164
Joined: 2004-09-23 02:15:46
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Re: ~/Documents/Nisus Documents/Backups

Post by Anne Cuneo »

scottwhitlock wrote:
I would like to be able to designate an external drive folder as my Nisus Documents folder, where it can save there as need be, and then be able to take that folder with me and have it available to another copy of Nisus immediately upon mount.

S.
So would I, so would I, I have been asking for this feature forever.
Isn't there a way of implementing it? Nowadays I copy my work on a USB device every night, but it not being automatic really bothers me, because a) I might forget, and then I 'll stand in front of the second computer and *%#!!!! what am I going to do - this is a short description of something that happened more than once, and b) there is always the danger of a false manipulation when you do it by hand.
When I discovered Nisus (Classic) this was the first reason I bought it. All the others I discovered subsequently.
Anne
dshan
Posts: 334
Joined: 2003-11-21 19:25:28
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by dshan »

Anne Cuneo wrote:So would I, so would I, I have been asking for this feature forever.
Isn't there a way of implementing it? Nowadays I copy my work on a USB device every night, but it not being automatic really bothers me, because a) I might forget, and then I 'll stand in front of the second computer and *%#!!!! what am I going to do - this is a short description of something that happened more than once, and b) there is always the danger of a false manipulation when you do it by hand.
When I discovered Nisus (Classic) this was the first reason I bought it. All the others I discovered subsequently.
Anne, there are several ways to do what you are after:

1. Write an Applescript (or use Automator) to automatically copy your Nisus document(s) to an external drive each day (or however often you require). Essentially this automates what you are doing manually already. You can even set it to launch automatically at the same time every day if you want.

2. Save your document(s) to the external drive in the first place! Then every time you save the document (or autosave kicks in and saves it for you) the latest version is available on the external drive you are going to take to your other machine. Then if you copy the folder(s)/files from your USB drive to the HD of each machine each time you plug the drive into it you'll have two backups of everything in addition to your master copy on the USB (those things are distressingly easy to lose!) Again you can use Automator/Applescript to automate this process if you want.

3. If your other machine is on a LAN with your primary machine then simply share the directory containing your Nisus document(s) with it and everything is automatically available to it.

4. Use an online repository (like Google Mail, Google Docs, .mac, etc.) to transfer your NWX documents from one machine to another using the net (this gives you automatic offsite backup too!)
User avatar
scottwhitlock
Posts: 174
Joined: 2004-10-26 07:10:40
Location: Tucson, AZ

Post by scottwhitlock »

dshan wrote:
Anne, there are several ways to do what you are after:
But none of these are desirable. This is not a file storage issue. Most of us know how to deal with folders and organize our documents through that. The only reason that most of us care about this is that there is a link between the Document Manager and the Nisus Document Folders. I use the Document Manager in order to store documents that I'm currently working on. When I open Nisus, I have it set to automatically open the DM, so I can quickly get to them without going through the Finder or through an Open Dialogue. When I'm finished with a project, those documents then go to a more organized home. Because you can't designate what folder the Document Manager points to, this feature becomes useless if you have to work from an ext. drive.
MacBook Pro 15
2.66 Ghz Core i7
8GB RAM
10.8.3
NWP 2.0.4
iPad 3
Anne Cuneo
Posts: 164
Joined: 2004-09-23 02:15:46
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Post by Anne Cuneo »

I have nothing to add to what scottwhitlock wrote. That's just it.
All the suggestions you make are nice, dshan, BUT I am looking for a backup I mustn't THINK about, like the one we had with Nisus Classic. Lazy Dog, I? YEAH, lazy silly dog.
Anne
cchapin
Posts: 424
Joined: 2004-02-25 18:28:40
Location: Nagoya, Japan

Post by cchapin »

For the time being, could Anne do what she wants with Folder Actions? Whenever anything is saved to the Nisus Documents folder (or another folder chosen for this purpose), I believe a folder action could copy it to the USB device. However, for this to work, I suspect that the USB device would have to be mounted at all times when she is working in Nisus.

Separately, while this is not a complete solution in Anne's case, you might consider Default Folder X from St. Clair Software (http://www.stclairsoft.com). Among other things, Default Folder X lets you specify a default folder for each application. It's 34.95 USD, but I've come to depend on it in a number of different ways.

--Craig
dshan
Posts: 334
Joined: 2003-11-21 19:25:28
Location: Sydney, Australia

Bang, Ouch, Bang, Ouch

Post by dshan »

I agree Document Manager has lots of limitations, that's why I never use it. I'd vote to have DM removed from NW as the amount of effort required to make it actually useful seems prohibitive and a waste to me. But maybe Nisus will persist with it and make it better one day, maybe they won't. In the meantime why keep banging your head against this particular brick wall?

Anne, unfortunately I can't give you any method to avoid thinking about backups and syncing files, just a little, computers are like that alas. The closest thing I've heard of to a no-thought-required backup system is the Time Machine feature coming in Mac OS X 10.5. However, using Applescripts and/or Automator along with folder actions and default folder as Craig suggested should enable you to reduce the amount of thought required today to a fairly small amount.

I've done some (limited) poking around and not surprisingly there are several apps/scripts for syncing folders and things automatically and on a timed basis already written - you might have a look at QuickSync and Sync Folders, I'm sure there are plenty of others if you search Apple's downloads pages and Version Tracker, etc.
Post Reply