Creating and restoring backups

Use the Create Backup feature to back up your data files to a compressed file. Only data files are backed up; program files are not included. You can specify the backup file name and location, or you can let the program automatically name the backup file with the current date and store it in the \backup subdirectory of the main program directory.

If this is your primary backup, ensure a copy of it is transferred to removable media such as a USB drive, and stored in a safe location outside your office. Speak with your office administrator if you are unsure that you have a reliable system for performing backups. Also, ensure that you or someone in your office is familiar with how to restore from your backup.

You can create backups manually, or you can configure the program to create backups automatically either once a day or each time the program is started. Watch a tutorial on creating and restoring backups.

Ensure all other users have exited the program and all applications that access its data.
Click Maintenance, Create Backup File.
If there are no other users in the program you will be prompted to click Ok and then Proceed $image\done16x16.gif$ to continue.
To back up to a file automatically named with the current date, select Local Directory. The backup file will be named "BCK" followed by the year, two digits for the month and two digits for the day. For example, a backup created July 5 2010 will be named BCK20100705.zip. The file will be stored in the \backup subdirectory of the main program directory.

Note that subsequent backup files created with the same name (for example, if the backup procedure is run more than once on the same day) will overwrite previous backup files.
To specify the location and name of the backup file, select Backup to Specified Destination. Select the drive and directory in which to store the backup file and click Ok, then type a name for the backup file.
Click Start Backup $image\done16x16.gif$ .

Click Settings, System Settings.
Click Edit $image\edit20x20.gif$ .
To run the backup once a day the first time the program is started (recommended), select Yes beside Automatic Backup. To run the backup each time the program is started throughout the day, select Always. (Do not select Always if the program is run on a network.) If you do not want to use the automatic backup, select No.
Click Save $image\save20x20.gif$ , then click Exit $image\exit.gif$ .

Use caution because you cannot undo this procedure. When you restore a backup, all program data is overwritten with the data as it was when the backup was created.

Ensure all users have exited the program and all programs that access its data.
Click Maintenance, Restore from Backup.
If there are no other users in the program, you will be prompted to click Ok and then Proceed $image\done16x16.gif$ to continue.
Select Restore from Local to restore the most recent backup file in the default \backup subdirectory. Select Restore from Specified File to restore from a file in another location, or to restore from a file with a name other than the program's default. The name, date and size of the backup file will display.
Confirm that you want to overwrite all data with the data contained in the selected backup file, and then click Start Restore $image\done16x16.gif$ .

Due to the infinite variety of system and hardware configurations, we cannot be responsible for the reliability of the method you are using. Please test your backup on a regular basis. Testing your backup involves restoring the backup and checking the data to ensure it was backed up correctly. Ensure when testing that you do not inadvertently restore older data over current information.

The Create Backup feature backs up data files to a compressed file with the extension .zip. The

Only data files are backed up; program files are not included. Therefore, if the hard drive is unrecoverable, you will need to reinstall the program using the original installation disk or setup file, and then restore the most recent backup into the program directory.

Files with the following extensions in the main program directory and in the subdirectories are backed up:

.DBF

.FPT

.CDX

.DBC

.DCT

.DCX

.DOT

.WPT

.RTF

.INI

.FRT

.FRX

If the backup is run automatically when the program is started, it creates a file named "BCK" followed by the year, two digits for the month and two digits for the day. Subsequent backup files created with the same name (e.g., if the backup is run more than once on the same day) will overwrite previous backup files.

To save multiple backup files for the same day, either copy the existing backup file to another location before re-running the backup, or run the backup manually and specify a unique name for the file.

If you let the program name your backup files automatically, over time you will end up with a large number of backup files, which can easily consume a lot of space on your hard drive. Generally, it is unnecessary to keep backups longer than a month. By default, backup files are stored in the \Backup subdirectory. You may want to review the files in this directory and delete those that are unneeded.