Giza Autosave Explained
Giza performs an autosave of the open drawing if it has been modified and a predetermined amount of time has passed without a manual save being performed. The default time is set to every 15 minutes. It is a common misconception that the autosave updates the drawing file or the .CBK backup file, but this is not correct. When the autosave function is performed, a special autosave file named gz_asv.CDB is updated. The default location of the autosave file is located in Documents\Giza\ASV. The primary function of the autosave is to recover your drawing if the program shuts down unexpectedly and you had not saved your work in a while. If this happens, you would then want to immediately open the gz_asv.cdb file and then do a "Save As" to save the recovered drawing to a new .CDB copy. Keep in mind there is only one autosave file for Giza. So if an event happens that would require you to recover your work from this file, it is best to do so immediately. If you happen to open a different drawing and worked on it long enough, the autosave could then trigger for the new drawing and update the autosave file. You would then lose your window of opportunity to recover work from the other drawing that might have crashed.
Backup Drawings
Giza Backup Drawings, or .CBK files, are another safeguard built into Giza to help protect your work. This is different than the autosave function. When you first start a new Giza drawing and save the file for the first time, the primary .CDB file is created. At this point there is not yet a backup copy. The next time you modify and then save the drawing, what was the primary Giza CDB file gets copied and becomes the backup .CBK drawing, and then the save updates the primary .CDB drawing. So the backup drawing is a redundant copy of your primary Giza file but one save version back. This could be useful if you made an accidental change to your drawing and then saved it. The backup could be opened to restore the previously saved version of the file. If the primary .CDB file gets lost, deleted, or corrupted, the backup copy offers another copy to recover from.
Autosave and Backup File Settings
The settings for both autosave and the creation of backup files are located in the options. From the Tools menu, select Options... Then select the Files tab of the option dialog.
The autosave interval can be changed if desired. When Giza performs an autosave, you will notice the application pauses as the file gets saved. If you happen to glance at the status bar in the lower left corner during this time, you will notice the autosave happening. Setting the autosave time interval too low could be disruptive as it would save more often. The default 15 minutes works well for most situations.
Giza Status bar does report when an autosave is being performed... You will notice you are unable to take any actions until the autosave completes.
Above the autosave interval settings are the settings for backup files. The default setting is to create your .CBK files in the same folder of the .CDB (recommended). You do have the option of storing them in a subfolder or turning off the backup feature altogether.
Opening the Autosave File
- From the File menu choose Open...
- Navigate to the ASV folder. This is normally under your Libraries Documents Giza ASV
- Select the gz_asv.CDB file and click Open.
Opening a Backup File
- From the File menu choose Open...
- Change the Files of Type drop down setting to read "Backup Drawing (*.CBK)" This will then display only backup drawings.
- Navigate to the desired drawing file, select it, and click Open.