A set of basic options, called the App Settings, allows you to specify the following aspects of your versioning:
• The maximum number of versions to be kept.
• The location of the stored versions.
• Whether or when to compress the versions.
Number of Versions
The first option in the App Settings dialog box allows you to determine the maximum number of versions kept of each document created with the selected application. Versionary’s default maximum is set at five versions per document. This means that when a sixth version is created, the oldest of the first five versions will be deleted, thus keeping the maximum five versions. You can change the maximum to any number you wish. The only limit to the maximum number of versions is your available disk space.
Before setting the maximum number of versions, you are advised to read about related issues in the next two subsections: “How Versionary Numbers and Deletes Versions,” and “How You Can Protect Versions from Deletion.”
How Versionary Numbers and Deletes Versions
Versionary affixes numbers to the titles of versions in the order in which the versions are created. For example, say that according to your instructions Versionary is to keep a maximum of three versions of your Microsoft Word documents. As you work on a Word document named Cars, Versionary creates the first version and names it Cars.1. Later it creates Cars.2 and then Cars.3. When Cars.4 is created, Cars.1, the oldest version, will be deleted. (All the while, you continue to work on the current document, named Cars, with no version number. You work on this current document just as you have always worked on any document.)
Once a version is assigned a version number suffix, that suffix will never be reassigned to another version, even if the version is deleted. This allows a unique number to be associated with each version, somewhat like the retired number of a former football star. Therefore it is possible to have versions named Cars.4, Cars.5, and Cars.6 when Cars.1, Cars.2, and Cars.3 no longer exist (or have been moved out of the folder where Versionary is storing the Car versions).
Protecting Versions from Unwanted Deletion
You may fear that some of your versions will turn out to have lasting value, yet will be deleted when the maximum number of versions is reached. You can prevent a scheduled deletion from taking place by any of the following methods:
• Move the versions out of the folder where they’re kept.
Versionary only deletes versions found in their designated folder.
• Rename the current document or rename the versions.
Versionary only deletes versions with the title of the current document (plus a specific version number suffix). Therefore, to archive a set of versions, you could change the name of the current document. Or you could change the name of existing versions, perhaps adding a short suffix like old to the title.
• Reset the storage location for that application’s versions.
If the storage location is changed, Versionary will start over on numbering and deleting versions.
• Choose a different version number separator.
In naming your versions, Versionary puts a period between the title of the current document and its version number. You can change the period to another character or string of characters. (This option is selected under Version Preferences. See the help topic "Version Prefereneces" for more information.) Versionary will only delete versions with the separator that is currently selected.
• Lock the versions (through Get Info in the Finder).
Versionary will skip over any locked versions that are due for deletion.
Location of Versions
The second option in the App Settings dialog box allows you to store your versions in any of the following three locations:
• with their current files (the default setting)
This option stores each set of versions in the same folder with the related current document. When you have chosen this option and you view your files by name in the Finder, your versions will be listed immediately after their related current document.
• in subfolders of their current files
This option sets the versions slightly apart by keeping them in a subfolder within the folder where the current document is located. Each subfolder is created for you automatically and is named Versions Subfolder.
• in a specified versions folder...
When you choose this option, a dialog box will appear allowing you to select an existing folder or create a new one as the location for your versions. The folder may be on your hard disk, another disk drive, a floppy disk, or a network server.
See the next section for information on using this option to create an “intelligent automatic backup system.”
A Specified Versions Folder as Intelligent Backup
Storing your versions in a specified versions folder at a remote location allows you to use Versionary as an intelligent, up-to-the-minute, automatic backup system.
Traditional automatic backup systems perform according to preset times. When that time arrives, they scan an entire disk, backing up all scheduled files, whether or not those files have changed. Inevitably, they consume unnecessary time and disk space backing up unchanged files. At the same time, backups of very active files are likely to be inadequate.
Versionary “backs up” one file at a time, according to the work you do. The more you work, the more it works, behind the scenes. When you cease working, it ceases as well. The system is even more adaptable to your needs when you use it in combination with Auto-saving, when you set the versioning intervals you want, and when you automatically preserve your first version. (See the Help topics “Auto-saving” and “Version Preferences” for information on using these options.)
Specifying Your Versions Folder
You can specify an existing folder or create a new folder for storing your versions The folder may be on a hard disk, a separate disk drive, a floppy disk, or a network server.
Begin by selecting in a specified versions folder... in the App Settings dialog box. The Specify Folder dialog box will appear, allowing you to view and select from the various folders on your disk(s), or create a new folder for storing versions.
The name of the folder to be used for your versions and its location (the hierarchy of folders that contain it) now appear in the App Settings dialog box.
Compression of Versions
If you own Salient DiskDoubler‚Ñ¢, a file compression program, and are concerned about disk space, you can have Versionary compress your versions. This compression reduces documents to an average of 50% of their original size. When compressed documents are opened, they are automatically expanded. When they are closed again, they are automatically recompressed, if the option to do so is still selected.
The third option in the App Settings dialog box gives you three choices concerning the compression of your versions:
• (don’t compress) [the default option]
• after I’ve been idle 5 minutes
• at machine shutdown
If you choose either of the last two options, Versionary will mark versions for compression as they are created. At the appropriate time—when the keyboard or mouse of your computer has not been used for five minutes or at machine shutdown—a box will ask permission to compress your versions. If you do not respond, compression will occur without your permission (since you are not using your machine). If you respond No, Versionary will try again at the next idle, or at shutdown, whichever comes first. Versions are compressed in the order in which they were created.
Have in mind that if you choose to compress your documents, either when idle or at shutdown, you can compress versions ahead of time, if you like, by choosing the Menu command, Compress Versions Now. If you use this command before taking a break away from your Mac, you will not need to wait for compression to take place. (On the other hand, you may find that compression occurs so quickly, you don’t mind the short wait involved.)
Note: If you want your versions to be compressed, don’t change their names or locations, because Versionary will not be able to find them.
Note: The compression option is not retroactive. When you turn it on, previously made versions will not be compressed.
Using Your Versions
The versions that Versionary creates are always easily accessible, just like your other documents. In the Finder, you can find, open, delete, move, or rename a version just as you do any document. You can find out when a version was created by viewing by date. You can learn when a version was last modified by using Get Info in the Finder’s File menu.
Within its application, each version behaves just like any other document created with that application.
You can also edit a version as you do any document. However, keeping track of which changes you made to which documents may become confusing. Adding to the possible confusion is the fact that when you edit versions, you will also be creating versions of your versions, according to your selected options. (If you edit Cars.4, you will get Cars.4.1, etc.)
You can copy portions of your versions to paste into other documents—in fact, this capability is often a major reason for keeping versions in the first place. Copying from a version does not alter it in any way, though cutting from it does, of course.
Though the versions Versionary creates are similar to your current documents in the ways just mentioned, you should not confuse the two. To continue working on a document that is being versioned, be sure you open the current document, not a version of it. You can always tell which is your current document, because it will not have a version number suffix at the end of its title.
If you tend to forget which are the earliest and which the latest versions, remember that versions are numbered in the order in which they are created. Thus the oldest versions have the smallest numbers. Think of the first version as having been made on day 1, the second version on day 2, etc.*
