When you pull down the Menu from the upper left corner of the Versionary Main Screen, you see the following list of menu items:
About Versionary...
Help...
Keyboard Recording...
Startup Memory Usage...
Shutdown Versionary...
Compress Versions Now
Copy App Settings
Paste App Settings
Unlike Versionary’s other options, which are selected and carried out for individual applications, the Menu items apply either to all documents selected for versioning.(for example, Compress Versions Now) or to the Versionary program itself (for example, Startup Memory Usage).
The Menu items are discussed under this topic in the order of their appearance in the menu.
About Versionary....
This command brings up a box that gives credit to the creators and publishers of Versionary. You dismiss the “about box” by clicking in it.
Help...
The Help command brings up a window with Versionary’s online help system. You may have selected that item to get here.
Keyboard Recording
The Keyboard Recording command lets you configure Versionary’s Keyboard Recording feature. Keyboard Recording offers the last measure of security to all the work you do on your Mac. By recording every stroke of your keyboard, whether or not you save the document, it ensures that if a mishap of any kind occurs, such as a crash or the accidental deletion of a document, you can recover your latest, up-to-the-minute—or more accurately, up-to-the-second—work.
Keyboard recording works by watching everything you type, regardless of which application you are running, on your keyboard and storing it a special keyboard recording file. Each time you start up your Macintosh, a new keyboard recording file is created. The previous recording file, if any, is maintained also. You are able to tell Versionary where to keep your recording files.
Keyboard Recording applies to all input you do on your Mac, regardless of application. However, it does not record what you type into dialog boxes, nor does it record a password you tell it not to.
Keyboard recording may be turned on and off and paused.
Keyboard Recording Options
When you select Keyboard Recording... from the Versionary Menu, a dialog box offering three sets of options is displayed. The options allow you to set Keyboard Recording to on, pause, or off; to choose the folder where the Keyboard Recording files will reside; and to block the recording of your password into those files. The three options are discussed below.
On/Pause/Off: Because of the way keyboard recording works, it can not be repeatedly turned on and off at will. Once recording is turned off, it cannot be turned back on until you restart your Mac. Thus, if you simply want to pause recording temporarily, use the Pause option.
Note: In the Keyboard Recording dialog box, the message “Recording files will be named: Keyboard Recording (Current) and Keyboard Recording (Previous)” is not an option but an informational message.
Store Files In: This option allows you to tell Versionary where to store your Keyboard Recording files. You must tell Versionary to store the files in a folder on your startup volume (the volume on which your System folder resides), and it must not be inside the System folder itself. A good idea is to create a new folder somewhere and designate it.
Note: It is not a good idea to store your Keyboard Recording files in your System Folder. If you do, they will be moved and you will be warned by Versionary.
Prevent Recording of Password...You may be concerned that the keyboard recording function will record the passwords you enter as well, with the recording files providing a convenient place for snoopers to plainly see what they are. For this reason, you are allowed to specify a password that will never get recorded to the recording file. To do so, select the Prevent Recording of Password button. When the dialog box appears, type in your password. Thereafter, that password will never get recorded to the recording files. To change the password in the future, you will be required to enter the existing password before entering the new one.
Using Your Keyboard Recording Files
To use the keyboard recording files, simply double-click on them. If you have the TeachText application, it will launch and allow you to view the file contents. The file contents will seem confusing at first, because many of the keys you enter in the course of the day are non-printing keys such as the <delete> and <enter> keys. These will appear as small squares. The files will be marked with the applications you were running and the times at which you were running them.
Note: when you open the current recording file, TeachText will inform you that the file is read-only. This is because the current file is currently opened by Versionary.
Keyboard recording has some other side benefits. For instance, if you use a tel-comm package which doesn’t have a built-in log to record your transactions, you may find Keyboard Recording useful for that. Another side benefit is that of a contantly available invisible notepad. Since everything you ever type (except your password) is recorded, you can type a note to yourself while in any application and it will be recorded for later reference. For instance, if you get a need to jot down a phone number while you are editing a document in Microsoft Word, instead of bringing up a separate notepad, simply write down the number in your document and then erase it. The number will be recorded in the Keyboard Recording file.
Startup Memory Usage...
When Versionary is active on your Mac, it reserves a certain amount of memory at startup for its own use. A certain minimum amount is always reserved for the loading of Versionary itself, but you may want to reserve even more memory, depending on your settings and the amount of work you do. You won’t need to reserve more unless you encounter low memory conditions which Versionary will warn you about. So if you aren’t ever warned, don’t worry about reserving more memory.
If you do need to reserve extra memory, go to the Versionary Menu at the top of the Main Screen and select Startup Memory Usage... . In the dialog box that appears, type in the number of additional kilobytes (probably no more than 50 kilobytes) you wish to reserve.
Shutdown Versionary...
Because of the way Versionary works, you cannot deinstall it by simply throwing it and its files in the trash. Versionary opens certain files (such as its settings and keyboard recording files) at startup and keeps these permanently open for as long as your Mac is on. This means you will not be allowed to throw these files away in the trash, which is what you might want to do to deinstall Versionary. By shutting Versionary down (as opposed to merely turning it off), Versionary will close its settings and keyboard recording files, meaning you can then throw them away and deinstall Versionary.
You should shutdown Versionary only if you wish to desinstall it from your machine.
To shutdown Versionary, select Shutdown Versionary... from the menu and follow the instructions.
Once you shutdown Versionary, you will not be able to turn it on until you restart your machine. Do not shutdown Versionary in lieu of turning it off. To turn Versionary off, simply uncheck the On checkbox on the main panel.
Compress Versions Now
This command is useful if you choose to compress your versions, whether after you’ve been idle for five minutes or at shutdown. (These options are available under App Settings.... For more information about compression, see “Compression of Versions” under the Help topic “Getting Started.”)
If you have chosen either of these options, Versionary marks each document due for future compression. If you get impatient or need to free up disk space immediately, you can compress these marked versions before the scheduled time, through the Compress Versions Now Menu item. Only versions that had been marked for compression when they were made will be compressed.
Copy App Settings/ Paste App Settings
Often the settings you choose for an application would be useful for another application as well. This pair of menu commands allows you to copy as a group all the settings you have previously selected for an application, including App Settings, Version Prefs, Exclude Docs, and Auto-saving. This can save you time, even if you want to then change one or two settings in the application your settings are copied to
To copy your settings from an application that you have already set up for versioning:
1. Highlight the application in the Main Screen.
2. Select Copy App Settings from the Menu.
3. Highlight the application you wish to set up similarly to the first application.
