How do I recover lost text or a deleted document?

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martin
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How do I recover lost text or a deleted document?

Post by martin »

Nisus Writer Pro periodically autosaves your document while you're working. In the unfortunate event that a problem does occur, autosave minimizes the amount of work that might be lost.


How do I restore a prior version of my document?
If something goes wrong inside your document (for example, maybe you accidentally deleted a few important paragraphs) you can revert to an earlier version of your document. The system (macOS) stores multiple versions of each document, as recorded during earlier autosaves.

There are a few ways to access a document's version history from inside Nisus Writer:

• Use the menu File > Versions. From that menu you can see a list of all available versions and open read-only copies.

version-list.png
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• Use the menu File > Revert To > Browse All Versions. That will open a live side-by-side document display, where you can compare the current version of your file alongside prior versions of that same file. You can choose to fully restore a prior version of your file, or just copy content from an earlier version as needed.

For more on macOS autosave and document versions see Apple's documentation on reverting documents.


How do I restore a document that no longer exists?
If you accidentally delete a file you may be able to recover it using Apple's Time Machine. This is a feature that must have been enabled prior to the unintentional deletion. If you have Time Machine enabled you can use it to restore a deleted file:

1. Go to the Finder and open the folder where the file was last located.
2. Click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and choose the command "Enter Time Machine":
timemachine.png
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3. Inside Apple's Time Machine you can look for backup files that no longer exist and restore them.

For more details on this process please see Apple's documentation on using Time Machine.


How often does autosave occur?
The exact timing and frequency of autosave is controlled by the system (macOS). However, Nisus Writer does allow you to set a minimum threshold for autosave in your Nisus Writer preferences. That can restrict autosave so it doesn't occur too frequently.

How many file copies are stored in the document version history?
The document version history is also controlled and maintained by the system. Apple doesn't say exactly how many prior copies of each document are maintained, nor for how long. You can imagine the version history is limited by a variety of dynamic factors, like the amount of free space available on your Mac's hard drive.
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