Local copy of your work

One of the key points of any Desktop application is saving files. The user's work and the data entered must not be lost. Even in the case of a computer crash, the amount of work lost must be minimized.

A new strategy for saving files has been introduced with Banana Accounting+. From the user's point of view nothing has changed, but internally important improvements have been made to make the data saving process even more secure and solid, and to optimize it for use on cloud and mobile disks.

How it works

With the new implementation of the file saving and recovery process, Banana Accounting creates a local copy of the open file and then works on the local copy present in the device (pc, mobile, tablet) until the user saves the document. At this point Banana Accounting returns and saves the modifications in the source file. In the meantime, Banana Accounting regularly saves the modifications made to the document in the local copy.

Banana Accounting proceeds as follows:

• The user selects the file to be opened (source file)
• Banana Accounting create a local copy of the source file
• Banana Accounting blocks the opening of the source file to prevent modifications from multiple users
• Banana Accounting reads the local copy
• Banana Accounting regularly saves (by default every 2 minutes) the modifications made to the document in the local copy
• As soon as the user clicks on the Save button, Banana Accounting returns and saves the modifications in the source file.
• When the file is closed, Banana Accounting unlocks the source file and deletes the local copy.
• If the application cannot close or correctly save the modifications in the source file (electricity interruption or other causes), the local copy remains on the device and the its content can be recovered at the next Banana Accounting launch.
• If the file is temporarily not accessible (example if it is on a disconnected network disk or a USB pen), the user can keep working and the document modifications are saved in the local copy until when the source file is accessible again.

In other words the local copy is both a working document and a recovery document.
 

Advantages

The autosave feature is always active, so the work that could be lost (with the default settings for file recovery) corresponds at most to the work of the last two minutes.

Access to the file doesn't have to be continuous. Even if a file is temporarily inaccessible (e.g.: the file resides on a network disk or a disconnected USB pen), the user can continue working, and changes to the document are saved in the local copy until the source file is accessible again.

The local copy is not synchronized in the cloud. For this reason, the performance of the application is improved and the amount of data sent to the cloud is minimized.

This process is implemented in the same way on all operating systems: Windows, MacOS, iOS, Linux, Android and WebAssembly, regardless of where the file is saved.

Data recovery

In case of an interruption of the application, the local copy remains on the user's device. The next time the Banana Accounting is started, the application informs the user that changes have been found that have not been saved in the source file.

At this point the user has 3 choices:

• Open the recovered file
  The user can decide whether to save the recovered file or to abandon the changes
• Ignore the message
  The user can later decide what to do
• Cancel de recovered file
  The recovered file will be canceled

The local copy remains on the user's device as long as the document remains in use or the changes have not been correctly returned to the source file. Once the file has been closed, the local copy is deleted.

The local copies are saved in a folder hidden under the system's user data. The user does not need to access this folder, access to this folder is not recommended. In case our support requires you to open this folder, you can access it through the menu Tools → Program Options → Advanced → System Info → Working copies path → Open path ....

Keep in mind

This implementation:

• It does not replace a good backup policy.
• It does not replace a version control system.

Although this implementation is very secure and robust, we cannot guarantee that it will work 100% smoothly in all cases. For this reason, we encourage our customers to adopt a good backup policy and version control system.

Several operating systems provide backup and versioning functions. We ask you to browse the documentation of your operating system....