Old version export - import not working

[big_red_frog]

Hi There,

We have briefly discussed browsing through old version of a file, looking for pre "break" components, to try to recover a piece that has otherwise become inconsistant.

I presntly believe to actually do this you need to export an old version into a .f3d file, and then import it back in, with a different project name, so you get a new design you can mash down to just the piece you want, then place it back into the master. ( please highlight if there is a better workflow )

Anyway I tried this today, while at a location with not the best internet.

The export and import were reported successful, but on trying to open / edit the new design I get the following error ( whose error dialog doesnt have a copy button, and you cant highlight the text for ctrl-c 😞 ) 

Now I am back in good internet connectivity I will try the whole process again and update the thread.

Thanks.

[big_red_frog]

Should also note the troublesome design is also now marked as being edited by me, so I cannot delete it either...

[big_red_frog · Accepted solution]

OK, so tried to just import the .f3d file and its fine, so it seems like eitehr the original DL over the poor internet connection gave me a bad zip file.

You might want to add some file validation to your download of exported designs.

I may only now have an orphaned broken design to delete now that stills thinks I am editing it...

[Helmi74]

I think we should continue to discuss handling of versions and things you can do with them. I'd also have the ability to open a specific versions without autosaving it back into the thread just to pick some things out or maybe just to have a look at it and see how things have been in this older version.

Having export or promote as the only option is by far not enough in handling versioning which basically is a great idea and feature. Also still the amount of versions could still be handled better (i think there's already a good idea in the idea station on that topic).

[big_red_frog]

I have close to 400 versions of my master design, I had an aggressive autosave timer when crashes were common ( hopefully thats getting better ) and indeed digging into the past and extracting something I want is a painful workflow, only amplified by the number of versions I have.

Much of the navigation only shows a certain number of versions and pages of versions, supporting much deeper navigation in one page would be good.

Also differntiating between manual saves, file exit saves and autosaves would be very handy. That would greatly reduce the number of versions you are dealing with directly if you could roll up the autosaves and maybe even the file exit saves under the manual saves with the option to expand each. 

Manual saves should represent the primary resolution at which you are likely to want to browse your version history. Then file exit saves, and finally autosaves.

With this I would likely be down to a dozen at the top level.

Then there is the need to fully open a version at risk without having to manually export or promote, the preview is good, but not enough here.

If it is a question of storage depth on the backend, then keeping the manual saves closer to recovery than the autosaves might address this.