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Autosave Local

Autosave Local

I'm sure the idea has been floated out there before, but this is a pretty big deal for users.  I can't begin to imagine the amount of hours lost because of a lack of autosave.  I know that Revit provides save reminders, but often people are either in mid command and don't want to save, or they just aren't ready to save/sync back to central yet.

 

I propose an autosave that works similarly to Revit Server.  The idea is that Local files still exist in their standard form, but an additional autosave file is created each time a new local file is created (for users at my firm, this should be every time a file is opened).  Periodically the autosave kicks in and only saves changes made since the last save/sync/autosave.  This would cut down on the size of the changes need to be saved.

 

I would be willing to add a couple minutes to a large project load/save times if it meant that I also got autosaves.

 

We should also be able to set a frequency for autosaves as well as turn it on/off.  Mine would always be on, but it would cut down on complaints from people who don't want to lose the time autosaving.

 

 

42 Comments
Anonymous
Not applicable

 Idea : Something that backs up you're file without having to sync. A point where you can return to each half an hour. Maybe you could chose if this is ON or OFF.

If you don't sync now and you get a fatal error, you don't have anything that backs you up...

 

greetings

jkidder
Collaborator

I'm not opposed to autosaving, but I don't think it should be lieu of sync with central or clear the undo list. I don't sync sometimes because I know I may want to undo a number of actions.

lionel.kai
Advisor

If you're saving your local files regularly (every time the reminder comes up - we set ours to the minimum 15 minutes), you should have a backup (and not loose more than 15 minutes of work, at the most).

 

Related idea:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/auto-save-sync-promt-to-come-at-end-of-task-action/idi-p/6...

lionel.kai
Advisor

Having an autosave for local files and an autosave for central files are two different things. I wouldn't mind the former, but definitely wouldn't want the latter. But that said, I'm not sure that they'd be able to pull it off properly given the current performance. While this is one of those features that I was most shocked about (the lack of) when I first was transitioning from AutoCAD, I have come to appreciate the way it's currently implemented. It just takes a little training: USUALLY click "Save...", and IF you don't (to complete an operation, etc.), ALWAYS click the Save button in the QAT immediately after that. The problem is that doing a local Save usually takes long enough that you wouldn't want Revit to just randomly pause every 15 minutes when you're in the middle of something. If they "forced" it like that, I could see it being more common for people to increase the autosave time, or turn it off entirely, which in my mind is worse than people just clicking "Cancel" to the reminder dialog now and then. But if they could pull it off in the background (so that you'd never notice a performance change), that would be awesome!

 

And of course you would almost never want to autosave to central.

 

Same idea:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/autosave-or-backup/idc-p/6568132

 

Related idea:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/auto-save-sync-promt-to-come-at-end-of-task-action/idi-p/6...

Anonymous
Not applicable

At the very least, bring the command history/log (whatever it's called) to a more prominent location after a crash. As it is, it's very well hidden and most are not even aware of it. This crash-recovery version could also show you the commands and let you chose how many commands you want to redo.

Homsey-CCH
Enthusiast

I agree with sburca.  Revit is already keeping a journal file.  When Revit crashes, it should automatically show a recovery dialog on restart (like programs that cost 50 time less than Revit, i.e. MS Word.)  It should make recovery extremely easy and obvious.  Actually, it should even be able to automatically create a new "recovery" file that is 100% up to the last journal entry, and offer to open that.

 

If the journal is not really the the best file to use for this, make something that is.

 

This is not a weird, unreasonable feature.  How can this not already be part of professional level software used in an industry where billable time is so important?  For the price of this software and the hourly cost of building design, the work should be protected from loss as much as possible.

eilliwofficial
Enthusiast

maybe auto saving should be introduced

cos i dont really enjoy that prompt message.

Tags (1)
krzystoff
Advocate

Agreed.

AutoSave is a no-brainer, and that feature should have been included from Revit's first version; it would be especially useful for local files on workshared projects -- for non-workshared projects it could make a mess of project folders if AutoSave created a new file every time, as Save  currently does, so they may have to review how that works -- perhaps one new file every hour, with AutoSaves every 10mins ?

AutoSync, however would quite tricky from a user perspective, as you often want to choose when to commit changes to the shared model, and undo isn't available once you Sync.

dplumb_BWBR
Advisor

Autosave every 10 minutes sounds like a great idea:

Until you're working remotely or on a large model, and it takes 4 minutes to do each save.

krzystoff
Advocate
Of course in that case, Revit would clearly require an equivalent to
AutoCAD's SAVETIME variable, ie. an option to let you set the time between
automatic saves.


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GHASEM_ARIYANI
Advisor

 

hello

 

Please add AutoSave Feature in Revit new version.

 

So that it is optimized for the CPU.

 

 

shefypattambi
Collaborator

Revit does not even have  manners  to ask to save a recovery file like in ETABS when it is going to crash. ...Horrible..!!Smiley Mad

 

 

 

ETABS Warnings.jpg

lionel.kai
Advisor

@shefypattambi Actually, Revit usually DOES allow you to save a recovery file during MOST crashes - something I was pleasantly surprised about when I first encountered it many years ago. After all, if it knew it was about to crash, you'd think it would be able to prevent it. 🙂 I've even encountered "crashes" (with an option to save recovery file) that still allowed me to continue modeling afterwards (though you shouldn't, of course)! But there are a few cases (and I've seen them occasionally) where it's a "hard crash" with no warnings - I'm sure it's very difficult for the programmers to predict everything... hopefully you always click Save to the reminders (and have them set to the minimum time).

Anonymous
Not applicable

Right now Revit will only save a backup whenever you synchronize to the central file. I have lost hours of work multiple times because of Revit crashes without the option to save recovery files and it just happened again. Why doesn't it auto save backup files like normal projects? Please fix.

 

Btw that thing about recovering your files in the journals folder is totally useless. Every time I try that it says "the file is ridiculously large" and won't open.

Anonymous
Not applicable

In the interim, the obvious solution to this issue is to save more often, yeah?  I can't imagine working more than a half hour on a file without syncing back to central, much less hours.

 

That said, I do agree there should be some sort of auto-save to restore to when Revit crashes.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Maybe it's better when you have really large file to frequently save on the local copy because saving on the central takes a bit, especially for the large files.....By the way good idea.I will give my vote..:)

dplumb_BWBR
Advisor

I have a hard time explaining this to people in the office, but - especially with large models - the more often you SWC, the LESS time it takes.

If you Synch every 15 minutes, it might take you 4 * 1.25 minutes for a total of 5 minutes 

But if you wait and SWC after an hour, it's likely that that one SWC could easily take 10 minutes.

This is because when you SWC, you not only push your changes, but you pull everyone else's changes.

And in that hour, it's likely that your teammates have made a lot of changes and saved more than once.

Rambazamba73
Contributor

Autosave like in Autocad would be fine.

Come on guys, it`s 2018 now !

Hakochkarian
Observer

Please, instead of adding stupid new features that no one cares about, why don't you guys add autosave to this program. It is very needed. AutoCAD has it, why can't Revit have it?

ToanDN
Consultant

What stupid new features?

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