“Thanks to Lion, lost work could become a thing of the past,” Laurence Cable reports for TechRadar UK. “Barring the failure of your Mac’s hard drive, you need no longer worry about losing work if the app in question crashes.”
“This is because OS X Lion has two clever systems built into it: Auto Save and Versions,” Cable reports. “Provided you’re using an app that has support for these two features built in, your Mac automatically saves what you do as you go along.”
Cable reports, “And if youlater decide you want to jump back to an older version of the file, Versions enables you to do just that. We’re going to take a look at how these two systems work so that you can make the most of them.”
Read more in the full article here.
AutoSave should be more reliable:
FCP X:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread/3156383
Pages:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3226457
I found it the opposite. I’ve lost files thanks to Lion…
FCP crashes, no problem – autosaved. Motion 5 crashes, you’re starting over.
Really? Not me, I set Motion’s Autosave Vault time to 5 mins. If I crash I then open the last saved project.
Sounds like you should give it a try?
It’s a nice idea, but I’m not too keen on the implementation. I’d like to have my “Save As…” option back thanks.
Me too. It has its uses. Now, when updating my CV I have to create a duplicate version before I edit it. I save them based upon the date – for example – “CV_2011-11-20”.
I’m not sure why you say you ‘have’ to create a duplicate version. you can just unlock the version you have, make changes.
if you want multiple versions based on date, then it makes sense to make duplicates every time you make a change (you think is important).
I keep multiple versions of screenplays I am working on but for other docs, I just unlock, add changes and I’m done.
Because a different organization requires a different type of CV (ex. hospital vs. insurance company), I do have to create different versions. Frequently, I need to go back to a certain version and change things so I can resubmit it. I actually simplified things a bit. My files actually are usually titled, “CV(long)_2011-11-20” or “CV(hospital)_2011-11-20” for example.
Does CV (long) refer to any part of your anatomy? For X-Ray purposes of course.
My CVs are always filed under CV (rack), referring of course to the interviewer’s blonde ambition.
Yes, and I have a CV (tore in), CV (stretched to the max), and CV (call 911). Increasing severity. Of course.
You don’t have to create a duplicate before you edit. Like always, you can start editing and then decide whether to save the changes or not. It works like this…edit, then choose Duplicate. While the duplicate will always include your edits, the OS asks what you want to do with the original–include the edits or not.
All you have to do is Click File->Export and you can save into the format you want.
Not a very good implementation. It’s difficult to figure sometimes.
It’s a pita when editing multiple photos. Nothing like editing pics only to have them revert after lion decides they are locked.
Throw in Time Machine and you’re virtually indestructible.
Sorry…but I’m willing to take the risk of lost files if I could get Save As back.
Some people who work with hundreds of thousands of files back up all the time and constantly save. I’m one of those people. I can’t remember when I’ve “lost” work or lost files.
On the other hand, I’m still fighting mad about what Apple has done regarding versions and autosave. There is ZERO REASON why those can’t be preferences that someone CHOOSES to use or not. I can’t tell you how many times in the past few months I’ve opened an old file, started to work on it by changing things only to realize that I’m messed up because I’ve changed an old file and stupid Lion has saved the results to the SAME FILE rather than let me decide when to save and how to save by using Save As.
Yes, I know I can go back and restore the original version, but what a time waster.
Now, I have to think ahead when I open an old file and usually duplicate it before I even open it. That’s ridiculous.
I’m sorry, but this “feature” in Lion is simply another thing that had dumbed down the Mac OS so that all the idiots in the world can buy a Mac and do things without screwing up their files. I don’t need that kind of hand holding. I HATE IT!!!
“I can’t tell you how many times in the past few months I’ve opened an old file, started to work on it by changing things only to realize that I’m messed up because I’ve changed an old file and stupid Lion has saved the results to the SAME FILE rather than let me decide when to save and how to save by using Save As.”
Nothing is messed up. In this situation, choosing Duplicate is exactly the same thing as Save As. Both let you save the edited document with a new name in a new location, and while Save As always leaves the original intact, Duplicate asks if you want to do so.
Exactly. No functionality has been lost. You just need to start thinking about it in a different way.
——RM
The problem with the new “Duplicate” is that it confusingly serves several 2 (“DUAL”) functions. Save As… Move… (old)Duplicate, some of those being used in the Finder, others accessible through app menus.
Not up on Lion yet, but went by the Apple Store and tried the save issues.
I hope Apple changes options or preferences but in the mean time.
Every time I open an old file I figure I need to dupe & change the suffix (whether letter or date) so I don’t get myself confused.
I want my own control over this an see the need for a Finder or System Preference.
It can NOT be that hard to offer to customers. Only the die hards w/10s of thousands of files might use it, but there are lots of us.
I think all this to-do over autosave, natural scrolling, and the Duplicate command would go away if the Mac technophobes got over themselves, learned them and got used to them. Unfortunately, they are all vandalizing Lion to regress it to Snow Leopard, they aren’t giving Lion a chance, so we will hear this belly-aching over nothing for a long time to come.
Mac users resistant to change, new ideas, and new technology: whodathunkit.
Typical koolaid drinker. Anyone with a complaint needs to “get over themselves”, “stop complaining” and just deal with it.
What a worthless outlook.
Sorry dude, but he has a point here. The history of Apple is a history of people whining when Apple makes them do things in a different way, only to accept it later when hindsight reveals it to have been obviously the right choice. “Waah, I want my floppy drive back”, “Waah, my new iPod doesn’t work with Firewire”, etc.
You watch: In 3-5 years, all Mac and Windows apps will be implementing “save” in this fashion, and we’ll wonder what all the fuss was about.
(As for “natural scrolling”… Yeah, I turned it off, but only because I have to use a Windows PC at work. I don’t feel like dealing with scrolling one way on my work machine and another way at home.)
——RM
Any OS worth a d**n already has this implemented at the filesystem level. No messing around with application support or changed dialogues. It’s just plain done behind the scenes in a transparent way with a convenient way to access previous versions using the filesystem interface. Write your applications to autosave and don’t normally even worry because it’s rarely needed and easy to get your old version back if you do. The interface stays the same until you need to restore. Some implementations even archive old versions to a backup or allow you to create ‘delta’ patches. Sadly, even years after it became common on servers, it’s unheard of on consumer machines to have version control tools out of the box. Not everyone is a programmer so the manufacturers just assume it’s not needed. The same reasoning is why backup tools aren’t used by most people… They’re not automatic or convenient enough to setup and they don’t advertise the feature too well when it exists. Thank you Apple for finally doing something that makes sense. Almost no one else does this!
I’m curious enough to want to see how well it works in the Apple implementation. More application support and a good implementation at the OS level could make it simpler to get your old versions and save as a different name.
Some may think that Lion is near perfect and users should not complain, however, from where I stand Apple has made a big mistake with Lion.
Everyone of my Mac clients who purchased Lion has reverted back to Snow Leopard after testing Lion. I don’t have a single Mac client who likes it! In fact, I know several people who have switched to Windows 7 as their default environment after testing Lion. Which is a shame because Lion has some nice features. However, the inability to change certain settings really has impacted my clients.
“In fact, I know several people who have switched to Windows 7 as their default environment after testing Lion.”
Now that is a bit extreme…are you sure that Lion was the root cause? Or were these people just aching to get cosy with MS again? Any excuse will do in a pinch.
Not to worry Windows 8 “transgender Xtreme signature edition” with metro will send them all right back to OS X regardless of “save as” being gone.
Lion was definitely the cause. Before Lion the clients were quite happy with the Mac. I also have several clients who have postponed new Mac purchases while they are waiting to see if Apple will address the issues with Lion. This is unusual because I can always count on my Mac clients to have enthusiasm for all things Apple. With Lion that is not the case.
Here are the top issues my clients have mentioned:
Autosave slows down computer when using large files.
Versions takes a lot of hard drive space when working with large images.
Loss of Save As
Automatic Termination of Applications – Clients frequently open up programs such as grab and preview and switch to them as necessary via the dock or command tab. These programs frequently don’t have an open window, however, they are used for a minute or two several times an hour. Beginners are really confused when their program just disappears, power users are irritated.
Lion won’t let users trash documents – see the following link:
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/09/07/apple_mac_os_x_lion_the_nanny_os/
Security issues with versions. – Clients do not like the idea that previous drafts are accessible from inside the document by anyone who might access to machine.
Resume – clients don’t want all the same apps open every time they log in. If Auto Resume is turned off, the user should not have to uncheck the box asking “Reopen windows when logging back in”. Unselecting this feature each time is a pain. More serious is the bug that under certain circumstances, e.g. an installer forces the restart, you don’t get that dialog and so you get no choice. And the result is that Installer app opens again after the relaunch, totally inappropriately!”
Loss of Colored Icons in Finder – I have been helping clients and students now for over 15 years with computers. If there is anything that I have learned over this time period, it is that color is very important to help users select the right icon. You can describe the icon as much as you like, but the user will frequently select the wrong icon. However, when you say click on the green icon, the communication problem disappears.”
Loss of scroll arrows – makes small movements in Excel difficult. More importantly it kills the foot mouse software the orchestra uses during practice and concerts. Quick tap on foot mouse to move the music down.
Agreed. Not to mention the thousands of dollars in software upgrades and the total elimination of hundreds of irreplaceable applications caused by the loss of Rosetta. This would be a lot easier to understand if Lion added any features of real value instead of the dumbed down nonsense many are struggling with now. The loss of Save As simply trades off the potential for one kind of mistake, forgetting to save, with another, forgetting to follow the convoluted logic defying Duplicate procedure. The result is a seriously degraded user experience caused by an operating system that appears to be the result of some misguided focus group driven mania to fix something that wasn’t broken.
Where is the entire flow chart for EXACTLY what happens under all scenarios with AutoSave?
I simply don’t understand what is going on which is being described by various users on different forums about things they say are going wrong.
No definitive answers seem to be emerging.
With PhotoShop files being much larger than text/word processing files, would Auto Save make since or be practical for PhotoShop?
I, for one, will NEVER update to Lion as long as there is not a “Save As…”. Apple seema to assume everyone is stupid.
Lets say I open a file called Christmas List 2010.pages. I start editing it because I got some things on the list and their are some new things I want. I need to save it, but obviously I want to change the name of the file to indicate it is my 2011 list. i would just as soon keep the original Christmas List 2010.pages file as it was when I opened it. In Snow Leopard I would choose Save As… and I could save it as Christmas List 2011.pages. In Lion I would choose Duplicate. I would get an alert box asking me to choose Duplicate and Revert, Cancel, or Duplicate. I would choose Duplicate and Revert. Now I would have two files open, the original Christmas List 2010.pages and a new Christmas List 2010 copy.pages. When I close Christmas List 2010 copy.pages or choose to save it I will be prompted to supply a name and location to save it at which time I can name it Christmas List 2011.pages. Lion adds a step or two relative to Snow Leopard but gives you more flexibility in what you can do. I could have chosen Duplicate in which case the original file would have included all the changes I made as would have the copy. Doesn’t seem that complicated. Can’t understand why people are making such a big deal about this.
Duplicate & Revert, or Duplicate or Cancel…yeah, that’s so Apple like in its simplicity…NOT.
Why the “Save a Version” command couldn’t coexist w/the traditional “Save” and “Save As…” is beyond me.
And if I open a document and accidentally edit it, I’d like to be reminded of that when closing the doc or app. Just blindly saving what’s there is nuts. The “locking” time seems a poor solution to a problem they invented.
It may be a nice feature to use sometimes, but I can’t stand the fact I can open a file and either inadvertently edit it, or willfully edit as an experiment, then close the document and am NOT prompted to save or discard my changes anymore…it overwrites my “good” version. How dumb. I have to revert back after experimentation or after I notice the inadvertent changes.
Whoops! Good thing I didn’t choose to email that file out, ’cause my accidental edits or experimental changes would go out!
This so totally reminds me of all the whining, teeth-gnashing, and rending of garments when the transition from Mac OS 9 to OS X began 10 years ago. Remember all the hysterical predictions that Apple was killing the Macintosh? How disaffected Apple users would flock to Windows rather than learn the new system?
Seems to me everything worked out okay. People need to take a deep breath and actually try the new system before deciding it doesn’t work.
——RM
I would like AutoSave, if it would work reliably. Unfortunately I’ve already lost work (last modifications of Pages files before closing them). (see link in first post at the top)
You should have heard the Apple users when the Mac came out.
Talk about howling and gnashing of teeth.
<<<< Apple II user who finally gave in to the evil IBM clones. 😉
Yeah, the games were the last thing I gave up on since I could use emulators to run my disk images on. It was weird having to transfer everything over a serial cable hack instead of just reading them directly. Many games didn't easily read or work without patches… 🙁
The Mac interface was pretty easy to 'get' since it looked a lot like the Geos 64 and IIgs GUI interfaces I was used to. Windows 3.1 was vastly simpler but it was more of a shell than a full interface. The "Program Manager" was really no different than links to the programs. The Macs had a little more features built into the top bar such a neat (at the time) builtin clock and a list of previously run applications. Think of it – you didn't have to go through the finder or type some path everytime! (haha, we're spoiled now) Yes, in Windows 95, Microsoft basically copied those 2 features from Apple. Not that they didn't exist before on other GUIs and even plugins for Windows 3.1! 😉
I don’t really remember that. I remember people really looking forward to the Mac OS X paradigm change. Most of us knew the legacy Mac operating system was band aided to the breaking point.
I have upgraded to each major version of Mac OS X without hesitation. However, I am still on Snow Leopard because of the concerns I have read about with autosave, versions and resume on Lion. It seems like Apple is trying to solve a problem that is not there, and creating more problems in the process. I have no problem with change normally, as I mentioned I really enjoyed the transition from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X.
I’ve tried it. I use it grudgingly every day.
It SUCKS…it is SO non-intuitive, so poorly executed it’s as if they hired some Microsoft programmers to come in and do the work. See my post below….and one other thing..While composing an email with four or more windows open…it will RANDOMLY choose to move the active email composition window UNDER all others…all on its own…no warning..just disappears. It does this REPEATEDLY until you close ALL other windows….Oh yeah…Lion is easily the single worst piece of software I’ve EVER used…and that include trying to get online in 1997 with GeoPort…Lion isn’t just dumbed down and oddly made to be like a tablet (why?) it’s just dumb and frankly very poorly written software….It’s not even amateur…it’s like something a beginners committee created.
it’s never a good idea to leave the backing up of your files solely to your computer/cloud.
let the machines/software help you with back-up but you should be manually backing up and verifying as well.
On the contrary, if you’re needing to manually verify a backup because you’re afraid of it being corrupted, you’re Doing It Wrong. Better systems will periodically check for errors and fix them BEFORE your backups become useless. Now as far as a backup being of any use to get your system to the exact state it was when the backup was done, that’s a different matter. Some systems only backup your data files and you’ll have to reinstall all your 3rd-party applications again to be able to actually use your backup. This is why when I get a system set up with everything the way I want, I make a partition image and tape the DVD sleeve/s to the inside of the case cover. That’s a pretty hard place to lose them at! 😉 It’s nice to just restore your system to the exact state without doing anything more complicated than putting some DVDs in and telling it “Yes, I really want to overwrite the whole thing!”. I want to see if a Mac has a way of automatically keeping your important stuff (data) on it’s own partition when you install it. It’s a lot less painful if you ever have to pay someone to recover your data… Because you didn’t do backups(d’oh!). Also a lot less painful to move all your stuff over. Or does the newer Macs’ OS do like Vista (ugh, my brother runs that!) and have some user settings and data import wizard? I’d be thinking the latter from the way Apple usually does stuff. Probably even burns and verifies your DVD backup, hehe.
My last Mac was pre-OSX, sadly. I’m thinking of picking up a used one of the newer models to use as a file server and web browser. I guess this is the right site to start looking for information, heh. I’m also wondering if Mac OSX has something like the Windows and Linux tools to make a disc that automatically installs 3rd-party applications. It’s nice to have everything working without going through a billion installers and updates and some stupid DRM that only lets you install to the (same exact) system so many times and… ugh
Deeply disliking Lion.
When you work in a MIXED software environment using photoshop AND preview Text Edit AND illustrator or Word…
The problem is you must mentally note WHICH program you are working in and VERY often as you naturally make a change in a file (say one stored on a linked server)…it has CHANGED that file. Yes..you can go BACK open up versions go through it to find it restore it…but ARE YOU F_ing KIDDING ME? The Apple centric reasoning is understandable. It’s a paradigm shift. But it’s foolish in the extreme and ignorant of how people work outside the Apple bubble.
AND…Does this happen to you now?
Go to Spotlight
look for a file
It then proceeds to essentially lock up the page as it produces HUNDREDS of results completely UNRELATED to your search term. It assumes that the TIME of the file save is the most relevant information organization pattern but NOT THE ACTUAL FILE NAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you then REFINE the search by giving it a file TYPE…it reduces the number of total results but often does not put the file you seek at the top of the results. I truly DETEST the new Spotlight index search results. IT DOES NOT WORK WELL…It literally gets in the way.
One last thing…when using Lion…go to Duplicate, once every four times or so, it just crashes Text Edit or Preview. This does not work either…
Lion frankly sucks in a number of significant ways.
Worst. OS. Upgrade. Ever.
I’m having issues with QuickTime. Can’t close individual windows and holding the Option key while quitting the App closes all of the open windows doesn’t help my work flow at all. There are none of the close/minimize/expand (red/yellow/green) buttons to perform these functions, so if I open the wrong file, decide I’m done with it, I can’t close that window/document without Option-Quitting the App and then reopen the files I want. Damned annoying! Not a fan of the AutoSave “feature” either since I am constantly working on multiple variations of documents for various purposes.