It goes without saying that it is extremely important to make backups of data just in case of computer failure or you need to revert back to a particular stage. doogiePIM has a utility to create a ZIP or EXE Archive of a selected folder. It is useful to have all your data from one main folder so you can manage where files are located easier.
See Introduction to Data Files for more information on where doogiePIM data is located on your hard disk.
There are a couple of ways to backup your data. You could use the built-in "Backup Database" command. This will create a copy of your database to the location you specify. This is the simplest and quickest method because you don't have to close your database.
To make a quick backup of your database
Select from the main menu, File/Backup database files, or
Click on the main toolbar icon,
This backup is generally fine for everyday backups. It will quickly create a single database file in the folder of your choosing. However, this won't backup any of your doNotes or other settings within the doogiePIM folder. To make a backup of your data files folder, you will need a third party option to copy the folder to storage or use the built-in File Archiver.
Using the File Archiver
The other option is to use the Files Archiver. This essentially creates a ZIP file. This will let you backup a whole folder, including the application folder, settings, doNotes, sub-folders, databases, everything.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: If your archive is to contain the database that is currently open you should always close it first, before archiving files. This is due to a Windows file restriction on open files.
The steps to take would be:
1. Close the current database. From the main menu choose [File/Close Current Database].
2. Now open the Archiver. From the Tools menu choose [Tools/Archive Files...]
3. Enter the archive parameters and begin archiving. Choose ZIP in order to be compatible with Windows unpacking systems.
Choosing the "C:\BiteSpire\doogiePIM\Data Files" folder, will ensure a complete backup of all files in the Data Files folder and below.
Choosing the "C:\BiteSpire\doogiePIM\" folder, this ensures a complete backup including all settings and all browser cache, cookies. The advantage of this, is that you can take this archive unzip and run doogiePIM on a new machine without any installation.
The doogiePIM backup system can create two types of archive:
1. Easy Restore Executable
This is an application file, just like doogiePIM, but works like a mini-application. All your data and special extraction program code to extract the data is contained all in one file. You don't need any third party software to get the data out of the archive. That is why you may wish to consider using the password protection options.
To restore data from this type of archive, you just use the File Explorer and run it like a normal application.
2. Zip Archive
This file format is compatible with all Zip archiving software. Windows has now started to take notice of this format and even provides features for reading Zip files directly. The file extension is .zip.
Click Tools / Archive Files or Press F6:
When you make a backup archive, the "Current Backup Number" will increment automatically up to the maximum specified. Then it goes back to 1 again. The resulting filename will be created comprising of the "Archive Filename Prefix" and the backup number, as indicated by the "Archive Filename" preview in the window. This enables you to have different versions each time you make a backup.
Note: You can only choose folders to include in the archive. The sub-folders of the folder you've chosen will automatically be included in the archive.
