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Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites.

Known Issues

There are no known issues at this time.

Operation

Backup

To start a backup, either load an existing solution or create one. You will find the commands for VSBackup located in Tools --> VSBackup. Only full backups are performed.

There are two ways to start the backup process. The first way is to right-click on the solution and then click the VS Backup – Start Backup menu item on the context menu.

The other way is to click the Start Backup menu command located in the VSBackup menu on the Tools menu. If this is the first backup for the solution, the settings form will be displayed. Either change the location of the backup or accept the default backup location. See the Settings section for instructions. Click the OK button.

Once the backup process has completed, either success or failure, a message box will be displayed.

If you have selected the Backup Report option in Settings, the report will be diplayed in the output window.

Viewing Backups

To view a list of backups for the solution, click View -> Other Windows –VSBackups – Backups

A window with the backups associated with the solution will appear.

Each backup will have an image next to image denoting the type of backup.

Entries that have this image, will show that the backup was zipped. This image show that the folder was backed up without compression.

You can now sort the backup entries by either the name or by the Backup Date/Time. Click the column you want to sort by and it will sort by ascending or descending order.

• Hard Delete   Deletes the backup from the list as well as the backup location.


• Soft Delete     Deletes the backup from the backup list only.


• Restore             Restores a backup to a specified location.


• Refresh             Refreshes the backup list.


• From/To           Allows you to filter the backups by date. To revert to the complete list of backups, click the Refresh button.

To exclude items from the backup process, right-click on any document and select VSBackup - Exclude.

To include the item in the backup process, right-click on any document and select VSBackup - Include.

This feature is not available yet for directories. It will be added in a future release.

Restore

To restore a backup, select the backup from the Backups tool window.

Click the button labeled Restore on the Backups tool window, right-click on the selected backup and click Restore, or click the Restore button in the VSBackup menu.

When the dialog box appears, select the location where you want to restore the solution to. To make a new location, click the Make New Folder button. Click the OK button.

Once the restore process has completed, either success or failure, a message box will be displayed

Backup Note

You can add a note or edit an existing note to a backup.

Right-Click on the backup you want to enter a note for. Click the Edit Note menu item.

Enter the text of the note. To save the note, click the Save button. To cancel the save, click the Cancel button.

The icon will appear next to the backup.

To delete the note, click the Delete Note button.

Backup Tag

To add a tag, select the backup and then right-click. Click Add Tag.

This form will be displayed. Enter tag(s) and then end with a semi-colon. Click the Save button to save the tags. To close the form, click the Close button.

To view the tags associated with a backup, the backup will have the [icon] next to it, right-click on the selected backup and click on Add Tag.

To search for backup with a tag or tags, enter the tag(s) in the Search By Tag(s) textbox. Separate each with a comma. Click the Search button to initiate the search.

Backups meeting the criteria will then be listed.

To combine the date ranges with the tag search, select the proper operator from the drop-down and then clicking the Search button.

To clear the tag search textbox, click the Clear Filter button.

Backup Report

Backups that have a report, will have the next to it. To view the report, right-click on the selected backup, and then click on View Report.

The backup report will then open in Notepad.

Settings

To change the settings for the backup and restore, click the Settings menu command located in the VSBackup menu.

The following form will be displayed.

Backup Settings

Options

To access the options for VSBackup, you can click Tools  Options and scroll down to VSBackup or you can select the click the Options menu item on the VSBackup menu.

Backup Events

You can now back up your solution when an event fires in Visual Studio. Select either True or False from the drop down for each option and then click the OK button to save your changes.

Data File Backup

To back up the data file, go to Tools  Options  VSBackup and select the Data File Backup.

To keep to only a of certain of backups, change the Backups to Keep value by clicking the down or up arrow button.

To change when the data file will be backed up, select an option from the Backup Frequency drop-down. The Daily, Weekly, or Monthly options can only be chosen if a manual backup has been performed first. These backups will occur when the solution closes.

• Manual - The backup will not be done automatically and will be performed every time when the button is clicked.


• Daily - The backup will occur every day after the last backup date.


• Weekly - The backup will occur every 7 days after the last backup.


• Monthly - The backup will occur every 30 days after the last backup date.

To restore a data file backup, select the backup you want to restore from the list.

Then click the Restore button. You must close then open a solution to reload the backups for that solution.

General Settings

To turn on or to turn off the backup settings summary form, check or un-check the Show Backup Options Summary checkbox.

To initiate automatic backups at a specified interval which are in minutes, select the value from the drop down labeled Automatic Backup Interval. Selecting 0 will turn off the automatic backups.

Leaving Feedback

To leave a suggestion or feedback on how we can improve VSBackup or to rate VSBackup, click the Leave Feedback menu item.

Reporting Issues

To report an issue, click the Report a Problem a Problem menu command. The Report a Problem form will also be displayed if any catastrophic issue arises.