After upgrade, all self-defined formats disappear?!

[yinglam]

Hello,

I have defined and added a lot of format rules under the Turabian formats. Today I found out all of them disappear. I can still see their name under the drop-down box of "Add Types", but after I choose anyone of them, they are just the default format rules.

Have anyone experienced such kind of woes? I can think of nothing but the action that I did a few days ago: upgrading the bookends. ........

Very upset.

YingLam

[Jon]

When you make new formats they are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Bookends/Custom Formats, and are safe when you upgrade. If you *modify* existing formats you must move them there, too, or of course they'll be replaced when you upgrade. BTW, if you used Sparkle to upgrade, the old formats will be in the Trash (unless you've emptied the Trash).

Jon
Sonny Software

[chahn]

I just discovered that modified formats will be overwritten upon upgrading as well (and unfortunately had already emptied the trash). Jon, might I suggest including a warning to users when they upgrade (or making a backup of all formats a default behavior)? As a user, I didn't expect the formats to be overwritten, and I suspect that there are others who were caught surprised as well.

While it might be an "of course" issue to you because you know how the formats are stored in the application, I certainly didn't make that connection on my own (and if I would have thought about it, I probably would have guessed that the format info is stored separately from the application).

[Jon]

Hi,

There is a warning in the Bookends Read Me and User Guide in the sections that tell you how to install upgrades. But of course most people don't read. I have considered having Bookends automatically move any of the formats/filters we supply to the Custom folders (assuming there isn't a format/filter of the same name there) when the users modifies them. Anyone object to that?

Jon
Sonny Software

[yinglam]

Yes, by the grace of the Lord, I recover the format rules after going to the trash. Although I thought of this method by myself, I have to say thanks to the support here for their quick supply...this is awesome quickness.

And I agree that there should be some kind of improvement over the ways the modified formats are handled.......................

Very relieved and happy.

YingLam

[yinglam]

And it is absolutely a miracle that I have not emptied the trash for the past 3 weeks after upgrading.........

Thanks God..............

Thank you again for the kind support here.........................

YingLam

[ozean]

Anyone object to that?

not me

[Jon]

If ozean thinks it's a good idea, I do too.

You'll see this in the next update.

Jon
Sonny Software

[yinglam]

Hi,

Has this update been done?

YingLam

[ozean]

Yes, it has.

[yinglam]

I think it is still not working.
I upgraded Bookends, and yes, I saw the modified formats were still there....but when I scanned a document from Mellel, the effects are gone. That is, the scanning treated my references in a unmodified English Books way. I am making some Chinese formats using the Turabian and Turabian footnote.

But thanks God, I kept the those 2 rules. I replaced those 2 rules and then restarted Bookends. And I do the Mellel scanning again.

You know what, it works.

How come?

Thanks for your attention. I am not much disappointed, but puzzled.

Thank you.

[Jon]

Hi,

I'm not sure from you description exactly what happened, but you have to select the right format when you scan. If the format of the same name exists in the custom folder, then Bookends will use that one. I'm guessing that you left your custom formats in the plain Formats folder (in the Bookends 10 folder) and haven't edited them since the feature that moves edited formats for you automatically was added. Make sure your custom formats are in the correct folder, or they will be replaced when you upgrade Bookends.

Jon
Sonny Software

[yinglam]

Hi Jon,

Thank you for your clarification. BTW, is there a place talking about his new feature....sort of like a manual?

YingLam

[Jon]

Hi,

The User Guide is available on our download page

http://www.sonnysoftware.com/download/download.html

Jon
Sonny Software

[dspedersen]

Hi,

The User Guide is available on our download page

http://www.sonnysoftware.com/download/download.html

Speaking of which: Is it possible to make some sort of version check on the User Guide; for instance, if it is the knew one, you will get the offer of downloading the new one and, hence, a link to get it from? Not that it is much of a problem for me though; I just tend not to get the newest User Guide whenever there is new features added to BE, but usually finds out I have an old one and get the new one manually.