Scenario I seem to run into all too often. I have several different files that I use for projects I have created over time. I will open the particular file, make small changes to names or logos to make it personalized to the client and instead of saving a copy with a new file name, I hit the save button. This often ruins my master copy of the file causing me to spend more time fixing it the next time its needed since I dont always catch my mistake before I close out the file so I lose the undo option.
Id like to see a feature that would give the user a master file option so when its saved you cant overwrite it without a warning message. Maybe could be a check box while naming the original file or a check box on the user interface screen.
A message would pop up simply notifying you this is a master file and to confirm you would like to save it instead of renaming it to save a copy.
That is a good idea but you can simply disable a toolpath and it is saved for future rerun if you move the object off the canvas. For instance you have a design with a name in text. Make the name a separate tool path and reuse the file and simply disable the text tool path and move the text off the canvas and save it as a new tool path and save the file. The disabled tool path is preserved and the new tool path will be cut on the project. Now if you remove the text the tool path disabled will be empty so I highlight the text and move it off the canvas so the tool path is not empty and you can move the new text off the canvas and move the original text back in place and either make a new tool path or enable the disabled tool path. Once you delete an object with a tool path the tool path is empty. So move the changes off the canvas and you can always move them back and enable the original tool path and disable the new text tool path once moved off the canvas.
Moving the text toolpath as mentioned would work for some. I have a US flag file though that I sometimes Boolean in logos which then ruins my master file as I have to recreate the stripes again.
Once you start using the layers feature you’ll see the value in it quickly. I recently I did a 9 tile project assigning a layer for each tile, all held in one file. So much nicer than having 9 files.
In windows Right Click on the file name and select properties. Check the box that says Read Only, Then Click on apply. You can still open the file but if you try to save it with the same name it will force you to save it with a new name. So your master file will never be overwritten…
If you try to do Save As with the same file name here’s the message you will see
If you try to do just Save here’s the message you will see
Either way your master file will always be protected
Of course if you do want to make changes to the master file you will have to turn off the Read Only before you open it so it can be saved. Or save it as a new file name. MasterFile-1, MasterFile-2, etc as an example
If your using CC V-7 and above you would only need to protect the .cd2 file because the toolpath is embedded in the .cd2 file. If your using an older version of CC where there is also an .nc file I would make both of them Read Only
This should give you what you were looking for using Windows functionality. I’m using Windows 10 but all versions of windows have this functionality. If your using a Mac or some other OS I don’t have a clue where to do this but I assume there is something similar.
