AAARRRGGGHHH, lost all my changes!!

[Arkadian]

Right... I am going to do something BAD now... Like throwing the computer out of the window!!!

For the second time a file in my e-book has reverted to the original version and all changes have gone lost.
The first time I thought I had done something daft, but now I have re-done it, saving every 2 secs, but now it has gone back to the way it was originally.
I had formatted a table, added a box and made a few changes here and there. It all looked fine, I saved it,saved it and saved it, but now it has gone

Don't know what kind of info I could give you to actually help me, but if you had any insight at all, it would be most welcome.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Arkadian

Right... I am going to do something BAD now... Like throwing the computer out of the window!!!

Where they all belong - I assume your 12 floors up

Originally Posted by Arkadian

For the second time a file in my e-book has reverted to the original version and all changes have gone lost.
The first time I thought I had done something daft, but now I have re-done it, saving every 2 secs, but now it has gone back to the way it was originally.
I had formatted a table, added a box and made a few changes here and there. It all looked fine, I saved it,saved it and saved it, but now it has gone

Don't know what kind of info I could give you to actually help me, but if you had any insight at all, it would be most welcome.

@Arkadian - have you looked for in folders other the one you thought you saved it in. Try doing a search for the file name - I often use Agent Ransack to do this.

Is the folder you saved it in known to dropbox or anything similar, I don't trust those services since one of them lost all my data - fortunately it was only a secondary backup.

When I'm doing lots of edits, I use Save As with name as blahblah.1.epub, blahblah.2.epub.

BR

[PeterT]

Not being naive here, but could you maybe describe what you are editing and in what tool? Is this a book in your library being edited or ?

[Arkadian]

OK... third time lucky?

I have been redoing the same file and now only one change at the time, closed the editor and re-opened and the changes are there.

I am currently editing an epub using the e-book editor. Things have been going "smoothly" except of this one file.

I know, I could have been a dope and not saved my work, however:

1) I have edited 12 files so far, and only No. 009 is giving me problems.
2) it seems odd that I would NOT save the changes at all... I could understand if, say, the second half went lost, but no... the WHOLE LOT.
3) It has happened twice with the same file and not with different files.

In any case, so far so good, but I do feel a bit edgy...

[mrmikel]

If it is not copyrighted, it would be beneficial for all of us to see it so we can figure out why it is failing so dramatically.

[BetterRed]

@Arkadian - things that I would consider/try

I would not be working within a calibre library folder, if I have to do a lot of editing on a book I prefer to do the editing outside of the library folder, mainly to avoid having files like Daniel Defoe - Treasure Island.1.epub, Daniel Defoe - Treasure Island.2.epub in the Library folders.

What happens if I make similar changes to File 008 and File 009 and then do a save, is the change to File 008 saved and the change to File No 009 not?

Is there any significant difference between the header for File 009 and and the other files? Can't imagine what, unless something like - <file disposition="read-only"> - exists in XHTML specs.

I'd try renaming and/or moving the File 009 in the file list and doing the edits and save.

BR

[Arkadian]

Ok, there is something WRONG here...

What I am trying to do (BR I lost you entirely) is to fix the layout of my ebook which I created from a LO docx file, but the resulting EPUB, though OK, is not perfect.

I have found another file which has reverted to the original state and I DO remember changing it. Either something happens when I close the editor or when I undo or something... I don't know, but I cannot keep going back to redo work already done, otherwise I'll never come out alive here.

What is a better workflow to change things so that the changes DO stick? I need the preview because I am not nearly proficient enough to do without it.

TIA
(AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!)

[Arkadian]

OK, I am going DEMENTED!!

What I have done is as follows:
1) I have reopened all the files already done
2) I have renamed them and
3) exported (as HTML or XHTML) onto my computer

In doing so I have found 2 more files that have reverted to their original layout.
Not sure how to investigate this matter, but there MUST be a bug somewhere...

In any case, I trust that if the files are now in my computer they should be safe enough...
(although I am not sure I know how to reimport a file if needs be. It should be "file/import file in book")

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Arkadian

What is a better workflow to change things so that the changes DO stick? I need the preview because I am not nearly proficient enough to do without it.

TIA
(AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!)

The editor (and Sigil) has a preview pane that can be open if you have the screen real estate (I have an old 1024x768 monitor Above my main screen for things like that )

Never have your book in Edit mode in 2 places. One can block the other (or worse)

[Arkadian]

I do know the editor has a preview mode... This is what I currently using. Shame that it is changing back some of my edited files to the original layout

Don't know Sigil, although I have heard it mentioned. Do I really want to learn something new at this stage? I would rather not, unless there is a very compelling reason.

[BetterRed]

I seriously doubt your problems have anything to do with the calibre editor preview pane.

If the calibre-editor was losing edits this sub-forum would be full of complaints.

BR

[Arkadian]

Indeed... but have you got any suggestion as to what might cause it?
I must be doing something that it is triggering it.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Arkadian

I do know the editor has a preview mode... This is what I currently using. Shame that it is changing back some of my edited files to the original layout

Don't know Sigil, although I have heard it mentioned. Do I really want to learn something new at this stage? I would rather not, unless there is a very compelling reason.

You need to spend some time with the Editor tutorial, Explore the VIEW Menus.

Time to learn? You may have spent more time in this topic.

Note: Learning the 'Editor' is NOT learning basic HTML/CSS

Calibre (and Sigil) have specialized EBOOK specific HTML and CSS tools to make the edit easier.

Notepad++ is a fine editor but it does not offer the easy to use EBOOK extras.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Arkadian

Indeed... but have you got any suggestion as to what might cause it?

No.

But I did make some suggestions as to how I would go about finding out what was happening - did you try any of them ?

Originally Posted by Arkadian

I must be doing something that it is triggering it.

Indeed, but I can't see what you're actually doing - so I have to try to imagine what you are doing

One scenario I suggested was that when you Save the book, you're not saving it where you think you're saving it and I suggested you search for it.

If you initiate the save with ctrl/s or click the Save button and for some reason the editor doesn't have at least one file marked as changed. then nothing happens. In that case File->Save will be disabled (grey), however, a ctrl/s or a click on the save button will do nothing; you get no 'nothing to save' warning, but nor would you get any such warning in any other programs I can think of.

Actually the save button is greyed out, but on my rig with my eyes that's hard to discern with the 'standard' icon, so I override the grey snail (save.png) with a blue diskette, it makes it more obvious because the blue becomes grey when there are no changed files.

I prefer to use Save As (in all programs), its explicit, I can knowingly save over something and consciously say Yes to overwrite it, then if anything goes wrong I know I did it. And it gives me a primitive version control ability using my filename.number.ext convention.

Another scenario is that you may be inadvertently initiating the Edit->Revert to initial state feature.

BR

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Arkadian

Indeed... but have you got any suggestion as to what might cause it?
I must be doing something that it is triggering it.

I don't know what has been causing your hiccups. The only time I lost changes was when I mistakely took the Revert arrow as a back navigation arrow (like the back button in a web browser). I accidentally lost my position in a book I was editing and clicked the revert arrow thinking it was a Back navigation arrow. I did not go back to my last position as expected and all of my changes vanished.

Since I could see myself making this mistake again I removed the arrows from toolbar.

Good Luck.