Backup File is an external written for use with OtherMenu which is a really cool utility written by James Walker.
Maybe I am just paranoid but when I am working on a long paper I get a little apprehensive that I may lose my work due to some mysterious system crash or other unseen development. I ususally use Mircosoft Word (why I don't know) and it has a 'Make Backup option', but that sometimes isn't enough for me so I wrote this external.
When envoked from the OtherMenu, Backup File will copy a single file of your choosing to anyplace that your mac has access to. If used repeatedly it can either delete the old version each time or will rename each new version with a number after the name. With this option you will not only have many backups of your work but you will have incremental versions as well. This is really nice because at any time you can go back and get work that you might have accidentally or even intentionally deleted or changed and now want back.
The settings dialog for OtherMenu externals can be accessed by holding down the shift key when choosing the external from OtherMenu. Clicking on each of the source and destination boxes will allow you to chose the file to backup and where to put it. The "Make multiple copies" option will keep all backups and renumber them in sequence as you make them.
If Backup File has a problem backing up your choices it will cause your machine to beep once. Possible problems include the file not existing, having a different name or begin open from another application. To use Backup File while working in MS Word, I suggest using Word's "Make backup" option and then setting Backup File to copy the Word backup rather than your original. That way you can run Backup File while still working on your document in Word.
All standard disclaimers are multiplied several times over here. OtherMenu uses undocumented features and I haven't tested this external on any machine other than mine. Use it but use it wisely.
This external is free copyrighted software but I would appreciate it if you would drop me a line if you use it. If you think it is really cool I can always use a few dollars but that is totally up to you. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
