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Typically when I want to restore, say, a Microsoft Word document from backup, it's usually within 5 seconds of accidentally clicking "Save" when I actually meant to click "Don't Save" in the dialog box that pops up when attempting to exit with unsaved changes. Unfortunately, schedule-based backup software doesn't really cover this type of scenario.
That said, is there any backup software out there that will make a backup every time a change is made to a file?
Not practical for most users. For instance, if you are in Word and you start typing then you want a auto save for every letter you type? That's what you are asking for. Not going to happen. Check in the application for frequency of auto saving.
Save the file to dropbox. It creates regular backups, every time it's saved actually, it has a backup of the previous save. I use dropbox for all my current projects and move it off there to my server when done. That way you can recover from an instance just like you stated. I think there is a time limit though, something like 30 days. After 30 days any previous backups are wiped.
AFAIK when I use MS Office it does save it automatically if I don't save by command it does it by default. So what version of Microsoft Word are we talking about here? What your asking is almost next to impossible to do unless there is some kinda sync software that works with Office and I don't recall Office having such options to do that.
Look, he asked for a backup every time a change is made. That means a backup at every keystroke. No software does that kind of backup. Word will backup at certain intervals.
That would work, it can be distracting though, but it would get the job done if only temporarily. OneDrive also supports version history, I've recovered some documents that way, but I am unsure of the frequency at which changes are saved.
Yeah, it's really a conundrum for backup software makers and the people that would like certain features. For example, even if you back up every minute every time the document is opened that is going to be a high amount of backup versions in most cases. The time it would take to wade through and find the one...
I use track changes all of the time and it is really useful. Most people make word changes, sentence and phrase changes, paragraph changes, grammar and punctuation in small chunks to the original - tracking picks up everything.
One of the ways to use it without getting distracted is to set the view to "Final". In this mode the highlighted changes aren't showing and one can edit away just like a normal document. A couple backups and user versioning makes it easy to go back and reverse a change. Just don't accept all changes or discard unless absolutely certain that is what is desired and is final.
Office 2010 in addition also makes comparing two documents super easy. Compare and create a new document based on the differences of two, (or more?), with one as the original reflecting the others differences.
Applying a password also helps stop inadvertently accepting or rejecting changes. Just remove the password as the administrator of the document and decide which changes to keep when ready.
Indeed, I never asked for whatever it is TreeTops Ranch seems to be thinking. What I asked for is a backup every time a change is made
to a file, i.e. when the contents on the HDD/SSD have changed.
In Word, that only happens when the user explicitly saves the document.
So when you press save, you want the backup software to be actively monitoring, detect the archive attribute and then back up?
What I'm understanding is that you need something more intelligent than run of the mill software for this because it is too easy to forget.
If that is the case - there is software that comes with WD backup drives, and IIRC a product called Time Machine that I once considered.
It seems over the top to backup that frequently, restore a file and make changes - decide those changes are unneeded but make a mistake and save them anyway. There is still the original backup that it came from. Why not before editing just click the file once then key Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V and make a copy that way.
Then again, other peoples workflows and habits might need something more strenuous, I guess.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
