Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

When is a save not a save?

DGSketcher
Legend
I just shouted very loudly at the screen using a four letter expletive, sorry if you heard it.

Apparently despite hitting save several times, if you then modify a drawing and don't like what you see, don't rely on opening the LAST save from the recent files menu. AC20 assumes you want to go back to when you FIRST opened the file and scraps all subsequent changes including the last save.

Two hours of tedious amendments lost...
Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)
13 REPLIES 13
Barry Kelly
Moderator
I am confused.
If you did save the file then the one in your job folder will be the last save and should work perfectly fine when you open it.
It should still be there now (unless you have resaved that old file you managed to open).
Simply closing the file and not saving then re-opening it is all you need to do.

Or are you saying you force quit Archicad (there was no need to do that) and have then allowed it to open the autosave?
If so it may well have been an old autosave somehow.
When you save the file it should erase the current autosave and then re-create it as you continue to work.
Somehow (and I don't know how) you must have had an old autosave stuck in the system.

If you haven't resaved that autosave file then the file in your job folder should be your last save of the original file that you remember doing.
If you have saved it but only once there should be a BPN file in your job folder which will be your old save.
If you saved the autosave more than twice you are out of luck.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
DGSketcher
Legend
I am confused too Barry!

Workflow basically went like this...

Open Job.pln and carry out changes.
Hit SAVE from file menu.
Make further experimental changes which I didn't like.
While Job.pln is still open Select Open > Job.pln from file menu.
Respond "yes" to discard changes.
Project opened with version of Job.pln from when it was last opened not saved

Perhaps it's a Mac thing or it may even be by design at GS's end depending on your interpretation of "Discard changes".
Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)
DGSketcher
Legend
Now had a chance to do a quick test after an AC restart, SAVE / OPEN is working as it should. Guess it was one of those Sod's Law moments when you're under pressure to send to the client and something will go wrong.

Still, I'm going to be a bit more cautious with this in future...
Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)
Barry Kelly
Moderator
Not sure why it wouldn't have worked before but as you say may just have been a one off.
I would normally close what was open first or open a second Archicad to open the original file.
I don't think I have ever tried to open the same file without closing it off first.
Maybe I will give it a try to see what happens.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
It also depends on what window/tab was open when you did a Save. If you are looking at an image and do a save, for example, it does NOT save the PLN. A few other similar situations. Most views do save the PLN, but you're always 100% safe if you save from a 2D plan view.
One of the forum moderators
AC 28 USA and earlier   •   macOS Sequoia 15.2, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
DGSketcher
Legend
Thank you Karl! That has probably nailed it. I was messing with hiding objects in the 3D window temporarily for rendering purposes. I was hoping to restore them back to their saved state quickly by reopening the file. Thinking back I'm fairly sure I was hitting save while I was in a 3D window.

Lesson learned: Always save from plan view.
Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)
Erwin Edel
Rockstar
I was going to say, lauch a 2nd instance of ArchiCAD, but I think on MAC this is hard to do?

I do open the PLN a 2nd time sometimes, to see how far up ... creek I've gone and if it can be salvaged by going back to the last saved state. Just open it read only, no harm done. No need to close it first.
Erwin Edel, Project Lead, Leloup Architecten
www.leloup.nl

ArchiCAD 9-26NED FULL
Windows 10 Pro
Adobe Design Premium CS5
David Maudlin
Rockstar
Erwin wrote:
I was going to say, lauch a 2nd instance of ArchiCAD, but I think on MAC this is hard to do?
No, there is a check box in the Open dialog box to "Launch a new instance of ArchiCAD" when opening another file, or in the New Project dialog box when opening a new file.

David
David Maudlin / Architect
www.davidmaudlin.com
Digital Architecture
AC27 USA • iMac 27" 4.0GHz Quad-core i7 OSX11 | 24 gb ram • MacBook Pro M3 Pro | 36 gb ram OSX14
Erwin Edel
Rockstar
David wrote:
Erwin wrote:
I was going to say, lauch a 2nd instance of ArchiCAD, but I think on MAC this is hard to do?
No, there is a check box in the Open dialog box to "Launch a new instance of ArchiCAD" when opening another file, or in the New Project dialog box when opening a new file.

David
Right, but in windows you just launch a brand new session of archicad so to speak, where as you need to access the open dialogue from your active session on Mac? I don't often work on our Macs in the office, but I would like the option to just start a new archicad without going through the menu of opening, new etc
Erwin Edel, Project Lead, Leloup Architecten
www.leloup.nl

ArchiCAD 9-26NED FULL
Windows 10 Pro
Adobe Design Premium CS5