Snapshots and history

Kept versions of every document. Compare, restore, carry on.

Snapshots

A snapshot is a copy of a document as it was at a moment. Bakspace takes them itself:

the first time you change a document after opening the project,
every ten minutes while you keep writing in it,
before a restore, and before the Trash is emptied.

Take one yourself with Cmd Shift S whenever you are about to try something. It opens History with a box for a label, such as Before the big cut; press Enter to keep it, with or without one.

Snapshots live in the project folder under history/, travel with it, and are never thrown away.

History

Cmd Alt H, or History in the top bar, lists the snapshots of the document you are in, newest first. Each shows when it was taken, what took it (Auto, Manual, Before restore and so on) and its label if it has one.

Click one to compare it with the page as it is now. Words since removed are struck through; words since added are marked.

Comparing a snapshot with the page: a removed word struck through, added words marked, and the list of snapshots beside it

Restore this version puts the page back as it was in that snapshot. The page as it was just before is snapshotted first, as Before restore, so a restore can always be undone. Close goes back to writing. Right-click a snapshot for Compare with now and Restore this version without opening it first.

Project snapshots

Under Settings > Snapshots, Snapshot project takes every document at once, which is worth doing before a big restructure. Restoring one puts every document back as it was. The project as it stands is snapshotted first, so nothing since is thrown away.