Backup Enhancements

BUILT-IN ZIP SUPPORT

Previously clients could optionally compress their backup files with Winzip if they had this third party program installed. We have now incorporated built-in support for zip files so that Access Anaesthetics can zip and unzip files without requiring Winzip or any other utility. (This also allows AA to automatically unzip files in the Web and Disk update procedures.)

BACKUP CHANGES

The standard backup function now uses built in zip compression to create backup files. A password may optionally be added to the zip file - improving security for your data. The zip file contains the standard data file, AAUser.mdb. This naming convention will be helpful in restoring data files since no file renaming will be required.

You can specify the name of the backup file as usual, and store the default name so you don't need to add it each time. There is a new option to add a date/time flag to the file name so that serial backups can be performed. That is, rather than overwrite the backup file each time, a new file is created with a date/time flag in the file name. If you save the date/time information to the default backup file name, the date/time information is updated each time you do a backup. This means that you can create a new backup file each time without taking any extra steps.

Multi-user installations have two functions available as before, to backup just the current user file, or to backup all user files. In both cases, the site file is also included in the resultant zip file.

ZIP & EMAIL FUNCTION

A new Zip & Email function zips the currrent data file, adds a password, and opens an email message to allow attaching the zip file. This will streamline the process of sending a data file to a colleague or secretary. An additional button provides a simple method to send us your data file for troubleshooting.

In both cases, password protection is mandatory, as this provides security if the file should go astray on the Internet. If sending the file to us, the password is built-in; you don't need to specify it. Only we will be able to open the resulting zip file.

Note that the file is not attached automatically. When the email message is opened, you need to attach the zip file manually. After sending the zip file, it is deleted automatically.

For multiuser versions, the Zip & Email function can also be used to zip and email satellite files.