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Thanks

Just set up a "Untitled " and a "test" and set the time interval to 1 min  and both have a .BAK  file which are being updated and the files read by ABI word by default .
I think I have discovered what is happening -- the BAK file is deleted when the document is "Saved" so I assume that if the computer crashes and the document is lost so is the BAK file the auto save is no use if something bad happens . Ironically computers save all sorts of temporary files that are not much use but AbiWord does not allow its BAK files to be saved .

What puzzles me is  why the BAK files are hidden and there is no Menu option to recover them ?
If the BAK file is opened manually it appears in the history list but not automatically

I just tested abi 3.0.0. The .bak file remained until abi was closed. It wasn't deleted when the open document was saved. Presumably the .bak file will remain if Abi is closed abnormally.

I then reopened Abi and began typing in an unsaved document. I found a document "untitled1.bak" at home/paul/documents, the same title that was in Abi's Title Bar, which had a "today" timestamp (I'd like to find a way to get more out of Properties. That's one thing I miss from Windows). I then used Task Manager to Kill Abiword, which is an abnormal closure from Abi's perspective. Then I right-clicked untitled1.bak and selected Open With... Abi, and it was the document that had been lost.

Paul---Thanks for your investigations -- I will have another look at it when I find some spare time .  I do not need to use a Word app at the moment as I only a few letters .

The usual irony is that when you need something to work like autosave it does not work.

I still feel that the feature and where the files are stored should be more accessible from within Abiword as a Menu item .

Colin

Hi,

I do not know AbiWord, see if you have preferences/settings/ for the default file paths.
In Libre Office you can set path defaults, Tools > Options > Paths
I have set a path to the normal document folder, where things are normally stored,
and a path to backups, in my case a separate disk/partition location.




The first thing I always do when I create a "new" document is immediately do a "Save As",
then I navigate to where I want to save it, like /documents/writer or /documents/calc

Thanks for everyone's help
At last. I feel  that I have found a Word processor that does what I want it to
Firstly Open Office Writer is available as a stand alone Program without needing to have a whole office suit that I do not need 
.
In Open Writer 4  it is easy to create a Template > Save it > make it the Default and also set my own save file type.I found it "User friendly" to set up my own options  with simple menu driven  choices

Also I liked the provision of a clear well written and presented PDF User Guide which  combined with the excellent  LL Document Viewer I was able to search for the pages i needed that had clear instructions of "How to Do" things

Overall I have found it more Mature and polished for a novice user to use than most of the other Office Suites which are often  let down by poor documentation

Colin