Guide/Part Five · Save, protect, recover
Saving & autosave
Autosave protects your work if GLASS closes unexpectedly, but it doesn't save your file. Your file changes only when you save.
- Save with Ctrl+S / ⌘S. The first time you save a new document, GLASS asks where to put it. To save under a new name or in a different folder, choose File ▸ Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S / ⌘⇧S).
- After a save, Saved appears briefly beside the document's name at the top of the window, and the status bar shows Saved with the time.
- Between saves, the status bar shows Autosaved with the time of the latest recovery copy. That copy is kept apart from your file. If GLASS crashes or your computer loses power, it lets you get your unsaved work back the next time you open GLASS. See Crash recovery.
Autosave runs on its own, about half a second after you pause and at least every five seconds while you keep typing. It never changes your .glass file, so save whenever you want to keep your changes. Leaving a document with unsaved changes (closing it, going Home, opening another document, or quitting) always asks once: Save, Don’t save, or Cancel. If you don't save, you can still recover the changes from Home. Every save after the first also keeps the previous copy of the file as a .glass.bak backup beside it. If the file is ever damaged, GLASS offers that backup when the file won't open; see Crash recovery.
If a save fails, a banner says why in plain words (the disk is full, the folder is read-only, another program or a sync service is using the file) and what to do next. Details holds the technical message. A document saved by a newer version of GLASS opens read-only and can't be saved until you update; see Create, open & recent.
If the status bar shows Autosave failing, autosave can't write its recovery copy, so only saving protects your work. Save with Ctrl+S / ⌘S until the warning clears.