How could I make BC show a warning message before overwriting?

[Donk]

When I move or copy files that already exist on the right side they will be overwritten without showing a warning message:


How could I make BC ALWAYS show a warning message BEFOE overwriting anything?

And there are two move buttons in the tool bar (see screenshot) I cannot find a difference of. What does that mean?

[Aaron]

Hello,

We do have a warning dialog if the copy is going to overwrite Newer status files in the destination, but don't have a warning dialog for all overwrites.

You can use the Display Filters to limit the view to Only Orphans, which would prevent the copy from overwriting anything in the destination (as the only selected files are Orphan status, not aligned to anything). Just make sure the Include hidden items checkbox in the Copy dialog is disabled, so that non-Orphans aren't included (and the little Peek button let's you review which items are Not included because of filtering).

[Donk]

Hello,

Thank you, OK, where can I find that copy dialog to disable that option?

[Dave_L]

In the Linux edition, it's in Tools >> Options... >> File Operations

[Donk]

Thank you. So this is the copy dialog (does not look like one)?

So it is disabled like it should be:


Wherein are the files or folders included or not included?

[Aaron]

Hello,

Sorry, these are two separate strategies.

The Options dialog, "Require explicit side selection in Delete dialog", when enabled, will require you to hit Delete on files, and then check Left or Right boxes manually. By default, the selected sides are selected as the Delete dialog pops up, but with this option, you have to select which side you want to delete manually, which adds an extra layer of protection/review.

The Display Filter set to Only Orphans means the selected items are Orphans, at which point they do not have any files to overwrite on the other side. You can then switch to the other Display Filter options to review the other items (differences that are aligned to something, for example) as a second pass.

[Donk]

The Options dialog, "Require explicit side selection in Delete dialog", when enabled, will require you to hit Delete on files, and then check Left or Right boxes manually. By default, the selected sides are selected as the Delete dialog pops up, but with this option, you have to select which side you want to delete manually, which adds an extra layer of protection/review.

So this is just to make sure the user does not delete the files on the wrong side (because he forgets to select the right side)? Nothing else?

Sorry for asking again, the copy dialog (to disable the Include hidden items checkbox) is the one at the bottom right (under Options) on the screenshot?

The Display Filter set to Only Orphans means the selected items are Orphans, at which point they do not have any files to overwrite on the other side. You can then switch to the other Display Filter options to review the other items (differences that are aligned to something, for example) as a second pass.

So when the filter is set to Only Orphans I can mark all files on one side (by CTRL+A) and copy / move them to the other side, there is no way that any file can be overwritten, right?

[Aaron]

The Copy dialog "require explicit side selection" adds an extra layer of selection, like flipping up a protection cover before pressing the button. Adds a little human interaction that forces you to pick the side you want to act on within the dialog, instead of automating through and hitting enter.

In the Options dialog, you can enable to Include Hidden Items by default. This does control things like the Copy dialog's "include hidden items", but also other Actions (ie Delete has the same option as well). If you are worried about accidental deletion, I'd recommend leaving this disabled, so that you have to manually include currently invisible items as part of the action.

Right, as long as you don't "Include hidden items" or Suppress Filters on the toolbar. Also, as a personal tip, you can slide the selection after a select all (Shift + Left/Right Arrows), which I'll usually do just to have only the items I want to act on selected. For additional manual review, you can also Expand All (Edit menu or toolbar) then Select All Files (Edit menu, Toolbar, or Ctrl+Shift+A). You can then visually verify you have only orphan files selected (shift+arrow to their side).

[Aaron]

Ah, and one more thing: in the Tools menu -> Options dialog, Backups tab, you can enable one level of backups on copies. This way, if you do accidentally overwrite something, there will be one level of backup of the overwritten item.

[Donk]

Many thanks!

Yes, better minimizing the risk of accidentally overwriting files as far as possible.

you can slide the selection after a select all (Shift + Left/Right Arrows),

By "slide" you mean to move the selection from one side to the other?

which I'll usually do just to have only the items I want to act on selected.

Sorry, I do not understand how doing this can make that only the items to act on are selected.

Ah, and one more thing: in the Tools menu -> Options dialog, Backups tab, you can enable one level of backups on copies. This way, if you do accidentally overwrite something, there will be one level of backup of the overwritten item.

So this option actually could be named like "Back up files being overwritten" or so?

[Aaron]

Yes, sliding moves from both to one side, but also back to both and then the other side. If you play around with going from Left to both to right and back, you'll see what I mean.

By sliding the selection, it also means the 'other side' isn't selected at all, and the Action dialogs disable the checkboxes for that side. So if you only have a Select All, then slide to the left, when you Copy or Delete, the Left side is selectable and the right side is disabled. It's another manual/mental control to make sure you don't 'act' on the wrong items; not necessary, since the Action dialog can also limit what items are acted upon, but a tip if you are trying to be extra careful. The Actions can only be performed on the Selected items, so you can limit and control the selection to avoid selecting items you don't want to Act on.

"Backup files before copy" does back up a file before it is copied over. But "Backup files before save" is also available. They are subsets of files being overwritten with new data, and let you control based on the action being taken on the file that is writing over the existing information. Note that it only offers one level of backup, so as soon as you save twice or copy over twice, the new backup overwrites the old backup.

[Donk]

Ah, yes yes, sliding to avoid accidentally selected files on the wrong side. So sliding to the other side (and back) makes sure that you really have only files selected on one side (and not accidentally some on the other side you might have selected before). Hope, I got it right. So actually the same principle like clicking one file in a file manager to unselect other files that might already being (accidentally) selected before deleting, moving the correct selection.

"Backup files before copy" does back up a file before it is copied over.

Yes, only the files that will be overwritten (only by copying, not by moving?) are backed up. And yes, each backed up file will be overwritten with the next overwriting of the same destination.

[Aaron]

Actually, the "copy" of that text is referencing it as a transfer instead of editing/saving content, so a Move that overwrites the destination also backs up the destination.

[Donk]

OK, thank you.