Lost formats

[Hactar]

Filebot has today lost my formatting options and they were quite a complex string. Is there any file that has the formats in that I could retrieve it from?

[rednoah]

FileBot maintains a preferences.backup.xml file in the %APPDATA% folder which is only updated once per month. If your settings are somehow completely deleted from the Windows Registry, then FileBot will auto-restore your settings from there. See Backup and Restore Settings for details.


EDIT:

Sharing your custom formats here in the forums is generally a good idea. It'll help others and can serve as a backup for yourself.

[Hactar]

You got me all excited then but unfortunately it seems that "preferences.backup.xml" doesn't contain the file formatting strings, or at least, mine doesn't...

[rednoah]

You could check the last modified date of that file. If it was last modified after you lost your settings then you’re out of luck.

The backup file is a snapshot of your current settings, but that snapshot is only made once per month. It’d be unlucky timing if it was updated yesterday from cleared settings. If you have file backups of your home folder then you might find an older copy in your backups.

If your settings were removed, that means something (not FileBot) modified the registry and removed FileBot settings. You could check other last modified dates in the app data folder to see if something deleted all your app data as well.

[Hactar]

I don't backup my home folder routinely, my documents are all backed up but not the %APPDATA% folder. Everything else in the folder appears intact, the history.xml goes back several years. Everything else from FileBot seems intact, the window size and position, the licence, it's just the rename strings that have gone.

[rednoah]

What date did you notice that your custom formats were missing?

What is the last-modified date on the preferences.backup.xml file in your %APPDATA% folder?

[Hactar]

I noticed the missing formats I think on Saturday and the date on the file is Sunday.

[rednoah]

It's possible that it's bad luck / bad timing then. Something happened on / before Saturday and on Sunday the backup file was already 30+ days old and updates the the settings at the time.