This application provides a simple way to back up your Translation Memories and Termbases on a regular basis to help you ensure that you always have a backup available to you in the event of these precious resources getting corrupted. The application is a plugin which allows you to set up as many backup tasks as you like and run them on demand, or as scheduled backups using the Windows Task Scheduler. It's important to note that this is no substitute for you getting into the routine of regularly exporting to a simple text based format so even if you don't notice that your resources have corrupted you won't have to rely on the backup which could contain the corrupt resource:
- SDLTM Export to TMX once a week is a good idea (best carried out through the TM View in Studio)
- SDLTB export to MultiTerm XDT and XML (easiest way to do this is with the Glossary Converter and a drag and drop)
Where can I find the TM Back up plugin?
Once installed from the SDL AppStore the plugin can be found in the Add-Ins menu of the Translation Memories View, Projects View and Welcome View. It looks something like this:
Using the plugin
When you click the icon for TM Backup in the Add-Ins ribbon for the first time you'll be presented with this screen:
- File : select the available options/tasks using a File -> menu command
- Create new task : use this to create your backup task
- Run manual tasks : this button allows you to manually run a backup whenever you choose if you didn't create them using a scheduled backup
- Run disabled tasks : if you have disabled any of the tasks in the Windows Task Scheduler you can either enable them in the Task Scheduler or click this handy button to do them all at once
- Refresh view : this button refreshes the screen. If you deleted any tasks in the Windows Scheduler while the app is open then refreshing the screen allows the changes to be seen
- Open Windows Task Scheduler : this is a quick link to open your Windows Task Scheduler if you wish to edit, disable or delete the scheduled tasks you have created
- Help : clicking on here takes you to this wiki page so we can easily enhance the help with your feedback to make it easier to understand
Steps to create a backup task
Create a new task
Click on File and select the option to Create new backup: or just use the icon as shown:
Backup details
You're going to complete the details in the next screen so they will appear something like this:
You can see from this that there are 6 fields to complete which are described below. The task in the image above would appear like this in the TM Backup list:
The image above shows three tasks that have been created:
- a backup task that runs every 7-days automatically
- a backup task that runs every 24-hrs automatically
- a backup task that runs whenever it is manually triggerred
And in your Windows Task Scheduler like this where the Task name is prefixed with TMBackupTask so they are easy to find (note that the windows task scheduler can sometimes take a little while to start depending on how often you use it):
Backup name
This is mandatory, and it can't be edited afterwards. It's used to identify the name in Studio and it's appended to TMBackupTask in the windows task scheduler. So if you don't like the name you used then delete the task and recreate it
Backup from
Select the folder used to store your resources. You can't select specific files, only the folder containing the files.
Backup to
a