Info Autosave MEGATHREAD

[tambourine-man]

There's been a few threads and random questions in Support lately about the autosave feature. Details on how it works are below. If you spot any errors or inconsistencies, do let us know.

General Behaviour

• Autosave will activate once a text box has some form of user-generated text in it.
• Autosave activates every 60 seconds, assuming you are logged in.
• Autosave will repeatedly activate if the text it sees is different to the last autosave (add or delete something... autosave will detect it and save accordingly).
• You will see a yellow-coloured message in the bottom-right of your screen confirming it has autosaved.
• If you choose to navigate away from a page and text has been added since the last autosave, a dialogue box will pop up, telling you: "This page is asking you to confirm that you want to leave - data you have entered may not be saved". If no additional text has been added from the last autosave, this dialogue box will not appear.

Multiple tabs

• If you open a second tab on the same thread after you have typed something into the quickreply box in the first tab, the second tab will allow you to restore content from the first tab.
• If you choose not to restore the first tab's text into the second tab's textbox and, instead, write different text and autosave occurs on that second tab, it will be the second tab's text that will be available for restore if both tabs are closed and the thread then reopened.
• In short, whichever tab showing the same thread last received an autosave, will be the one you are able to restore.
• The above would be a rare occasion (to have two replies to the same thread going). What is more likely is that you may open two "new thread" tabs. Given that their restore facility on "new thread" pages is available across forums (see below), having two "new thread" tabs will exhibit the same 'last autosaved primacy' behaviour as seen above.
• In other words, don't create two new threads at the same time (in different tabs) AND rely on autosave. Why? Because autosave will only give you the option to restore the last tab you typed new text into and thus received an autosave... meaning that there is the potential to lose one tab's text.

How did I 'lose' my autosaved content?

• Choosing to press the 'cancel' button will wipe any autosaved content.
• Posting the content will also wipe autosave.

Automatic Account Log-out / Time-out

• If you do not use the 'remember me' option when you log in, you will inevitably time out.
• If this happens while you are typing an lengthy reply, the autosave feature will only save the text that was written while you were logged in.
• Anything written after that point will not be saved. If you then attempt to post when your account has timed out, you may lose the additional text and have no method of resurrecting it.
• On logging back in and revisiting the thread you were due to post in, the option to restore your text may appear at the bottom of the page in the 'Quick Reply' box.
• It will restore content that was saved in the last autosave prior to your automatic log-out.
• As a precaution, if you do not make use of the 'remember me' function (recommended for security reasons), you should probably get in the habit of performing a quick CTRL+A (select all) followed by a quick CTRL+C (copy) prior to posting long posts.

Autosave when quoting

• If you've pressed the 'quote' button, the autosave feature will save your draft as usual.
• If for whatever reason you navigate away from a page, when you return, the option to restore the quote and your text will appear at the bottom of the page in the 'Quick Reply' box.
• If you type text into the box before restoring the old content and the box autosaves, you will still retain the ability to restore the original/older content until you navigate away from the page.

Autosave when making new threads

• If you attempt to start a new thread (so the page URL contains the string 'newthread.php?do=newthread&f=x'), and the autosave feature kicks in while you're writing your draft, but you then choose to abandon your new thread, any attempt to start another new thread will give you the option of resurrecting your previous 'new thread' attempt.
• This feature travels across forums - so text that is autosaved in an abandoned attempt to create a new thread in 'Support', will be available for restoration when you create a new thread in 'Other Drugs'.
• Text that is autosaved in an abandoned attempt to create a new thread is not available for restoration outside of the 'new thread' page. So if you navigate away from the 'new thread' page and return to another thread, the option to restore your text will not appear at the bottom of the page in the 'Quick Reply' box.

 

[simmerman]

question regarding auto save while your posting in a forum

My question i was scrolling through the forums im not sure how i became logged out. But i did and did not know it so i was not aware that you can even post or reply with a quote while logged out maybe i wasn't. but my problem i replied and posted a very long comment in the forum sex and relationships about physical attractivness started by the MOD. And as your typing a quick reply it auto saves while your typing every sentence or 2 i kept seeing auto save. so after i click reply. after my 15 minute post. It said i was not logged in and could not post. So why did it let me post? but the post never went through so i logged back in and went to the same thread and clicked on the same quick reply. And i can not seem to find the Auto save from the post i tried to submit. So what is the point of auto-saving as your typing? so far i have not seen in while im typing here maybe because im the originator of this topic. But is their anyway to retrieve previous auto saved replies incase you do get kicked off or froze or anything? im assuming its their for a reason. I do not feel like typing all that out again any advice would be welcome thanks...

 

[Tommyboy]

You must have been logged out while making the post, therefore the autosave didn't have a username to save the post to.

Autosave always works for me, but I stay logged on. Even if I log out though, if I come back to the same thread after logging back in my response is there. That can only happen if I am signed in throughout the time I type the response.

 

[fizzle]

Auto save only saves to the point until you are logged out. Once you are logged out, you will lose anything you type following that. The problem is that the system doesnt tell you that you've been logged out until you refresh the page or try and make a post. This is why its suggested that when you write a long post, you copy it first, just in case you get logged out, that way you can just paste it back in. The other option is to click the "remember me" box when you sign in. I used to avoid the remember me box, but lately I use it even on shared computers, just to avoid the hassle of being logged out. You just have to remember to sign out when you leave.

Oh, and just fyi, it used to be set to log you out after 15 minutes, but since the upgrade it seems to be shorter, maybe 10 minutes? I dont think anyone is 100% sure haha.

 

[Tommyboy]

Testing Testing 123

^ That is what I just typed, waited for it to auto-save, and then I logged out. I then logged back in and came back to this thread, and was able to restore the content.

The OP must have been logged out before they started to post.

As fizzle said, clicking the "remember me" box will avoid this problem altogether.