Versomatic installs as a file system service where it tracks file changes and preemptively archives a copy of a file before it is modified. Archiving copies pre-emptively obviates the need to archive a reference copy of the files beforehand, as would be the case if the files were archived after being edited. Starting from the moment Versomatic is installed, the last version of a file remains where the user expects it to be, and prior versions, if any, reside in a separate archive. Without this capability, we would have to scan your entire hard drive beforehand and make a duplicate copy of every file in order to create a baseline for subsequent revisions. Files can be moved, renamed and copied without losing connection to their revision histories. Depending on user preferences, files can be monitored on local, removable and network drives. File revision histories are stored in a central database. Thus, for example, a user may insert a USB drive into his computer and edit a file on the USB drive. The edited file remains on the USB drive but a copy of the original unedited version is copied to the archive. When a file is deleted, the deleted file is added to the repository together with any previous versions of the deleted file. This provides excellent level of protection against inadvertent file deletion. Access to prior versions of a file is easy. A user merely selects a file and clicks the rightmouse button to display a contextual pop-up menu listing the X most recent previous versions of the file, if any. Upon user selection of one of the entries the appropriate previous version is opened with read-only privileges using the same application that created the file. Versomatic can also retrieve a copy of a previous version and move it into the same directory where the current version resides. The previous version will have a date & time stamp added to its file name in order to distinguish it from the current version. If a previous version is exported from Versomatic’s archive and changes are made thereto, a new revision history is created for the new file.
History
Versomatic is the first product from the long time team of Joaquin de Soto, Jorge Miranda and Manny Menendez released under their new company Acertant. The team has a long list of hit products to their credit: MacLightning, Canvas, Spelling Coach, BigThesaurus, Comment, UltraPaint, Artworks, ACDSee, DenebaCAD, etc.
