(Solved) Looking for an text editor that has backup autosaving. Like Xed or something similar.

[Marie SWE]

Hi
Today Linux showed me how stable it is and it crashed.
So I lost some of my notes I had in my texteditor.. Xed. that I had as a memory note to myself to write in a email... and it's gone thanks to Linux.
The information is gone and I cant do a thing about it.

This is the fifth or the tenth time during this four years with Linux.. and it's time to take in my calculations that Linux isn't that reliable/stable for work.
So I wonder.. do any of you know about an text editor that can handle multiple tabs that has backup autosaving that saves new documents every 5 or 10minutes?

I thank you all in advance.
//Marie

Edit, to mark it as Solved and to list the tested options... so far

The list is now three options.
1 CudaText
2 Bluefish
3 a script
I have not yet crash tested: Code.. so it can be 4 solutions at the end.
But I will still appreciate hear about other options if you have them.

[pdc_2]

sorry to hear of your experience; you sound very frustrated and brassed-off;

my impression is text editors are aimed at a degree of simplicity; so ...... extra features may not be prominent; ie auto-save etc

I wonder if you don't need to just do Control-s every few minutes; Libreoffice auto-saves; to what extent could you feel able to use that? could you call it a text editor?

I was sorry to hear of your experiences of your system crashing; that would seem very unusual;

on the forum rules red line; at the top: there is a link on how to get help; it suggests you give system information amongst other thing; that nformation could be a useful help;

[pdc_2]

well, well, well ......... what a surprise ........ entering

linux text editor autosave

in a search engine yields

https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/ ... nd-restore

https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... -new-files

https://itsfoss.com/how-to-enable-auto- ... -in-gedit/

https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... 175670819/

[pdc_2]

good old gedit

autosave.png (23.57 KiB) Viewed 1745 times

[Marie SWE]

sorry to hear of your experience; you sound very frustrated and brassed-off;

my impression is text editors are aimed at a degree of simplicity; so ...... extra features may not be prominent; ie auto-save etc

I wonder if you don't need to just do Control-s every few minutes; Libreoffice auto-saves; to what extent could you feel able to use that? could you call it a text editor?

I was sorry to hear of your experiences of your system crashing; that would seem very unusual;

on the forum rules red line; at the top: there is a link on how to get help; it suggests you give system information amongst other thing; that nformation could be a useful help;

So true.. times like this it isn't hard to be pissed. and it's even harder to not show it.

New documents need to save as.. and that is more than just ctrl+s
I use several office documents side by side and a light text editor like Xsed, mouse, pluma is nice to have beside to make a fast short note in while talking on the phone. and it's start fast as it is a lightweight program.. and an see it in the taskbar as separate so to speak
Pluma can handle autosaving every 5/10 minutes, but it don't do that on a new document.

I already know what cause the crash, so I'm not searching for help on my system... but thanks for caring.

[Marie SWE]

well, well, well ......... what a surprise ........ entering

linux text editor autosave

in a search engine yields

https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/ ... nd-restore

https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... -new-files

https://itsfoss.com/how-to-enable-auto- ... -in-gedit/

https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... 175670819/

thanks for the links, i will look at them

[absque fenestris]

.
Maybe you should take a closer look at Zim. By the way, the default automatic saving is set to 10 seconds...

https://zim-wiki.org/manual/Help/Config_Files.html

There is a hidden option here called "autosave_timeout" which gives the interval for autosaving in seconds, the default is 10.

[Marie SWE]

.
Maybe you should take a closer look at Zim. By the way, the default automatic saving is set to 10 seconds...

https://zim-wiki.org/manual/Help/Config_Files.html

There is a hidden option here called "autosave_timeout" which gives the interval for autosaving in seconds, the default is 10.

Thanks for the tip
It wasn't to fast to start up as I had to type in a session before I could start make notes

[smurphos]

Geany with Save Actions Plugin....

[Marie SWE]

Geany with Save Actions Plugin....

do you know if it works on new files to? not previously saved so to speak.

.

oops 06:33 local time..... it's time for bed.. i will check in again after some sleep.

[smurphos]

do you know if it works on new files to? not previously saved so to speak.

Yes - albeit is uses /tmp/ as the temporary location before files are explicitly saved which may not be suitable for recovery after a major crash if you use tmpfs (tmp mounted in RAM). I'm not sure if that location is end user configurable (maybe use the instant-save along with the backup copy function??)

[Petermint]

Bluefish has both auto backup and autosave with a default of 60 seconds. The backup of the previous version is next to the original file and the autosave is in the .bluefish directory. Bluefish has a heap of special features for editing HTML, CSS, and many programming languages. Fast to start and can handle hundreds of files open at the same time.

[Cosmo.]

good old geditautosave.png

This option does exist in xed also. The user has just to activate it.

[t42]

Working with unsaved to file text buffers is defying all computer best practices. Obviously, you'll loose all not saved text buffers when crash occurs (as well as not autosaved ones at the moment). I'd like to add to other recommendations Kate. It has it's benefits while working with existing files. If auto-save function is set, Kate at once creates a copy of edited file and if the option auto save when focus leaves the editor is also ON, you can safely work with many text files at once. IF auto save is not set Kate still creates a recovery swap file which can be used to restore manipulations with text albeit that requires some diff skills.

edit: but vi or vim :recover command should be enough to recover unnamed files as asked in the original question.
Or just start xed from command line with xed 1 xed 2 etc to enable auto save.

[mikeflan]

Today Linux showed me how stable it is and it crashed.

LM crashing is very unexpected. It hasn't happened to me in years. Freezing is much more common, though it too does not happen more than twice a year - usually less. I would be tempted to work on my hardware (replace it if necessary) to fix that problem.

[Marie SWE]

do you know if it works on new files to? not previously saved so to speak.

Yes - albeit is uses /tmp/ as the temporary location before files are explicitly saved which may not be suitable for recovery after a major crash if you use tmpfs (tmp mounted in RAM). I'm not sure if that location is end user configurable (maybe use the instant-save along with the backup copy function??)

I will have a look on it... but not today.. I'm more dead then living after my bad night of sleep.

[Marie SWE]

Bluefish has both auto backup and autosave with a default of 60 seconds. The backup of the previous version is next to the original file and the autosave is in the .bluefish directory. Bluefish has a heap of special features for editing HTML, CSS, and many programming languages. Fast to start and can handle hundreds of files open at the same time.

I tried Bluefisch ans simulated a program crash and it open the unsaved file when i restarted it..
it is a strong candidate but not so much of a note text program, but it did do the job.
So i will see Bluefish as an option if i cant find anything better.. Thanks for the tip.

[Marie SWE]

Working with unsaved to file text buffers is defying all computer best practices. Obviously, you'll loose all not saved text buffers when crash occurs (as well as not autosaved ones at the moment). I'd like to add to other recommendations Kate. It has it's benefits while working with existing files. If auto-save function is set, Kate at once creates a copy of edited file and if the option auto save when focus leaves the editor is also ON, you can safely work with many text files at once. IF auto save is not set Kate still creates a recovery swap file which can be used to restore manipulations with text albeit that requires some diff skills.

edit: but vi or vim :recover command should be enough to recover unnamed files as asked in the original question.
Or just start xed from command line with xed 1 xed 2 etc to enable auto save.

I do have Kate for edit .conf files and so on.. I like it. but it like the others, pluma, xed, etc. can't handle new files only existing files.

The problem is often when I'm on the phone and I then fast need to take a note and then continue the conversation by open up documents or if I need to recreate something on the fly.. or other things comes up I need to fix directly no delays or I get distracted or I need to go away for a while.. Then the note becomes unsaved as I have not transfer the note to the right document or email or to a classic paper.. it is then risk moment is until i have taken care of the notes.

[Marie SWE]

Today Linux showed me how stable it is and it crashed.

LM crashing is very unexpected. It hasn't happened to me in years. Freezing is much more common, though it too does not happen more than twice a year - usually less. I would be tempted to work on my hardware (replace it if necessary) to fix that problem.

Linux Desktop seems to become a bit less stable after an uptime of 140+ days
I noticed that on Mint18.3, LMDE3 and on Debian.. so it seems not to be a distro specific phenomenon.

[JosephM]

good old geditautosave.png

This option does exist in xed also. The user has just to activate it.

Yeah. Was sort of wondering why going through looking for another editor when the wanted functionality is already there.