Backing up Prism files

Automatic backups

Choose automatic backups on the File & Printer tab of the Preferences dialog and Prism will automatically save your work every few minutes. Prism only saves backups when you switch from sheet to sheet, so the timed backup process never interrupts your work. The backup files are also saved whenever you save your work, so the backup files can never be older than your project files. The backup files are named with the extension .PZB.

When you quit Prism normally, the timed backup files are deleted. In case of computer disaster, the backup files will remain on your hard drive. When you restart Prism, these files will automatically load so you can continue your work.

Manual backups of Prism files

Prism makes it easy to save backup copies of your projects.

Click on the Save Special button in the File section of the Prism toolbar,

and choose Save a Backup. Prism will save a copy of your project to the location and name you specify, perhaps to a network or CD drive.

You can save backups either to the .PZF or .PZFX format. Files saved to the .PZF format can only be opened by Prism (version 4 or 5). Files saved to the .PZFX format can only be opened by Prism 5. But the first part of a .PZFX file contains all the data tables and info sheets in a plain-text XML format that can be viewed by other programs.

We recommend that you backup to the .PZFX format because it provides a more secure backup. It is possible (with some difficulty) to extract your data from these files without Prism, even if the file is damaged or truncated.

Manual backups of Prism data tables

You can backup individual data tables using the File Export command. You can export to plain text tables (delimited with tabs or commas) or to an XML format. We recommend using XML format, even though it is harder to view, because it contains more information. XML format includes details omitted from the plain text formats, including about subcolumns, excluded values, and floating notes.