How to Back Up and Restore Your ACT! Database

 
 

Question
 

You want to know how to back up and, if necessary, restore your ACT! database.

 
 

Answer
 

You need to back up your ACT! data regularly and store your backups safely. It is also recommended that you perform regular maintenance on your ACT! database to keep it running efficiently. If you do not perform maintenance on your database, your data can become corrupted. For more information about database maintenance, refer to the following document:

Title: How to Perform Database Maintenance on an ACT! Database
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As with all electronic data, it is advisable to make frequent backups of your ACT! database. If you do this, you will be able to recover from unexpected disasters. To simplify the process of backing up your data, ACT! comes with an integrated backup utility. The ACT! backup utility allows you to easily back up and restore all of the data files associated with a database.

To back up a database, you must have Administrator user rights. If you do not have Administrator security level for the database that you want to back up, the Backup command under the File menu will appear dimmed. If you need to back up a database for which you do not have Administrator access, contact your ACT! database Administrator.

When you perform a standard backup, ACT! backs up the currently open database, and compresses the information into a .ZIP file in the location you specify. You can select the types of data you want to include in a backup (such as layouts or reports). You can also request that ACT! display a message reminding you to perform regular backups. Refer to the following document for additional information on planning an effective backup strategy:

Title: Planning Your Backup Process
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Note: ACT! 4.0 did not include the option to backup word processing documents and templates. ACT! 6.0 and 5.0 (2000) do include that capability.

If you have customized your ACT! Menu's and/or Toolbars, please refer to the following Knowledge Base document:


Title : How do I Back Up and Restore My Custom Menus and Toolbars?
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Backing Up your Database

1. Launch ACT!, then open the database you wish to backup. You will need to log into the database as a database administrator.

2. Click the File menu, and then click Backup. The Backup dialog appears.

3. Under the General tab.

·The dialog box displays the name of the Current database. In the Back up to box it assigns a default name and location for the database backup. By default, ACT! chooses to store the backup on your computer's A: drive, names the backup with the same file name as the current database, but adds a .zip extension. The database backup is a compressed file.

·If you have previously backed up a database, you can click another name and location from the drop-down list. The four most recent backup paths are displayed in the drop-down list.

4. (Optional) If you want to back up the database to a different location, click Browse, navigate to the desired location, and modify the File name. Click Save when satisfied with the new backup file name and location.

Note: If the folder you select as the backup location has been deleted or renamed, you will receive a message asking you to create a new folder to hold the backup.

5. Under the Options tab, you may decide which additional file types to include in the backup. Clear any options you do not wish include in the backup. (as illustrated below)

Note: There is no need to backup items such as Reports, Layouts, Envelopes or Labels unless you have created custom items for these file types.

6. If you want ACT! to remind you to back up your data, select the Remind me to backup every x days option. Enter the desired number of days in the provided box. You may also click the Up or Down buttons to adjust the number of days. Selecting this option will generate a reminder when you open your database once the specified number of days have elapsed since your last backup.

7. Click Start to begin the backup process. A progress indicator will appear to indicate the status of the backup process.

·If you are backing up your database over an existing backup file, ACT! displays a message confirming you want to overwrite the existing file.

·If you run out of space on the disk to which you are backing up your database, ACT! displays a message confirming you want to create a multi-disk .zip file. If you want to back up the database to multiple disks, insert another disk into the drive you specified in the Backup dialog box, and then click OK. ACT! will prompt you for additional disks as necessary.

Tip: If creating a multi-disk backup (most often to floppies), we recommend formatting the floppies before each backup. Especially if you are reusing the same floppy disks from a previous backup.

8. When the backup process completes, ACT! displays a message indicating the backup completed successfully. Click OK.



Backing up a Network Database

Note: The following only applies if you are backing up a database that is not on your local computer.

When backing up a network database be sure that the database is accessed via a mapped drive letter. Otherwise, the backup file may not include the actual database files.

1. Launch ACT!, then open the database you wish to backup.

2. Click the Help menu, and then click About ACT!.

Note: If the dialog box that appears has scrolling text, you are likely running an early version of ACT!, and may experience some issues with the backup and restore process. Refer to the following document for details on updating your software:

Title: How to Get the Latest Update
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3. In the Database user information box, read the File Name. If it begins with a letter and then a colon (for example: H:), the database is being accessed via a mapped drive letter. You can continue with the backup process. However, if the File Name begins with two forward slash marks (for example: //server/actdatabase), you will need to exit ACT!, map a drive letter to the network folder that holds your database, then open the database in ACT! via the newly-mapped drive letter. If you are unsure how to do any of these steps you will need to contact a your network administrator or technician. ACT! Technical Support cannot assist with mapping a network drive, as this can be highly network dependent.


Backing up to an Iomega or Imation Drive

If you need to backup your ACT! database to an Iomega drive, follow the instructions below:

Caution: If you previously backed up to that iomega disk using the same file name, ACT! will ask if you want to overwrite the existing file. However the Iomega drive will not overwrite the existing backup file. As you proceed, ACT! will indicate the backup completed successfully, but the backup file will still be the earlier version. You must either give the backup file a new name (perhaps by including the date), or delete the existing file before starting the backup process.

Note: This issue applies to all Iomega and Imation products, including SuperDisk, Zip, PocketZip (formerly Clik), and Jaz drives.

1. Launch ACT!, then open the database you wish to backup.

2. Click the File menu, and then click Backup. The Backup dialog appears.

3. Click the Browse button, then navigate to your Iomega or Imation drive letter (or a folder on that drive) by first selecting the drive from the Save in drop-down list. Navigate to the appropriate folder if you wish to store the backup in a folder on that drive. If a backup file already exists with the desired name you will need to do one of the following:

·Delete the previous backup: right-click on the previous backup file, then click Delete on the shortcut menu.

·Rename the previous backup: right-click on the previous backup file, click Rename on the shortcut menu, then modify the name of the earlier backup file. Press ENTER after renaming the file.

4. Ensure the File name box has the desired backup name.

5. Click Save, then continue with the backup process as you normally would (specifying options, etc.).


Backing up to a CD-R or CD-RW

With modern CD burner software a CD-R or CD-RW drive may appear to operate like a regular removable disk (like a floppy disk, or Iomega/Imation drive). However, CR-R and CD-RW drives operate in an entirely different manner. When you save a file to a CD-R or CD-RW the data is often not completely written to the disk until you eject the CD. This delay interferes with the ACT! Backup command, therefore the backup may fail if you are trying to save the backup file directly to the CD burner. To properly save an ACT! Backup to a CD-R or CD-RW follow this procedure:

1. Launch ACT!, then open the database you wish to backup.

2. Click the File menu, and then click Backup. The Backup dialog appears.

3. At the Back up to: field, click Browse, and then navigate to the Windows Desktop to save your backup file.

4. Modify the File name entry if you desire, and then click Save. Your database is backed up to the specified location.

5. Continue with the backup process as you normally would (specifying options, etc.).

6. When the backup completes, minimize ACT!. You will have a .zip backup file on the Windows desktop. Copy this backup file to a CD-R or CD-RW drive using your CD-writing software.



Restoring a Database

At some point, you may need to restore a backup copy of a database. There are a variety of reasons why you may need to restore your database:

      • You need to move a database from one system to another. For example, from a desktop to a laptop computer.
      • You may have inadvertently purged records that you need to refer to.
      • A hardware or software problem may have corrupted your data.
      • You want to test the validity of your backup.


Restoring the backup is as simple as opening the backup copy and saving it to the original database location.

Notes:

      • If you backed up your ACT! database to multiple disks, make sure you have all of the disks available before you begin the restoration process. ACT! will ask you to insert each disk during the backup process. The restoration will go quicker if you insert the last disk first.
      • If you backed up the database to a CD-R or CD-RW, copy the backup file to the Windows desktop, and remove the read-only attribute before restoring the file from the Windows desktop. (Windows XP users need not remove the read-only attribute)


Tip: If you are performing a restore to test the validity of your backup, create a Restore Test folder to receive the restored database before starting the restoration process. This lets you validate the restore without affecting your working database.

2. Launch ACT!. You do not need to have a database open to restore one.

3. Click the File menu, and then click Restore. The Restore dialog appears.

4. If your backup is on removable media (such as a floppy or Iomega disk), insert the last disk into the appropriate drive. The last disk in a multi-disk backup set contains the table of contents for each of the disks in the set.

5. Enter (or Browse to) the filename of the backup file you wish to restore:

·If you created the backup on this computer, the file name and path to the backup file may be available to click in the File to Restore drop-down list. The four most recent backups are available in the list.

·Otherwise, click Browse. Navigate to the location where your backup file is stored, select the backup file, then click Open.

6. Specify the location in which to restore the backup with the To folder box:

·If you have previously restored a backup, ACT! displays the name of the last location it restored to. The four most recent restoration folders are available in the To folder drop-down list.

·Otherwise, click Browse and navigate to the folder where you would like to restore the backup. Click OK when satisfied.

Tip: If you are restoring to test the validity of your backup, be sure to select the Restore Test folder you created previously.

7. Click Start. A message appears, advising you that the currently open database will be closed if you continue. To close the current database and begin the restoration process, click Yes. Click No if you wish to cancel the restoration.

8. A progress indicator appears while ACT! restores your backup. You may receive confirmation dialog boxes about overwriting existing files. This occurs because you are restoring either your database or supporting files such as layouts, envelopes, reports, and other optional items to locations where those files already exist (this could be because your working copy of the database is damaged and you are reverting to a backup). Answer the overwrite questions as appropriate (this will be determined by whether you intend to overwrite the working database, and if you have customized the support files since creating your last backup).

Note: If you included support files in an ACT! 4.0 backup, the support files will be restored to the same folder as the database. ACT! 6.0 and 5.0 (2000) restore the support files to the default locations specified for a particular type of file. You can verify those locations by clicking Preferences on the Edit menu, click the General tab, and then examine the settings in the Default locations section.

Tip: If you only wish to restore the database, click No on each overwrite confirmation.

9. When the restoration is complete, ACT! opens the restored database.

For more information on planning your database backup process, please refer to the following document:

Title: Planning Your Backup Process
View This Document