Please provide a fail-safe for deleted fonts

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mshubes
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Please provide a fail-safe for deleted fonts

Post by mshubes »

There is currently NO FAIL-SAFE in place when deleting fonts from MainType. I have made the mistake multiple times, deleting either the wrong font or group of fonts and there is no way to get them back!

Please consider using Windows Shell when fonts are deleted so that we can at least restore them from the Windows Recycle Bin if we happen to make a mistake.
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Please provide a fail-safe for deleted fonts

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

MainType has a backup and restore feature.

Use it regularly if you're worried about losing fonts by accident.
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mshubes
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Re: Please provide a fail-safe for deleted fonts

Post by mshubes »

Yes, it does. But I do NOT want to restore the entire database/vault. I ONLY want to recover the ONE FONT that I accidentally deleted.

With the current software, I would have to
1. Use the FMS Config utility to stop the service
2. Create a NEW backup
3. Restore from the old backup.
4. Restart the service.
5. Restart MainType
6. Export the file to my hard drive.
7. Close MainType
8. Start the FMS utility to stop the service.
9. Restore from the NEWEST backup.
10. Restart the service.
11. Restart MainType.

If MainType would simply delete to the Recycle Bin, the font could easily be restored in ONE SIMPLE STEP!
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Please provide a fail-safe for deleted fonts

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

MainType uses a database instead of relying on Windows File Explorer — that it how it can be so fast and flexible.

If you choose the third option when deleting fonts, the fonts are not deleted from the file system, and remain available within your MainType Library. Whichever option you choose will become the default for deleting fonts.

Work from groups and leave your font library alone. You can still delete fonts permanently by choosing the first option if that is what you want (like using Shift+Delete in Windows Explorer to avoid sending them to the Recycle Bin).
Delete Fonts.png
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caseylarae
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Re: Please provide a fail-safe for deleted fonts

Post by caseylarae »

I don't like this feature either. At the very least it's unforgiving and not approachable for everyday use.

For example, what if your cat walks on your keyboard? Some of your fonts may be gone from your computer and you may have no idea which ones to reinstall among the thousands in your backup. Now you're spending a half an hour to scan through your library and fix it. Perhaps your laptop is sitting on the couch and your toddler presses some buttons? Same situation. Or what if you delete a swathe of fonts and change your mind, but don't remember what you deleted? Or have a harebrained moment and delete a bunch of stuff without thinking?

It's easy to imagine so many scenarios where the average user would end up checking through their entire backup against the font library to figure out what's gone. If you have thousands of fonts on your computer, this feature is setting you up for mishaps and a waste of time, instead of just being able to grab exactly what you deleted from the recycle bin. In my opinion this is not a good design.

User error happens in software and there's no way to completely avoid it; all you can do is provide a way back from it and make the software more usable for error-prone human beings. Even if the user has a back-up, undoing an error with this feature is annoying at best. Operating systems provide the recycle bin for this exact reason and I wish MainType would utilize it.
mshubes
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Re: Please provide a fail-safe for deleted fonts

Post by mshubes »

Yeah, what they suggest is to make frequent backups. Unfortunately, they've made creating a backup extremely counterintuitive, forcing the user to manually to go through a dozen or so steps each time, going back and forth between Maintype and FmsConfig.

Suggested improvements:
- Add a button in Maintype for creating a backup
- Add a button in Maintype for restoring a backup
- Add a feature to do SCHEDULED BACKUPS!
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Re: Please provide a fail-safe for deleted fonts

Post by Erwin Denissen »

We appreciate this valuable feedback, but we want to know how other users feel about this before we decide if and how to improve MainType on this matter.
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