Don't use .blend1 extension for backups; append a bit of text to the filename instead
.blend1 is not an extension recognized by Blender, so new users are confused by .blend1 files. You can't double-click them, they have no identifying icon, and you have to change the extension in order to use them, which is not true of any other file type I've ever seen. It's really a misuse of file extensions, which are meant to designate different types of data.
Blender should either recognize .blend1 files as Blender files, or simply append a bit of text to the filename to mark it as a backup, eg:
house_backup01.blend
or
house [B01].blend
or something like that.
8 Comments
In my opinion, supporting
.blend1files and having a distinct icon for backup files in Blender would greatly aid users.Yup. I've seen a lot of questions " is it safe to remove blend1/2/3/4 , what are they for" files out there.
Thing that extension is not bound to blender also does not help discoverability.
I dont even recall if any other software uses it like that, so people have no idea about that.
Tho i kinda like that feature.
Agreed, and I also believe this option should not be enabled by default, the function that auto-saves into the temp directory is good enough of a safety net for most people.
Absolutely not. .blend1 files are always tha last step when you save your file. That is a different thing from a crash related backup.
I'm aware. If you want that extra previous save, you can enable it. I'm not saying it's a bad feature. The amount of clutter and confusion it causes for new users makes it not worth being an opt-out feature, in my opinion.
"For new users" really sholdn't be an argument to water down features, though. Learning a software means adapting to it. Ease of use, consistency and data safety should always have highest priority.
It's the user's responsibility to actually learn how a sofware wants to be used and it's the software developers' responsibility to make that usage as pleasant and consistant for everybody as possible. Using backup files in the same directory is good practice and if a user doesn't like it - they can absolutely deactivate it in the preferences already. It's a good default, though.
I agree with that first sentence, it is a poor argument, which is why I didn't make it. Nothing is being watered down. The functionality is still there.
If data safety takes such an extreme priority, then we should also be saving blend2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. by default. A line is drawn at some point between data safety and not overrunning the user's hardrive. Remember that we're doubling the storage space of all blend files, for the ability to go back to 1 save ago. It's a large commitment. The auto-save feature, unlike blend1 files, can save you from a crash after an extended period of forgetting to save, and like blend1 files, can act as a restore point if you make a big mistake that you can't Ctrl+Z out of. In my view this is the best of both worlds, and relegates blend1 to something 'extra' for those who are happy to give that extra storage and clutter in their directories.
In which case you can safely disable .blend1 files in your user preferences. For everybody else one safe step directly on each safe in addition to arbitrary points in time for autosave makes total sense as a default.