Is there a way to undo an update to a filter I downloaded ?

Hello, as far as I know when you have downloaded a FF filter and this filter is updated you can download the update, and the new filter is overwritten over the old one, I mean there is no copy or backup of the "old" filter version, and it happens the same in the FF library website.

BUT, my question is if you download an upd ate to a filter and then find that in the new version there is something you do not like or there is something missing from the previous version and want to undo the update, Is there a way to undo an update to a filter I downloaded ?

I think that the answer is NO, you can´t because the old filter has been overwritten and deleted and there is no copy either in the FF library.

COULD FF ASK FOR MAKING A BACKUP COPY ?

Perhaps a good thing would be if FF could ask if you want to make a copy of the old filter to the my filters library or anywhere else, but as this is not how it works now, I have thought about some alternatives.

MAKE A BACKUP OF FILTERS BEFORE UPDATING THEM ?

So I think that a possible solution would be to make a backup of the filter that you are going to update and put it in a safe place, and if you do not like the update and want to go back to the old version, you could copy back to the library the old filter version.

I think it would not be possible to rename the old filter and put again in the library because the filters are coded with a number

The problem here is HOW to recognize which is the updated filter as in the library the filters are NOT named with the name that appears in the library is just a number.

USING MY FILTERS FOLDER TO USE OLD FILTERS

As said I think you can´t rename a filter that is already in the filter library, BUT i have tried t copy it to the "my filters" folders and it works! it appears there.

So you can have a backup of the old filter, and if you update and want to undo it, you can copy the old filter overwritting the new one, OR you can have both versions the old and new if you put the old one in the "my filters" folders.

But again as said before you need to find a way to HOW to recognize which is the updated filter as in the filter library in your hard drive the filters are NOT named.

HOW TO BACKUP YOUR FILTERS ?

If you do not know how to make a backup of your filter library,please take a look at this thread here ---> http://filterforge.com/forum/read.php?FID=5&TID=8910

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Kraellin wrote: this is an issue that is basically up to the authors. myself, i prefer to make updates and issue a version number update within the title and then issue it as a new filter. that way, the earlier version doesnt get overwritten and folks can choose which version they like. the only exception i make to this is if the original filter was seriously flawed and then i'll just do the overwrite.

Thanks for clarifying this as I did not know that the authors had the option to update or upgrade and get overwritten the previous filter OR change the name with a version number if the changes and updates changes things that you could not like as so you could choose which version you want.

I thought that FF decided always about the updates and always was overwritten, it very good to know that FF, inc. has given the authors control over this, although probably many authors do not know about this.

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Kraellin wrote: your other option is to make backups, but that can get unwieldy if you have to make a completely new backup of your filter library every time. still, you could just make a backup of all new filters as you download them and save them off separately from your main backup.

Yes is true this can get unwieldy but you do not have to make a backup every time, ONLY if a filter has been updated and FF asks you to confirm which filter do you want to update, as filters are not updated without asking first. I do not think that making multiple backups would be a good idea but is up to you to decide it.

I personally only make a backup once every two months or so, or when I need to make sure that nothing is going to change.

IDENTIFY NEW FILTERS DOWNLOADED BY DATE

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you could just make a backup of all new filters as you download them and save them off separately from your main backup.

There is a problem with this as you can´t identify and know which is the new filter that you have just downloaded as they do not have a name, BUT there is another way to identify new filters and it is by looking at the date it was modified (saved to your computer)and so you know which one is it and can make a backup of it alone if you want or need to.

Another possible way is to put the filter you want to know which one is it, is to copy it to the "my filters" folder and if you already know which filters you already have in that folder, you could identify the new filter you have just copied.

Please, GMM or any other from Filter Forge Inc.

Is there any easy way to indentify filters from the filter library in my hard drive to be able to make a copy of just ONE filter and not have to backup the whole library ??

The way I described above is very tiresome and boring to do, and is not the way to do it many times.

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GMM wrote: The easiest way is to select a filter in the filter list and press Ctrl+L.

YES !!! IT WORKS very well!!! Thanks very much and it is really great this way, so you can select one filter FF and presing CTRL + L you can see what is the real name inside the library !!! Lovely and very easy.

So I can now make backups of just ONE filter or a few selecting them and then when the window library opens I can copy it.