Back Up Your Database
Posted by marketingwithact on January 12, 2007
The new year is always a time for me to consider new habits. One that I know we could all get better at is protecting our data. So many times we take our ACT database for granted. If your computer were to crash right now or your laptop stolen, would you have a copy of your database anywhere? I worked with a Financial Consultant one time who hired a summer intern to help clean up the database and the intern deleted the entire database…there were no backups anywhere…years of work were gone in only a few minutes. I’ve been to larger corporations where the staff was sure that IT was backing up their database nightly only to find out that that backup was not working properly or that the ACT database had not been included in the list of files to backup and the most recent backup they had was more than a year old. Backups usually only take a few minutes. Do you know when and where your last backup occurred? Resolve to back up more frequently!
When you backup your database, the data is compressed into a .ZIP file. Versions 2005 through 2007 do not require that everyone be out of the database prior to backing it up. However, older versions (2004 or 6 and older) will require that everyone be out of ACT.
1. File, Backup (if you are using 2005/2006/2007, select Database)
2. Click Browse
3. Select a location (not the A:\). If you are connected to a network, it is preferable to select a folder on a different computer (like the F: drive) for saving your backup files. If you are not connected to a network, then select a location on your desktop and then copy the .zip file to a CD or USB Flash Drive.
4. Add a date to the end of the suggested name. That way the current backup file will not overwrite any other backups.
5. Click Save
6. OK or Start * In older versions (6/2004 and older) you may click the Options tab first to select what you would like to include in the backup. In versions 2005 through 2007, everything is automatically backed up.
Go forth and backup! (That sounds like conflicting advice.)
