The second panel on the task details window is "Data to back up". On this panel you can select the sources you would like to back up with this task.
Backing up folders from local computer
At left on this panel you can see the folder tree (structure) of your computer. To expand the folder and see its sub folder, click on the "+" button in front of the folder. To collapse, click on the "-" button. To include some of the folders to the backup, just find the folder and activate the check box in front of it. Folders having a green check mark on the box are included to the backup.
Your backup task can have as many folders selected as you like. In most cases, though, it is better to create different tasks for different folders and data. That way each task (and backup file) would contain only a particular type of data. For example you could have one backup task for your Documents, another for emails, and third for your photos. That way managing your backups is much easier, and restoring faster, should you need to restore some or even all of your data.
By default, all folders (including hidden folders) are shown in the folder selection list. It is important that you won't miss any folder, even if it's hidden, when selecting what data to back up. If for some reason you do not want to see hidden folders in the selection list, you can turn off this feature from the program options, Advanced settings panel.
Selecting a single files to the backup task
To back up some particular file, you have to first activate the panel "Local Files" at the left bottom of this screen. On the similar panel you can then look up the file and select it to be included to the backup.
Shortcuts
At right, you can check "shortcuts", to back up resources otherwise not available in the folder tree:
| • | Microsoft Outlook. If this shortcut is selected, the program includes all your default Outlook data automatically to the backup. This includes all e-mails and settings (including folder tree, accounts, rules, calendar, contacts, tasks etc.). Please note - if you have changed the data file locations in Outlook settings, your data can be located in different or additional locations. In that case, please select those folders additionally to the backup task, as "Outlook data" option will only include the data from default locations. Also, please note that Outlook has to be closed when making a backup. Though TK8 Backup will close your Outlook automatically before backing up the data, you have to close other programs accessing your Outlook data (if you have any). |
| • | Outlook Express. If this shortcut is selected, the program includes all your Outlook Express data automatically to the backup. This includes all e-mails and settings (including folder tree, accounts, mail rules, blocked senders etc.) |
| • | Favorites. If selected, includes favorites data automatically when creating a backup from this backup task. |
| • | Windows Address Book. If selected, the program includes your Address Book when creating a backup from this task. |
| • | Windows Fonts. If selected, it includes Windows Fonts folder to the backup file when this task is executed. |
Backing up data from network computers
To back up folders from other computers over a network, click on the "Network Computer" panel name. That will open a similar folder tree, where you can use standard network computer location tree, and select the folder shared on the network computer(s).
If the network computer requires a user name and a password to access files, you can enter those below the folder tree (available in the Professional version only). In case you log off, and/or the network drive is disconnected by Windows, this user name and password allows the computer to re-establish the connection with that network computer, if necessary.
File rules
By default, all the files from selected folders are backed up when the task is executed. But if needed, you can exclude some (or include only) specific files, based on the type, size or age.
To see or edit current file rules, click on the "File rules" panel name at the bottom of the current (Data to back up) panel.
When you edit or add a new rule, the rule window is opened:
The first option you can set to the rule is a file type filter. It can be either the inclusion or exclusion rule. Inclusion rule can be useful if you want to back up only MS Word documents, for example. In that case, delete the default "Include all files" rule and add a new rule: "Include *.doc". You can add additional inclusion rules to the backup task if you need. For example "Include *.xls" will include all your Excel documents.
If you want to exclude some files based on the file type, don't modify the default "Include all files" rule. Just add a new rule, where you point out what you would like to exclude from your backup. Similar to the inclusion rules, you can have more than one rule for each backup task.
If you need to filter files based on their size and age, you can do so in the Professional version. It is possible to include or exclude files if they're smaller, greater, or between some size (or date).