In general, use a dot to mark a modified document as unsaved only when it can't be autosaved. These behaviors ensure that work is always saved unless the user explicitly chooses not to keep it. If a document wasn’t previously saved and the user quits the app, logs out, or restarts, the document should automatically be saved in temporary form and restored the next time the app opens. An existing document should save changes automatically whenever the user closes the document, quits the app, logs out, or restarts. Present a Save dialog only when the user explicitly tries to save or close a previously unsaved document containing content. For developer guidance, see the autosavesInPlace() function of NSDocument. Note that Auto Save requires minimal effort to adopt. Opt-in to Auto Save so they can rely on these behaviors in your app.
In general, people expect their content to be saved continuously and without intervention. At any time, the user can browse through these saved versions and revert back to one.Įnable Auto Save if your app is document-based. When Auto Save is enabled, a version of the document is automatically saved at least once per hour, and each time the document is opened, duplicated, locked, renamed, reverted, or manually saved.
Auto Save reduces manual work while editing documents, increasing focus on content creation and insuring the preservation of data.
Document-based apps can implement Auto Save to automatically save versions of documents as the user works on them.