Beersmith 3 Backups from directory not .zip

[Fuzzykropolis]

Good afternoon/morning,
I recently had to reinstall Windows on my main device and that means I had to reinstall Beersmith also. I did not make a .zip backup before this reinstall because I changed the "documents directory" under the file menu to a harddrive I use as backup. I figured because I have my folder I should be good. The problem is I can't figure out how to restore my library from a folder directory. Beersmith 3 only seems to give me the option to restore from a .zip backup. If I try to manually move over my files, it says my directory is corrupt and rewrites my directory to default. Is it possible to restore Beersmith 3 from a folder? Thanks.

-Fuz

 

[BeerSmith]

You can open the individual BSMX files (starting with Recipe.bsmx) and copy/paste the data. There is detailed info on working with BSMX files here:
https://beersmith.com/blog/2019/01/27/sharing-beer-brewing-data-using-bsmx-files-in-beersmith/

 

[Fuzzykropolis]

I think I may have had Beersmith write over my folder in the confusion, because I was only able to recover some recipes from an older .zip backup (luckily I had something). I think I managed to retrieve most of the 'good' recipes, but I definitely lost some recipes so it's a little disappointing. I think I can recreate them to some extent. I am an IT guy so troubleshooting is what I do, and something I noticed that seemed to work is to make a zip file of your whole directory (folder) then load that into Beersmith like it was a .zip back up. It might throw an error, but it still seemed to work.

MOVING FORWARD, my new practice will be to remember to make multiple .zip backups. I think 3 would be enough to cover mishaps and i have been putting the date on them so I know how old they are (which is also viewable in the metadata, but I like having it in the filename). The new rule is, if the word backup pops in my head at all during recipe design, brewing, or otherwise. Do it. Make one. It takes seconds and its worth it.

Hopefully this may help someone who has this or a similar issue in the future. Cheers!

 

[Fuzzykropolis]

Thanks for the help, by the way. Through this process I did learn how to make BSMX files, so I can share my recipes/profiles with my friends. A good learning experience, albeit the circumstances.

 

[BeerSmith]

Yes for those interested there is a BSMX file article here:
https://beersmith.com/blog/2019/01/27/sharing-beer-brewing-data-using-bsmx-files-in-beersmith/