Transfering Workspaces between computers

[Mike Olds]

Hello,

I am heavily dependent on Workspaces and am wondering if there is some way to edit these so they will work if copied to a new computer.

I should add that I keep all my workspaces organized in a single folder rather than the default where the workspace is actually in one or another of the folders of the used files.

I am thinking I should be able to run a search and replace for the folder/file locations.

Edit one: Copied a *.tws file and saved > renamed *.txt and opened in TextPad. Some very interesting items. Musical notes, an old McDonald's hamberger, but the locations of the files to open seem in this one case at least, to be stored with the full path, so search and replace with the new path seems to be theoretically possible. More not tonight.

Question is recollection of having moved tws files previously only to end up with empty workspaces.

[ben_josephs]

TextPad's workspace files are binary files. Don't try to edit them with TextPad; the result will not work.

There are two possibilities.

1. Document files stored with absolute paths

If none of the document files in your workspace are in the directory containing the workspace or the subdirectory tree below it, then all the document filenames are stored in the workspace with their full paths. If those files have exactly the same paths on the new machine as on the old one, a copy of the workspace should work as it did on the old machine.

If there are document files in the workspace that are in the workspace file's subdirectory tree, save the workspace somewhere else to force the document filenames to be stored with full paths. Then copy that version of the workspace file to the new machine.

Of course, if the document files are not in the same locations on the two machines, this will not work.

2. Document files stored with relative paths

If all the document files in your workspace are in the directory containing the workspace or the subdirectory tree below it, then all the document filenames are stored in the workspace with paths relative to the directory of the workspace directory. If you copy the workspace file and all the document files to the new machine, preserving their relative locations, the workspace should work as it did on the old machine.

[Mike Olds]

if the document files are not in the same locations on the two machines, this will not work

Thanks Ben. I'm diddled.

The documents are in a different location than the workspaces; but in a different location on the new computer.

Workspaces also are in a different location.

Not that I doubted, but I did try my renaming, search and replace, rename back idea and it didn't work. The search and replace went ok.

[ben_josephs]

So the document files are not even in the same locations relative to each other?

If you just want the filenames of documents in the workspace, you can copy them with
Edit | Copy Other | All File Names
and paste them into a fresh document, which you can edit as required.

If you assign a keyboard shortcut to the File | FileGoTo command (I use Ctrl+Shift+G), you can open each document quickly by selecting its filename in the document you just created and typing that shortcut.

[Mike Olds]

Hello Ben, and thank you.

What you suggest looks like a next best solution. I will report back, but this is likely to be weeks off.

So the document files are not even in the same locations relative to each other?

Most of the documents will be in the same locations relative to each other. It is the partitioning and level that has been changed.

From: X:/Webs/website/documents/document folder a ... b ... c...
to: D:/Webs/documents/document folder a ...

[ben_josephs]

Use my second suggestion. Save the workspace file in the directory at the top of the tree containing all the document files.