# Rapid weaver main site file reverted to old version on my computer **URL:** \ **Category:** RapidWeaver Classic\ **Created:** [May 23, 2021, 11:53am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348 "2021-05-23T11:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chatwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@chatwood](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/chatwood)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 11:53am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/1 "2021-05-23T11:53:57Z")
Hi, I am really hoping someone can help me! I went to update a site this morning, and when I opened it in Rapidweaver, it was an older version of the site (must have lost about 20-30 hours of work). The site is live and that is up to date - is there a way to download the .rw8 file from the server? does this get uploaded to the server when you publish a site? any help would be massively appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Ruyton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ruyton](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Ruyton)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 12:12pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/2 "2021-05-23T12:12:47Z")
Have you set your publishing setting to backup to the server? Or, do you run Time Machine on your Mac? ![CleanShot 2021-05-23 at 13.11.14@2x](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/realmacsoftware1/original/3X/1/4/140a038787a21023e81c6473b6755493cdd61d96.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![chatwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@chatwood](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/chatwood)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 12:14pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/3 "2021-05-23T12:14:27Z")
I didn’t know this was a thing 😭 sadly it is not turned on! and no i don’t run time machine! I am learning that I should be doing back ups the hard way! ---
**Author:** ![teefers](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/teefers/32/8173_2.png) [@teefers](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/teefers)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/4 "2021-05-23T12:19:39Z")
> [@chatwood](#): > > The site is live and that is up to date I’d double check that you have opened the latest project file for that site. Part of the publishing process is to do a save (update) of the project file. So changes that got published should have been included in the project file. ---
**Author:** ![Mathew](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/mathew/32/2771_2.png) [@Mathew](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Mathew)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 12:24pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/5 "2021-05-23T12:24:37Z")
@chatwood Per what teefers wrote … search for **.rw8** in your finder. Then you should see all versions of your RW8 files. … but yes … backup, backup, backup. ---
**Author:** ![chatwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@chatwood](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/chatwood)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 12:43pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/6 "2021-05-23T12:43:13Z")
I have just done that and it is only showing the one file for this site! Thanks for the replies everyone - so do we think I need to start everything over again? ---
**Author:** ![teefers](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/teefers/32/8173_2.png) [@teefers](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/teefers)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/7 "2021-05-23T12:57:57Z")
If you don’t have any backup like TimeMachine that you can check, then I’m afraid that you’ll have to redo those changes. You might want to “turn on” the publishing backup that Gary (@Ruyton) showed you. You also should try and get into the the habit of saving (Cmd + S) your project often. You need to develop a backup strategy with something like TimeMachine and/or Backblaze. ---
**Author:** ![chatwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@chatwood](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/chatwood)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/8 "2021-05-23T13:00:21Z")
This is where I’m confused - it was saved as I do regularly - but now the file says last modified 5th May - and I have made many changes since then and published several times etc - which I save every time - this is why I am so confused as to what has happened! Thank you all for the help and time though! ---
**Author:** ![Mathew](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/mathew/32/2771_2.png) [@Mathew](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Mathew)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/9 "2021-05-23T13:27:23Z")
@chatwood So sorry for this experience. But there are reasons why backups are so crucial. Why it didn’t save? It’s a mystery in some cases … but it’s important to be prepared for weird stuff happening (whether due to you, the computer, or other things). An additional strategy I use, especially when creating new sites, is to create a series of date archived RW projects. So my first work might be named: project-2021-05-08.rw8, next is project-2021-05-15.rw8, and so on. It’s in these beginning stages that I find I’m most likely to delete stuff I really do want after all or make other dumb mistakes. Once the website is stable in terms of design then I might only change the archive date once a month or less. So I end up with more RW8 files, but that’s a very small price to pay. ---
**Author:** ![chatwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@chatwood](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/chatwood)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 8:11am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/10 "2021-05-24T08:11:59Z")
This is great advice - thank you so much!! I have definitely learnt my lesson the hard way! ---
**Author:** ![Ruyton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ruyton](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Ruyton)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 10:14am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/11 "2021-05-24T10:14:16Z")
Depending on how well organised you have been with your site text and images, you could use one of the website ‘grabber’ apps such as Sitesucker. This will download your whole live site and save it in the same folder structure as you created in RW. You cannot import this into RW, but when you are rebuilding the site, it’s much easier to find stuff when it’s nicely arranged. And all your images will be as per the website, so you don’t need to find them on your HDD and resize them etc. This is what I do when I’m asked to recreate a website that’s been created in a different programme and I don’t have access to any of the content other than what is on the web. See the screenshot below, the pages on the web are accommodation, contact, find etc and you can see that I’ve opened the accommodation ‘page’ and all the images are there in the download. It makes it much easier to recreate the site in RW. ![CleanShot 2021-05-24 at 11.11.08@2x](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/realmacsoftware1/original/3X/1/5/15f29ffb98cb6d61b12cbf65d905b6cef591dc7d.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/system/32/25301_2.png) [@system](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/rapid-weaver-main-site-file-reverted-to-old-version-on-my-computer/39348/12 "2021-06-23T20:14:41Z")
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