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Karan avatar image
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Karan asked Ben Wilson edited

Sequence of events when saving .fsm files

Hi,

I have noticed that when you save a FlexSim file there is a weird sequence of events. I think it saves as a .fsm!, deletes the file you were working on, and renames the new save as .fsm removing the "!" from the extension or something of this sort.

Is there reasoning behind this and can it instead save and overwrite the file as other software would? I noticed this because I tried using SharePoint/OneDrive to hold version history of a model but each time I save, the version history goes back to 1.0 because it is a fresh file that was created at the same time as the save command.

FlexSim 22.2.2
save
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Jason Lightfoot avatar image Jason Lightfoot ♦♦ commented ·

Hi @Karan, was Ben Wilson's answer helpful? If so, please click the "Accept" button at the bottom of their answer. Or if you still have questions, add a comment and we'll continue the conversation.

If we haven't heard back from you within 3 business days we'll auto-accept an answer, but you can always unaccept and comment back to reopen your question.

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Ben Wilson answered Ben Wilson edited

Explanation of how .fsm! files worked for FlexSim versions before 22.2 (from this old answer):

FlexSim keeps your last two saves. When you save a FlexSim model using Save As, it will be saved as modelname.fsm. The next time you save using simply "Save" or Ctrl-S to update the saved file, your previously saved model, modelname.fsm, is renamed to modelname.fsm!, and your new save is called modelname.fsm. In this way you always have your latest save (.fsm) and the previous save (.fsm!). If you press save twice in quick succession, you have just lost the previous .fsm! version. Don't be in the habit of pressing save several times in a row.

However, in more recent FlexSim versions it works differently. See Phil's comment:

This is how it works in 22.2. When you save over a file, it renames it to .fsm! and then deletes that file after the save operation is completed successfully. If the save is unsuccessful, it renames it back to its original name.

In other words, for FlexSim versions 22.2 and greater, after a normal save operation completes successfully you should no longer be seeing .fsm! files. See FlexSim's release notes for 22.2.0.

Anecdotally @Jason Lightfoot shared

I believe I've had one case where FlexSim crashed while saving and I was left with a .fsm! file - which is a good thing.

You can read discussion and reasoning behind the .fsm! workflow change here:

Keep saving of .fsm! files in FlexSim 2022 Update 2 - FlexSim Community

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