Data loss prevention

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Revision as of 20:12, 4 November 2009 by Dan Polansky (talk | contribs) (+overview)
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Prevention of data loss is achieved in FreeMind in the following functions or features:

  • Confirmation before deletion: when the user invokes the deletion function, he is asked for a confirmation. The deletion function can lead to a deletion of large branches of data, as one node can represent equally well a paragraph, a section of an article, an article, a folder with articles, or a category of articles. Confirmation before deletion is only implemented in 0.9.0 series.
  • Automatic backups: FreeMind creates automatic backups of open mind maps for the case of crash; see Autosave.

Preventing accidental deletion

Deleting nodes and branches in FreeMind

Since version 0.8.0, it is possible to delete a whole branch of nodes by pressing DELETE. When a user accidentally presses DELETE and does not notice that, they may loose considerable amount of data. For users using FreeMind as a knowledge base or a semi-structured database, being able to delete whole branch at one keystroke is problematic and unusual; in filesystem browsers, users are asked for confirmation before the file is deleted by the system.

However, some users use FreeMind as a mind mapper and are glad to be able to delete nodes just by pressing DELETE.

There are several solutions to this problem.

  • Add user option to enable or disable confirmation before deleting of nodes and branches (depending on model type)
  • Store all deleted nodes and branches in a kind of trashcan associated with every mind map
  • Ask for confirmation only for nodes with children
  • Ask for confirmation only for nodes with more than p children

The confirmation would be requested both for keystrokes DELETE and CONTROL + X, that is the actions Delete and Cut.

See also