Longer than launching EF on my iMac G5? :-o
Not sure I understand the factors that would contribute to it taking a “long” time, and that may be a subjective issue (for me) anyway …
DEVONthink can be configured to automatically “Backup & Optimize” the currently open database at different intervals (None/Hourly/Daily/Weekly/Monthly), which happens while the app is running. The delay when that occurs is longer as the database size increases but with it set to Daily the one-time daily interruption isn’t annoying because I know what it’s doing and want the automatic safety net it provides.
Lately NetNewsWire has been taking a “long” time quitting because of article backlog. That’s not annoying since I’m not frequently quitting/restarting it and just switch to another app while it’s busy.
Surely I wouldn’t be the only person wanting automatic EF metadata backups (disabled by default) who’d also be willing to tolerate occasional (configurable) delays for them. Eventually someone will wish they had a metadata backup that they’ve forgotten to create so there ought to be some method for automating it.
and because I think one might want to export the metadata for one library but not others.
Perhaps. Think you’ll ever consider per-library preferences? DEVONthink still lacks per-database prefs, which reduces complexity but is too inflexible/restrictive for me at times.
I still don’t think “Save” is the right word. What do you think of “Backup”?
Backup seems fine, though I hadn’t really considered my preference (pun?) of terminology for it.
There are a variety of applications that save their own backups in a predetermined location.
And frequency, per the earlier DEVONthink example. Btw, I often mention DT because it’s an easy, familiar reference point. More detailed EF/DT comparisons, if any, belong elsewhere, e.g. the EF vs DEVONthink Pro thread.
I’m curious which apps you were thinking of.
In this case the backups would have the additional virtue of being property lists that other applications could read.
Definitely.