27.7.3.7 The (Options) Open/Close Tab

Opt to Hide or Delete a child window without incurring an attention message confirming your action (i.e. to hide a window instead of deleting it, select Hide Only from the drop-down list). Prompt is the default behavior.

Select this check box to display a prompt when deleting a worksheet or matrixsheet.

Select this check box to display a prompt when closing the Script window (if the contents have been modified). This prompt also displays when exiting Origin if the Script window contents have been modified.

This drop-down list allows you to select the window or project you want to have displayed when you open a new project. You can select from worksheet, Excel workbook, empty graph, matrix, ORIGIN.OPJ, or none. The ORIGIN.OPJ file includes a worksheet and a graph window. The layer contents of the graph window is configured to display the column B data set.

When selected, open the Start New Project selection in a subfolder under the main Project Explorer (PE) folder. Otherwise, start the new project with only a selection in the main PE folder.

Select this check box to automatically create a backup of the currently saved file before re-saving. Origin backups the saved file with the current project name in the Backup folder, and then saves the modified file with a user-specified file name. By enabling "Backup project before saving", you maintain a secondary recovery option.

Notes:

• Backup is most useful for recovering data when you have a project file that will not open. You can locate backup files by one of the following ways:
  • Origin menu Help: Open Folder: Project Backup
  • Open the Options dialog (Preferences: Options), click the System Path tab and get the Project Backup path.
• Only the most recently saved backup version will be kept if there is multiple saving of same project file on the same day. That means, if you save a project several times, the earlier backup version will be replaced.
• If there are multiple projects with the same name in different locations, only one backup file will be saved.
• The backup files will not be automatically cleaned. You will need to manually clean them if desired.
• Set system variable @PBO to 1 to save only one backup.opj or backup.opju for ALL files, the backup file format dependents on if the project was opened in opj or opju format.

Check the Autosave project every x minute(s) checkbox to initiate autosave of your Origin project. You can specify how often the autosave will occur. The default is every 12 minutes (project must have been modified). By default, Autosave is enabled for both named and UNTITLED projects. See this FAQ for more information.

Notes:

• Autosave is most useful for recovering from program crashes and power failures.
  
• Project contents are periodically saved to a temporary file in the \Autosave subfolder.
  
• Locate the \Autosave folder by (a) clicking Help: Open Folder: Autosave; (b) opening Preferences: Options..., clicking on the System Path tab and noting the path to Autosave (hint: you can highlight the Autosave row and click the Copy button, then paste the address to the address bar in Windows File Explorer).
• With large project files (>20MB), Autosave may slow your work. In such cases, you will be prompted to disable the Autosave feature for the current or all projects or continue using Autosave. See LabTalk System Variable @ASC.

When you manually discard the modifications in the current project file (choosing "No" in the Save Project as dialog, or choosing not to save the project on closing the program), Origin will automatically save this changes to a temporary file in the path of C:\Users\<LoginAccount>\Documents\OriginLab\Unsaved\.

Unlike Backup Project Before Saving and Autosave Project Every x Minutes options above, Autosave Unsaved Project will backup any modified project, either project saved before or a new one never yet saved.

The auto-saved file has the same name as the source project (the new project which hasn't saved before will be saved as "UNTITLED.opju"). If you modify the project and then discard the modify several times, only the last modify will be kept.

The auto-saved files will keep for 7 days by default. If you choose to save a project that has an auto-saved version, Origin will "clean up" by deleting the auto-saved file. You can open Tools: Set System Variables dialog and set USKT to a new value to changed the period of keeping auto-saved files.

A second LabTalk system variable controls the maximum file save for autosaving of unsaved files (default is 20MB). See System Variable @USM.

Notes:

• "Autosave unsaved project" feature gives the second chance if you regret discarding the modify, especially useful for the project never saved before.
• On saving a large project (>20MB), if you choose to turn off "Autosave Project Every x Minutes" feature for the current or all projects, "Autosave Unsaved Project" feature follows the same rule. You can use system variable @ASC to change the threshold size to trigger the autosaving.

This drop-down list allows you to select how windows that are saved as minimized in pre-version 6 projects open in Origin 6. Opening minimized windows as hidden windows improves the loading time of your project. Hidden windows can be accessed from the Project Explorer.

Select this check box to open an attention dialog box after the Options dialog box is closed, asking if you want to save the changes as Origin's startup options.

When Prompt for Save on Options Dialog Close is cleared, the Save Settings on Close box is available.

Select Save Settings on Close to automatically save the changes to the Options dialog box as Origin's startup options.

Clear the box to restore the default options when you exit Origin.