Set How To Update an Archive

When an archive already contains files, you may—or may not—want to replace these files only with newer versions, and you may, or may not, want to add files that the archive does not already contain. The options you set determine which selected files are actually added.

To set how PK Protect updates an archive:

Click the Application Menu.
Click Options. Go to the Compression page.
Select one of the following settings from the Add Mode drop-down menu:

Setting	What It Means
Add all files	Adds all selected files, including older versions of files that are already in the archive. If the Overwrite setting is Prompt user, PK Protect asks before overwriting newer files already in the archive.
Freshen existing files only	Only adds files that are newer versions of files already in the archive. Replaces the older versions with the newer ones. Does not add any files that do not already exist in the archive in an older version.
Update existing and add new files	Adds selected files that are newer versions of files already in the archive; also adds files that do not already exist in the archive in an older version.

Related Options

The following check boxes control options related to how archives are updated:

Check Box

What It Does

Include only if archive attribute is set

Adds a file only if its archive attribute is set.

This setting helps you use PK Protect to do backups. A file's archive attribute is set (turned on) by the operating system when the file is created or saved. If a backup utility clears the archive attribute (turns it off) when backing up a file, then, the next time you do a backup, the utility knows that the file is unchanged if the archive attribute is still unset.

Note that, for this system to work, you must consistently clear archive attributes when, and only when, you back up files.

Clear archive attribute

Clears the archive attribute of a file on your system after adding the file to the archive.

Include subfolders

Adds files in any subfolders (and their subfolders) of any folders you specify to add files from.

For example, if you specify C:\MyFiles\whatsnew.htm? in the File name field or the Files to Compress list of the Add Files dialog, PK Protect adds all files named whatsnew.htm or whatsnew.html in the MyFiles folder or any subfolder of MyFiles.

NOTE: This option (namely, including subfolders) is turned OFF for any particular file path that (a) includes a drive letter (for example, C:) and (b) does NOT include any wildcard characters (? or *). Use a file path of this sort to specify a particular file when you do not want to add other files having the same name in subfolders, and you do not want to turn off the Include subfolders option.

For example:

File Path	Adds Matching Files in Subfolders
`C:\MyFiles\whatsnew.htm?`	Yes
`\MyFiles\whatsnew.htm?`	Yes
`\MyFiles\whatsnew.htm`	Yes
`C:\MyFiles\whatsnew.htm`	No

The Filter drop-down menu offers these three choices:

Item	What It Means
No filter	No filters are applied to selected files
Standard (default)	Filters are set to exclude hidden and system files from the files selected to be added
Advanced	Enables the Edit Filter button and uses existing filter settings

Related Options

Filter Options