I had an idea.  Since "CloneApp works with the Environment Variables of Windows", could I temporarily change the windows environmental variables to an external hard drive (such as "%USERPROFILE% = Y:\Users\{username}" (instead of the default "C:\Users\{username}" in order to use CloneApp to copy user and program data from that external drive "Y", and then, once finished with this process, change the windows  variables back to their default location (e.g.: "%USERPROFILE% = C:\Users\{username}" once again, and then be able to use the CloneApp backup that I just made (of the user and program settings from my external "Y" drive) and restore them to my cloned windows partition (on the same computer where the "Y" drive was once the "C" drive) and then end up with my user & programs settings from "Y" drive now being on my "C" drive?  Would this be a legitimate workaround for the problemed scenario that I described in my previous post here on the forum?  Also, when restoring the user and program settings from the backup I made (from the "Y" drive (having temporarily changed the windows environmental settings) would I need to change any additional settings in CloneApp for the restore (to the new "C" Windows partition) to work?  Thanks again. -Cfguy

Help - I used Paragon HD Manager to restore an old virtual partition "C:\" drive back to the same desktop (when the current partition got messed up).  Problem is the old virtual partition is from July 2018, so some of my user and program settings are different.  I still have old hard drive, and can mount it as a USB drive in the newly restored system (with a different letter, like "W"), but how can I get CloneApp to copy my user and program settings from old hard drive (now "W" - current up until 2 days ago when the partition/boot got messed up) to my newly restored "C" drive (which has user and program settings back from July, 2018 when I performed the virtual backup, which I just reinstalled onto a new hard drive (now "C") on the same computer, which is now functioning well, except for the three month loss of my updated user and program settings)?  Is there a way for me to do this, and get my October user & program settings (now on USB-Mounted "W" drive) back on to my newly restored hard drive (now "C") with user & program settings from July (now slightly outdated)?  Please let me know.  Thanks so much for your help, and for creating such a wonderful program! :-) -Cfguy

Hi Belim,

the app didn't crash. Normal behaviour was that after
confirming creation of personal app folder, folder would be created and app
would restart (to reload plug-ins). The bug was that the folder wasn't created
at all, then the app restarted to reload plug-ins (not a crash). This bug is
now solved in build 266, the folder is created.

The app still restarts to reload plug-ins which is
not necessary. The only thing that changes is the plug-in list which could be
refreshed with refresh call automatically or with manual refresh.

Hope I'll exhaust my ideas for a little while after
this :)

[Feature] Plug-in manipulation in app

Field in plug-in editor
to change title of plug-in (filename) and
button in context menu to "rename" (filename).
Option to duplicate plug-in. Again in context menu.
Option to create new empty plug-in in app
(not completely empty file but with basic
structure layout).
"Save as new Plug-in" should save the edited
Plug-in to the folder of currently visible list (e.g. My Apps or Plug-ins)
automatically with prompt to rename (or name would be changed in editor as
in "1)" and call refresh.
The current "Save as new Plug-in"
functionality should be under different button e.g. "Export as new
Plug-in"

[Feature] Cancel button in plug-in editor

Before, I ment "cancel" button in addition
to "Save" button, currently only option is ESC so just for the sake
of completeness and convenience

[Feature] Wildcards support in paths

e.g. %appdata%\*\database.db*|outputfolder

Or specific example: %appdata%\skype\*\Main.*db (this
would backup all present accounts - currently this wouldn't work because of
wildcard at the end, ideally it would create structure with multiple folders at
the end for each user and each folder would contain single Main.db file)

[Feature]  Stripping of illegal
characters

Strip all illegal characters in BackupFolder when
using wilcards, so user doesn't have to specify custom output folder - this
enabled previous feature to work

[Feature] RegEx support in addition to wildcards (with specific
parameter to enable it on each line)

[Feature] Option to enable automatic temporary backup before restoring
for troubleshooting

Basically normal backup to separate folder and a
button to clean it

[Feature] Complete backups with specific configs

Option to back up plug-in files of the backed up apps
with the backup, same with apps selected.

This way it's always possible to restore the backup
even when it's separate from the CloneApp and it's data.

[Feature] CMD Options

Parameter to specify file with
"apps selected"
Parameter to specify folder with plug-ins
Parameter to specify single archive, which would contain
plug-in files to determine correct restore locations (as in Complete
backups feature)

[Other] Groups

I have improved my groups solution.

Now each group has own container for backups and own
plug-ins (this way I  have
most-up-to-date backups nicely organised and I can sync each backup separatedly
to different location or create only archives of backups I want, e.g. I'd want
to create archive of AppConfigs but not of GameSaves because of size, so don't
want to have all backups in same folder). I can select onetime backup which
creates new backup folder (deletes any existing and CloneApp creates it) and
shows last selected group plug-ins. I can backup and switch group which prompts
me if I want to delete the onetime backup already (the text is wrong now but
it' y/n prompt), if I select NO I can backup to this folder with plug-ins from
other group (or from whole plug-ins folder). On each backup I get prompt for 7z
archival (archives are saved always to "BackupArchives" regardless of
group selected). I can leave default value which archives backup as
"CloneAppBackup %computername%_%username% %date%.7z" or I can write
name which saves archive as "CloneAppBackup - Name" or ESC/cancel
which cancels creation of archive. When I am done with onetime backup and I've
backed up everything I want from as many groups as I want I don't cancel the
prompt and create archive. Then after switching group I select YES to remove
onetime backup folder (it's displayed only when "real" folder is
present) and proper group backup folder is shown again.

It's quite seamless (app restarts automatically to
refresh), I only need to interact with one batch file to switch group and
cancel/confirm prompt to create archive after each backup. There had to be one
redundant batch to run vbs as I can't manage to run vbs directly from "7z
compression field" so I compiled it, it's just simple prompt with 7z
commands.

I provide full solution for demonstration and
inspiration here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1E4Tbusca1jQG4tvrzdUIimuv2PgD1W4U

Password is SHA-1 of build 255 executable.

[BUG] Version 2.05.255, Windows 7 (x64)
When creating My Apps  folder trough the button in app, the app restarts but no folder is created.
When folder is created manually the app loads it correctly.

[Feature] Refresh button + F5 shortcut to reload Plug-ins/My Apps folder
I've come up with a workaround for the groups of app lists. I've created a batch script with options to select group. Groups are stored in Data\Groups\ e.g. Data\Groups\Group_AppConfigs.
First, the script simply removes any present "My Apps" link and after selecting option makes a symbolic link to the selected folder e.g.
@mklink /D "My Apps" "Data\Groups\Group_AppConfigs" > nul && Echo Successful

Some sample groups:
[1] Apps  - Config Files        // UI setup and other preferences
[2] Apps  - Data                    // e.g. chat history or main.db from skype
[3] Games - Config Files     // preferences e.g. keybinds etc.
[4] Games - Game Saves   // saved games and game profiles

I imagine that exactly the same procedure could be used in the app, with simple dropdown menu to change group. Text files with lists of apps from plug-ins folder would be more efficient but copying of plug-ins is ok as folder size is not really worrying.
Currently I can very efficiently switch groups but I have to restart app to reload the list. Refresh button would be very handy. (Now refresh is called only on plug-in import)

[Feature] Parameter to not include sub-folders in BackupFolder, only files in top level

[Other]
I've noticed that now it's possible to basically backup single file or more files into custom output folder (which works around the problem with overwriting single files) by including * at the end e.g. 
File1=BackupFolder|%AppData%\Skype\User1\main.db*|User1
File2=BackupFolder|%AppData%\Skype\User2\main.db*|User2
The wildcard at the end is not 100% ideal for all cases but it works and that counts.
In the same manner "BackupFile | file | CustomOutput" could be implemented in the future.
Thanks!

I came across a weird situation and I don't know if I found a bug or it is supposed to be like that. When I click 'Restore' after selecting apps which I want to restore the program automatically selects all the other apps and restores them all. In my opionion it should restore only selected apps and that's why I think it is a bug. If I'm mistaken, may I ask you to consider changing it?

When this situation had happened to me I came across interesting idea. I would like to suggest a feature, which should be easy to implement, considering you have already implemented the restoring of data. It would be useful if CloneApp could reset the settings of apps. I mean deleting the files, which are listed in plugins.

Please let me know, what do you think about this :)

Unqiue concept. Many thanks for developing.
 

Will this program back your Microsoft Office Templates? I couldn't find where it did it.

C:\Users\"username"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\

Great program, by-the-way.

It seems that currently absolute paths are not working correctly. Full
path format as in "D:\...\.." would be very handy too. Also, would it be
possible, as someone mentioned here already, to GET correct
installation path from registry. This is very useful if apps are
installed on different drive than default and the paths are non-default
as well. E.g.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{47DF5665-4C7E-46A0-8993-B147CE0E5A36}\"InstallLocation"="D:\Program Files\Calibre2\"
Get this correct path as variable and use it for backup. So we don't have to hard code plug-ins

Hi,
great app! I've a few suggestions for future versions.

1)
Custom output folder for single files. Currently if multiple files from
different folder but with the same filename are backed up, they get
overwritten and only last one is kept.
2) Backup of single registry key opposed to backing up all keys in "folder"
3) Cancel button in plug-in editor (ESC)
4) Custom selection preset - saving selected apps as a preset which can be later used to instantly select apps in this preset
5)
Partial backup - sections in plug-in file which result in a list of
checkboxes in app selection (maybe new pane between app list and
description). Different sections can be (de)selected e.g. *all*,
"bookmarks", "config", "themes", "addons" as opposed to creating
multiple plug-ins e.g. "Firefox (bookmarks)", Firefox (addons)
6)
Groups - groups with different visible apps in the app list. Similiar
to "personal plug-ins" folder but with multiple groups. Each folder
under personal plug-ins could be considered new group with plug-in
files. This would be redundant and better solution would be to just have
single file for each group with a list of plug-in names included in
that group.
Most important example would be group for
"Applications" and a group for "Games". Games would then be separated
with sections for "settings" and "saves". This could be further improved
to things like "backup this saves folder, but only # (e.g. 10) last
modified files/subfolders"
7) Backing up only if file is newer/different than backed up file

Hello,
It's a very useful app. Does it back up the serial number so these do not have to be re-entered?

Thanks