Making Updates

To make an update file, first open UpdateMaker. Click on Cancel when it asks what UpdateMaker file you would like to open. Now choose New from the File menu. Select the old file that the update is to apply to and click Old File. Then select the new file that the update is to convert the old file into, and click New File. You may also click on the text box labelled "About this update" and type in any brief comments you wish about what the update does. Click Done when you are finished, and UpdateMaker will start building the update document. This may take some minutes, depending on the size of the files and the extent of the differences between them. When it is finished, choose Save from the File menu and fill in the Save dialog box. Here is where you can click the Save As Application check-box if you wish to save the document as a stand-alone application.


Using Updates

To use an update document, simply open it. If you wish to see more information about the document (some of which is rather technical), click the Show Description check-box. When you are ready to apply the update, click Update. Use the dialog to select the old file. UpdateMaker will only show you files of the appropriate type. Click the Update It button and the update will proceed. Note that the old file will not be altered or deleted, and the new file will appear beside it in the same folder (if there is room). If there is not enough room you will be asked to select another disk.


Running out of Memory

Note that UpdateMaker can require a lot of memory if asked to update large documents – for example, 500K Word documents. It may need space equal to the sum of the sizes of the old file and the UpdateMaker document plus 600K to perform an update, and more to build a new document. If UpdateMaker fails because there is not enough memory, you can allocate more by using the Get Info command under the File menu in the Finder.