Problem: your network of tracks may have gotten very huge or contains some corrupted items you can't identify. Therefore you may want to start anew or make some kind of backup.
Solution: in network tracks mode, select a range of objects and Edit > Copy these. The clipboard now contains GPX fragments of these items. You can paste that into a second TrailRunner document or into any text file.
Tip: you can also use this technique to give parts of your network of tracks to a friend for that he/she can import these segments.

Tags: tracks, backup, GPX, export, import, share

Problem: When you start TrailRunner on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, it may happen that the system is asking you if you would like to Duplicate the current document or Unlock it.

Background: This is a new system wide behavior in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion to prevent users from accidentally overwriting a documents content if not used for a longer time. In TrailRunner however it does not (always) make sense, because you generally work with only one document, which is TrailRunner.trail, stored in your Application Support folder. But the new versioning mechanism itself does makes sense, as it is a fast backup restoration method while working in your network of tracks and accidentally breaking up things.
Solution: Whenever this dialog comes up, klick on the Unlock button, because that is what you would expect.

Expert Note: The three choices have the following meaning: Unlock lets you edit the file as you would have in earlier versions of Mac OS X (and it keeps versions behind the scenes), Cancel is your panic button, and Duplicate creates a new file you can start with. In the end it doesn't really matter which option you choose. TrailRunner will always re-open the last saved document on the next application start, which is either the unlocked original or the duplicated new document branch. To be sure where the system has actually stored your unlocked or duplicated document, you can check the place by command-clicking the document title and inspect the location.

Sidenote: Interestingly even Apple itself has some problems with the new system feature.

Tags: MacOS X 10.7 Lion, backup

Problem: You have a Mac at home and one at work. You would like to synchronize your TrailRunner diary with these two computers.
Solution: TrailRunner supports Dropbox. You can put the TrailRunner documents into your Dropbox and the data gets synchronized between all linked computers.

As you might already know, TrailRunner stores all vital information within your home directories Application Support folder

To move your TrailRunner data to Dropbox, follow these steps:

- Download and install Dropbox.
- By default, Dropbox creates a new folder in your home directory called Dropbox.
- Open this folder and make sure that a folder named Documents exists within. If this is not the case, create one with the exact spelling.
- Now go to: [yourhome]/Library/Application Support/
- Within, find the folder named TrailRunner and move this into the aforementioned Documents folder.

Next time you start up TrailRunner, the application will check on if your home directory contains the following folder:
[yourhome]/Dropbox/Apps/TrailRunner/Application Support

If that's the case, TrailRunner will access this location instead of the default Library/Application Support location.

If the default folder does not suit you, these alternatives are also looked into:
[yourhome]/Documents/Dropbox/Apps/TrailRunner/Application Support [yourhome]/Dropbox/Apps/TrailRunner/Application Support [yourhome]/Dropbox/Documents/TrailRunner
[yourhome]/Shared/Library/Application Support/TrailRunner

As this folder now is located within your dropbox, it is automatically being backed up and synchronized between all computers being linked to your dropbox.

Tags: synchronize, diary, backup, dropbox

Problem: It's not really obvious to me where TrailRunner stores the main document containing routes and the database containing my diary activities. How can I backup these files?

Solution: TrailRunner stores files in the following folders. Backup these folders/files and your personal data is safe.
__yourhome__/Library/Application Support/TrailRunner
__yourhome__/Library/Preferences
__yourhome__/Library/Caches/com.berbie.trailrunner

> Read More about what files TrailRunner writes to your harddrive…

Hint: Another alternative to backing up your files is to place them in Dropbox. This also enables you to synchronize with other computers you own:
> Read More about how to synchronize your diary with other computers…

Hint: on Mac OS X Lion the __yourhome__/Library folder is invisible by default. But just hold down the option key while pulling down the Finder's "Go" menu to get there. Or you can make it permanently visible using the following terminal command:
chflags nohidden ~/Library/
or you can open it by typing the following into the Finder menu item Go > Go to Folder box:
~/Library

Tags: backup, diary, synchronize, dropbox, preferences