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How to Protect Apple iWork Documents - Pages, Numbers, and Keynote

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Retrospect protects your entire computer out of the box. To only protect Apple iWork documents, we will walk through creating a rule to identify only Apple iWork documents, creating a script for it, running a backup, restoring a file from the backup, and transferring to a different set.

We have included instructions for both Retrospect for Mac and Retrospect for Windows, as both support Mac systems as clients.

Creating a Rule

We'll create a rule to identify only Apple iWork documents.

Retrospect for Windows steps

  1. Open "Selectors".

  2. Click "New...", use "Apple iWork" as the title, and click "OK".

  3. Add the following rules:

    • Apple Pages: File name ends with ".pages"

    • Apple Numbers: File name ends with ".numbers"

    • Apple Keynote: File name ends with ".key"

  4. Click "Save".

Retrospect for Mac steps

  1. Open "Preferences" and select "Rules".

  2. Click the "+" button to create a new rule, title it "Apple iWork", and add the following rules:

    • Apple Pages: File name ends with ".pages"

    • Apple Numbers: File name ends with ".numbers"

    • Apple Keynote: File name ends with ".key"

  3. Click "Add".

Backing up Apple iWork documents

Retrospect for Windows steps

  1. Click "Backup".

  2. Select the appropriate source and destination.

  3. Click "Selecting" and select "Apple iWork" then click "OK".

  4. Click "Backup".

Retrospect for Mac steps

  1. Select "Scripts" and click the "+" button.

  2. Select "Backup" and add an appropriate script name.

  3. In the script, select the appropriate source and media set.

  4. Finally, under "Rules", select "Apple iWork".

  5. Click "Save".

  6. Click "Run".

Restoring Apple iWork documents

Retrospect for Windows steps

  1. Click "Restore".

  2. Select the appropriate backup set and snapshot.

  3. Step through the other options.

  4. On the final screen, select the files you want to restore.

  5. Click "Restore".

Retrospect for Mac steps

We will perform a quick restore with the Restore Assistant.

  1. Click "Restore Assistant".

  2. Click "Restore selected files and folders".

  3. Select the recent backup. Click "Browse" to select an individual document you want to restore.

  4. Select a destination for it. This can be its original location or inside a new folder.

  5. Select an appropriate policy for overwriting corresponding files.

  6. Click "Start Now".

Transferring Apple iWork documents

We will perform a backup set transfer to a cloud storage location but only including files matching our "Apple iWork" rule. Please set up a cloud set beforehand, following our Cloud Backup - How to Set Up a Cloud Backup.

Retrospect for Windows steps

  1. Click "Manage Scripts" then "New..." then "Transfer Backup Set".

  2. Select the appropriate source and destination.

  3. Click "Selecting" and select "Apple iWork" then click "OK".

  4. Click "OK".

Retrospect for Mac steps

  1. Select "Scripts" and click the "+" button.

  2. Select "Copy Media Set" and add an appropriate name.

  3. In the script, select the appropriate source set and destination set.

  4. Finally, under "Rules", select "Apple iWork".

  5. Click "Save".

  6. Click "Run".

Last Update: May 1, 2016