If you use Windows Explorer or File Explorer to find your model, you may find in the same directory many files with the same file-name but different file-extensions.

Question:

Why so many files?

Answer:

The files with CXL and the MTD extensions are the last saved and the active model in RAM.

There is also a ZXL if you opened and extracted a ZXL file to the same path.

The other files are backup files.

See Example below.

More information:

To control: Auto-Save, number of backup files, and number of commands between each auto-save, review these options:

•Application-Settings > General tab > File Options > : Enable Auto-Save - see warning

•Application-Settings > General tab > File Options > : Maximum # Backup files.

•Application-Settings > General tab > File Options > : # Commands to Auto-Save

WARNING :

When you Enable Auto-Save, we overwrite the active CXL and MTD files each time we Auto-Save.

Enable Auto-Save is active, Number of backup files = 3, Number of Commands = 10 (see "More information" below), and you can see the CXL.3 & MTD.3 files in the path

When you open a model (CXL)

1.We copy CXL.2 & MTD.2 to overwrite CXL.3 & MTD.3

2.We copy CXL.1 & MTD.1 to overwrite CXL.2 & MTD.2

3.We copy CXL & MTD to overwrite CXL.1 & MTD.1

4.We open the CXL and MTD as the active model

After you complete 10 commands, and every 10 new commands thereafter:

1.We copy the active model files CXL & MTD in RAM and paste as ~CXL & ~MTD

2.We save the model in Ram as the active model files CXL & MTD

When you exit MechDesigner, or do File > New, or do File > Save

1.We save the model in Ram as the CXL & MTD on your hard drive.