ALWAYS SAVE A BACK UP COPY OF YOUR BILL FILE - IN CASE YOU NEED IT FOR RECOVERY - FAILURE TO DO SO IS RISKY AND CAN CAUSE YOU TO LOSE DAYS/WEEKS/MONTHS OF INPUT IF A PROBLEM OCCURS.  NOT ALL FILES CAN BE RECOVERED AND SAVING A BACKUP COPY IS A SAFEGUARD, NOT A GUARANTEE.

• Go to the FILE menu located on the topmost task bar on the Main Interface...
• Click To Expand, then select "Save Bill File As"...
  
• Name the copy in a way that differentiates it from your working file: e.g. add a _suffix ( like _bkp for backup, or _rec for recovery )
  
• Click Save
  

FILE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS FOR LARGE BILL FILES THAT ARE HEAVY IN LABOR AND ALLOCATIONS

• It is imperative to understand that labor is processing a tremendous amount of data while being written and reported on 7 separate pages in your labor bill reports. There are also thousands of cells for each page, which places heavy strain on processes. If you have thousands of labor and you are running the overtime rule of 40 hours in addition to any other rules applied, then with every succeeding input it has to recalculate in order to accurately report the number of regular and overtime hours. Simultaneously, it's accounting for all the other associated fees, vehicles, hotels, benefits and more. This requires a lot of allocated memory, which, unlike RAM, is shared by other programs so it's important to optimize your hardware to accommodate such resource intensive operations.
  
• If you are progress billing a large loss, we recommend you create a Master Bill File and a Master Bill File Template. You should never use your main file as your working file. Use the template for each progress bill and once you're finished with the data input and modifications for that progress bill then you can merge into the Master Bill File.  Once you've merged, run your allocation report for the progress bill, then print the bill. Repeat this process until the final data input for the project is complete. We recommend this practice for bill file management, as it will save you time in the long run and help prevent hardware processing issues. Remember, our program can only process the data if your hardware allows it to start and finish all of its calculations, uninterrupted. If you experience a crash it is most likely due to limitations of allocated memory.
• If you do not want to use single progress bill files, then you should use good judgment on how may progress bills you want to include in each progress bill file. For example, you can start with Progress Bill 1 and continue in that same bill file up to Progress Bill 5, then start a new bill file from that template and save it as Progress 6 to Progress 10.  This is a safe option, so long as your hardware can manage the load. If there's any doubt, don't risk an entire week's worth of input data.
• Modifications should be done in the Progress Bill File-not the Master Bill File, and always before merging.  
  
• If you are operating on the 40 Hour Rule and the project begins on Monday, then your progress bill period should end on Sunday. 
  
• If you're not practicing good file management, you're placing your entire bill at risk. In some cases, it may not be recoverable.

Back up your files as often as possible during your input, or have it set to automatically update the save. Look for AutoSave Options if they are available. There are many options offered by third party providers to save a copy of your file as a backup.  This is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and can save you if an error or hardware failure occurs.

**BILL MODIFICATION TIP - Always Save The Bill File with a New File Name Before you Make Modifications or Perform Imports.  This will make sure your original bill file will be available if needed