To create an archive, select "Create Archive" from the File menu. You will first be asked to name this archive, and have an opportunity to override the default storage location for the new archive. For example, you might choose to store the archive on a different disk. Once you hit "OK", you will be presented with the Archive Settings screen, which you may open again at any later time under the Edit menu. In the Archive Setting screen you have several options
Here you can associate the archive with a home folder on your computer. You may also enable synchronization so that the new files in the default folder will automatically be imported to the archive, and new files in the archive automatically exported to the folder.
Filters allow you to block files and folders by name from being imported. For example, if you have chosen to synchronize the archive with your home directory, you can block Music and Movies folders because you intend to keep them in a separate archive.
You may back up an archive to a local or network disk, or if you have a BigCloud Archives Online subscription you may back up to a Private, Shared or Public cloud. Select "Aggressive Restore" if you want to download everything from the backup every time you sync - this is useful if you want to make sure you can access everything in the archive when working offline. Otherwise, BigCloud only downloads files from the backup as you view or export them, more like a web site.
You may configure the archive to sync automatically, e.g. once per day or once per hour. This way you don't have to remember to manually trigger the "Sync" command to start a backup.
You may encrypt an archive with a passphrase, without which the files in the archive will be unrecoverable. Remember, if there was a way to retrieve encrypted files without the passphrase, it wouldn't be secure! You may ask BiandgCloud to remember the passphrase, so you do not have to enter it every time you open the archive on the same computer. However, every time you access the archive from another computer you will have to enter the passphrase, at which time you may choose to have it remembered on that computer as well. Encryption guarantees that even someone with physical access to the disk or cloud servers that hold your archive or backups will not be able to see what is in your files without the passphrase. You may change the passphrase periodically for additional security - when you do, other computers that share the backup of that archive will also be forced to enter the new passphrase.
Once you have finished making any changes to the archive configuration, click OK, and you will see your empty new archive open in a tab in the main window. Now you can start importing files to the archive.
