Still losing files in Brackets' default directory when upgrading Brackets

[solprovider]

Software should never destroy information without much effort from users ("rm -f" and sinister dialog boxes), and allow mistakes to be undone (Undo, Trash Bin, Recycle Bin.)

This is the same issue as "Lost all saved files when updating from 1.7 to 1.8 #12912", which was 3 versions and a year ago. Brackets is still designed to hurt new users.

I am a new Mac user. "TextEdit" is a primitive word processor, not a text editor. Others confirmed MacOS does not include a graphical text editor, and recommended Atom and other downloadable applications. A Web search for "Mac text editor" found several lists topped by Brackets.

So last week, I installed and started using Brackets. I did not notice new files saved to the Getting Started directory buried in the Brackets application directory tree, a very bad choice for default directory. Brackets should not allow (or at least menacingly warn) when attempting to write to any directory inside the Brackets application directory tree. The default directory should be Documents, until changed by user.

Today, opening Brackets suggested upgrading to version 1.11. Clicked yes, and replace existing app.

The upgrade deleted my files. The upgrade did not overwrite the previous version, allowing extra files to be preserved. The upgrade did not check if the Getting Started directory contained files not provided by Brackets. The upgrade did not move user-created files to a safe place. The upgrade did not warn that Bracket likes to save files to a directory that would soon be deleted.

Trash Bin does not contain the deleted application, or any of its files. My files seem unrecoverable.

Expected behavior:
New users expect their files to be saved to Documents.
New users do not expect their files to be deleted when upgrading an application.

Actual behavior:
Brackets deliberately upsets users, deleting files, and destroying productivity.

Versions

Release 1.11 build 1.11.0-17524 (release 86b5e2d)
build timestamp: Wed Sep 20 2017 03:34:28 GMT-0700

macOS Sierra Version 10.12.6 (16G29)

[petetnt]

Hi @solprovider,

my 2 💵's is that the issue is not destroying work in the Getting Started project exactly, but actually two things consisting of:

• Being able to save in the Getting Started directory in the first place
• New users having a hard time grasping the concept of Projects in Brackets every now and then.

What we should do is:

• Prevent saving into Getting Started
• Prompt to change the project when trying to save a file in Getting Started, with a simple explanation on how Brackets operates.

/cc @adobe/brackets-committers

We are very sorry for the loss caused @solprovider, it wasn't and is not our intention.

[swmitra]

@petetnt Point noted 💯
IMO, we could use 2 solutions together.

• Prevent save in Brackets installation directory.
• Create the default project in app support directory.

[flyingkitlets]

This happened to me and although it was heartbreaking, the one saving grace of being an OSX user is Time Machine - I was able to recover from a backup most of what was lost. Hopefully you took a recent backup!