One of the distinctions of ShopFactory is that your shop project is stored on your computer.
Keeping a backup of your relevant business files and data is essential for several important reasons. Virtually all computer and technology experts will tell you that any backup is better than none at all.
A data backup is the result of copying or archiving files and folders for the purpose of being able to restore them in case of data loss caused by many factors ranging from computer viruses to hardware failures to file corruption to fire, natural calamities, theft, and so on.

A. To backup your project, you need to open Windows File Explorer  

Note:  Your online shop is NOT a backup of your actual project file, it only contains "Runtime" files

• Keep at least three (3) copies of your data (so no single unwanted event will destroy all copies)
• Save the data in at least two (2) different storage devices/formats (i.e. portable drive, cloud, etc.)
• Keep one (1) copy offsite to protect against fire, flood, theft, and other natural calamities.

- Navigate to the shop project folder (depending on the ShopFactory version you are using, it could be V10, V11, V12, V14 - in the example below, it refers to the latest v14)

My Documents\ShopFactory V14 Websites

The new default folder for new V14 shop projects is C:\ShopFactory\ShopFactory V14 Websites

(or a specific directory if you have chosen to save your shop projects in a different location)

- Close your ShopFactory program if it's currently running

- Open Windows File Explorer -> locate the folder where your shop project files are stored.

- Select the latest shop project folder and then right-click on it -> Send To -> compressed (zipped) Folder

Compress/Zip the shop folder prior to creating the backup as it will compress all files and reduce the size.

- Once it has completed zipping up the entire folder, you will see a zip file on the same directory.

- Copy that zip file to your external hard drive or your portable drive

It is highly recommended you back up your shop and keep a copy on another storage device or another computer, in case the unfortunate happens (as illustrated with the numerous threats described above) and your computer crashes and data becomes unrecoverable.

B. You can also save your shop as a new project and transfer the file into another computer:

- Open your shop in ShopFactory

- Click File menu -> Save AS… -> enter shop-name; it's a good idea to add the latest date so you know the latest one  i.e. myshop_2021-04-28

- Click Save button.

- Close ShopFactory.

- Open Windows File Explorer and navigate to the shop folder i.e. 

- Locate the newly saved shop project and then right-click on it -> Send To -> compressed (zipped) Folder

- Once it has completed zipping up the entire folder, you will see a zip file on the same directory i.e. C:\ShopFactory\ShopFactory V14 Websites

- Copy the zip file to your external hard drive or your portable drive 

Copying shop file to another computer: 

Assumption: You have already installed the latest build of ShopFactory on another machine, i.e. home computer

If ShopFactory is not installed on this new machine yet, simply download and install ShopFactory again from our website: http://www.shopfactory.com/contents/en-us/d18.html

- Plug the external drive or thumb drive

- Copy the zip file to the same directory

- Open Windows Explorer and locate the folder where you want the shop project to be stored, by default, it should be saved in:

C:\ShopFactory\ShopFactory V14 Websites

- Right click within the content window and select PASTE

- The zip file will be copied. -> right-click on the file and select “EXTRACT HERE…”

- The shop project will be extracted. Double-click on the shop folder to open it

- Double click on the .sfc file to open the shop project in ShopFactory (Or you can run ShopFactory software and browse... and navigate to the path where your shop is saved and then select the shop project to open.