Adding a File

Once projects have been created for your files it is time to begin importing them to the system - check with your system adminstrator if you do not know which project to add your files to or if you have questions in regards to the various options availble for importing files.

1. To add a new file to Source Safe click on the Project or Subproject that it should be added to.
   
   
   
2. From the main menu select File -> Add Files.
   
   
   
3. Select the file to add, in this case Sales By Region.rpt and click Add.
   
   
   
4. Source Safe will present a dialog querying for a comment to place with the file - this comment is optional but it is a great way to provide other users with additional information on the file.
   
   
   
   Note the Advanced button, pressing his button will provide you with additional options as shown below. Options include Store only latest version - this will instruct Source Safe to not keep previous versions of the file, typically this will not be checked since doing so will prevent you from rolling back changes. Check Out immediatly - this should be utilized if you intend to continue making changes to the file. Remove local copy - will delete the file from your Hard Drive once it is transferred to Source Safe, only do this if you will never need the local copy again. File type - there is no reason to change this unless Source Safe is not correctly identifying files.
   
   
   
5. The following message is an error message, it indicates that the file you are trying to Add is currently open, click OK, close the file and then start over at step 3.
   
   
   
   
   If the file is succesfully imported the following message will be displayed and it will ask you if you wish to set the directory from which the file was imported from as the working directory. Only select Yes if you will be working with this file more or if you will be working with other files in the same directory.
   
   
   
   
6. Source Safe will return to the file browser which will allow you to import additional files, note the file you have imported no longer appears in the list - this does not mean the file has been deleted from the hard drive, it only means the file has already been added to the current project. If you are done adding files click Close.
   
   
   
7. Upon returning to Source Safe's main screen you should note your recently added file is now displayed in the list.
   
   
   
8. The file is now availible for check out by other users. Note that once you add a file to Source Safe you will not be able to make changes to the local copy. It is set to Read Only, while it is possible to change the status of the file to allow changes to be made you should not do it. If changes are to be made to the file then check it out first. Not following this protocol will make it nearly impossible for you to get the latest version into Source Safe (it has no knowledge that changes were made to the file) and can also result in version control issues. If two people were to modify the file without checking it out then there is a potentential that one user will overwrite the changes of the other.