Help...I have no idea what I did but somehow I deleted the vnu part of my site. I went to open my site in coffee cup this morning and it was not there. I only have the html files etc. Is there any way to recreate my site so I can make changes etc or do I have to completely rebuild it? I am so stressed!!!!!

my website is up and running: http://getyourskinnyon.info
but on my hard drive I only have the website files containing the html files, index and file folder.
I do not have the vnu files.

Any suggestions?

Hi Maggi
If you are using the latest version of VSD 6 upwards, I believe the VNU is stored on your server as well, so you should be able to download it from there.

Hope it is for your sake!!

Edit, It will be in the backup directory

Another very large suggestion is that when you do find it (and it should definitely be in a backup directory on your server if you are using the latest version of VSD as Greg has already mentioned), is that you back up that file yourself on your computer periodically in another location other than your main project directories so that in case this happens again you can at least have access to a file not too old and not have to start over from scratch

I was adding files that were associated with CoffeeCup form builder into VSD. After I clicked "Add All" and went to save my vnu files, a message popped up that said that my homepage could not be saved. I clicked "OK" and since then, the entire vnu website files have disappeared. I've searched high and low in my computer to try and locate them, but they truly seem to be gone. There are individual page image and html files that I have been able to locate and open up using CoffeeCup HTML editor, but I don't know what to do with them (haven't learned that program yet) and so I don't know if it's possible to cobble those remaining files back together to replicate what I had created with VSD. The files have not been uploaded to a server yet so there is no possibility of going to the server directory for a backup. Any suggestions on how I might be able to retrieve 3 months of work?

Hi Patricia,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, especially on a Monday. But without the .vnu file, there's no way to open the files in VSD. You'll have to recreate the site in VSD or use the HTML Editor to edit the .html pages.

If you ever get that error again, please notify us immediately via My Support Room (click Account > Support Room). There are some steps we can go over with you to try to save it before all is doomed.

Thanks for the quick reply. It certainly is bad news. I was so close to being finished, so it's particularly devastating!

I've looked over the help manual for HTML editor, but there doesn't seem to be anything that addresses my questions directly. I don't want to start over with a template theme. I had the look and design all worked out in VSD and I'm not sure how to go about trying to recreate that with the HTML editor. Is there an easy way to identify the elements of the existing style I had worked out in VSD and turn them into a CSS style for use in the HTML editor?

I'm sorry to be so wet behind the ears, but I've not used the HTML editor before and it's a bit daunting to face when I thought I was nearly done. I realize that I could also just re-do the whole website in VSD, but the problem is that I've forgotten what I did to create some of the design and it will take me a good long while of trial and error to replicate what I did before. I'm hoping to make the loss of the vnu file as painless as possible.

I would deeply appreciate any suggestions or help that you or other forum users could offer.

Hi Patricia,

You really did save the VSD file under the same name all the time? Always? And you don't make backups? What windows version do you use? If it's XP (or maybe Vista or 7), do you have the 'restore point' function activated? If so, you could go back in time and find (restore) an earlier version of your design...

Success, John

(Never give up hope)

In the HTML Editor there's a tab called Visual Editor. You can open your .html pages in the HTML Editor and view and edit them in Visual Editor mode. This mode works very similar to what you are use to in Visual Site Designer. You'll be working with the exact same design already on the pages and simply making edits in the HTML Editor. Once finished, you can save the new changes and upload them directly to your server from within the program.

I also highly recommend that you use Website Projects in the HTML Editor. It will help you keep your files organized for easy updating. This article will guide you through the setup: http://www.coffeecup.com/help/articles/ … -projects/

I hope that helps! If not...feel free to ask more questions. We'd rather help you get it then watch you struggle. LOL!