In my undergraduate days we used an editor affectionately named the “chainsaw editor”. It didn’t have a spell checker. It couldn’t create margins. Most of the time it wouldn’t even save your work. As a result, we re-typed a lot of things.
Today, most programs than can be used to create content have an “auto-save” feature. Word has one:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/107686
Even this web-based blog editor has one.
Auto-save will automatically save your work as you work even if you don’t do periodic saves as you create your project. It can be very irritating to invest an hour only to have a crash or other problem (like a power outage) kill your project. Auto-save can recover your work from the last auto-save point.
My rule of thumb is fifteen minutes. I don’t mind re-doing something that takes five or ten minutes, but fifteen becomes a nuisance. I set all my auto-saves to a fifteen minute save cycle.
You may have to check the help files of the different programs you use, but most of them will have an auto-save feature. Turn it on! It can prove to be a real life saver.
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