Why is my Base file opening as a blank writer document?

I’ve been working on my first Database in Base, spent a good few hours designing a pretty form to use, saving every so often. Went to save the database, wouldn’t save, I tried and tried for a good few minutes to no avail, so I was forced to close without saving, which worked. I figured at worst I would loose 10 minutes of work since my last save. Well I reopened the file to see what I lost, if anything, and um, the .odb file opened a blank LO Writer document… wtf? tried this a few times, nothing, tried opening it from LO Base, nope, still opening writer. Tried selecting open with LO Base, it just thinks for a second and nothing opens. I’m completely perplexed. Can anyone help me access my work?

Oh. The file is 0b. Wtf happened? And how do I prevent it from happening again? Are backups autosaved anywhere?

Depends on your configuration. I read sometime newer installs have this activated, while mine needed manual activation. Whithout details on your version you have to check yourself anyway:

https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq/General/140

There is no function integrated into LibreOffice, which will autobackup Base files.

I have written a macro for backup the Base file every time I open the file. Better solution is to use external database (files or server-database). Data will be save independend of LO.

… but this will not help, if somebody is missing the work he put in a form.

Is there any way you could link me to detailed information on how to set this up, another problem I’ve been having is, my gut has been screaming at me that LibreOffice Base isn’t intended to be the primary way to interact with the database, with all the editing tools and everything everywhere, but I’ve searched for literally hours for what I’m suppose to do when the Database is finished and ready to be used and all I can find are tutorials to start making a new database and establishing your first tables. It’s drivin me nuts, I just know your not intended to USE the database inside LO Base… right? As is I’m doing as all the tutorials say and just, saving to a single .odb file, its all I can find about what to do but it doesn’t feel right.

Direct connection to a Firebird file

https://books.libreoffice.org/en/BG73/BG7302-CreatingADatabase.html#toc47

Accessing external databases

https://books.libreoffice.org/en/BG73/BG7302-CreatingADatabase.html#toc7