Method and apparatus for archiving and unarchiving objects

For a multi-user application that runs on a computer, a method of archiving multiple software objects, wherein the objects are part of the application, the objects having global and user settings, the method comprising:

• a) identifying a global setting of an object of the application, wherein each global setting is defined uniformly for all users;
• b) storing the identified global setting in a global data archive for the application;
• c) for a particular user, identifying a user setting of the object of the application, wherein each user setting of the object is defined particularly for each user;
• and
• d) storing the identified user setting in a user data archive for the particular user, the user data archive separate from the global data archive.

In a multi-user application that runs on a computer, a method of unarchiving objects of the application, said objects having settings stored in a set of data archives including a global data archive and a plurality of user data archives, the method comprising:

• a) for a particular user, instantiating an object for which settings are stored in at least one of the data archives;
• b) if the object has a setting in the global data archive, retrieving the object's setting from the global data archive, said global data archive storing settings that are defined uniformly for all users;
• c) if the object has a setting in a particular user data archive for the particular user, retrieving the object's setting from the particular user data archive, the particular user data archive storing settings that are defined particularly for the particular user;
• d) when a setting is retrieved from one of the data archives, using the retrieved setting to define a setting of the instantiated object;
• and
• e) wherein said application and said archives are all on a single computer.