A project download replaces the project on the panel and does not carry the recipe values operators edited there. Back up the Recipe Files from the panel's System Screen to a USB stick or a card in CF2 before every download, restore them afterward, and read the values back against the approved record before the line runs.
A project download replaces the project on the panel, and it does not ask what to do with the recipe values your operators edited at the screen. Those values live in CSV files the panel updates on every change, and they stay behind when the new project lands. The fix is a habit, not a rescue: back up the Recipe Files from the panel's System Screen to a USB stick or a card in CF2 before every download, restore them afterward, and read the values back against the approved record before the line runs. This page walks through the backup, the restore, the checks, and the one slot that must never hold your backup.
Why do recipe values disappear after a project download?
A project download replaces the project on the panel, and the recipe values your operators edited on the panel are stored beside it as CSV files, so the values that ship with the project on your computer replace everything typed at the screen.
The panel stores recipe data as CSV files and rewrites them every time a value changes at the screen. The copy on your engineering PC still holds the recipe numbers as they were the last time the project was saved there. A download sends that PC copy to the panel as a whole: nothing compares the two recipe sets or asks which one to keep, so the fill weights, times and counts your operators typed are not in the project you just sent.
Repeating the download, moving a card between slots, or waiting for the panel to reconcile the copies does not bring overwritten values back. If the values are already gone and no backup exists, stop: check any older USB stick, CF2 card or FTP copy before you write to that media again, because a fresh backup only captures what the panel holds today. The cheap moment to protect recipe values is before the download, every time.
What do you need to back up HMI recipe files?
You need a running panel, a USB stick or a CF card for the backup, and about ten minutes; if the panel has no spare media slot, the same backup travels over FTP to your engineering PC as CSV files.
Everything on this list is ordinary site kit:
- A USB stick for the panel's USB port. Recipe backups are CSV text measured in kilobytes, so a small stick is plenty; a 1 GB stick leaves room for years of labeled backups.
- A CF card for CF2 when the panel has no USB host port. Buy the card for the panel and leave it there, labeled.
- The approved recipe record you will verify against later: the printed spec sheet or the recipe approval sheet.
- FTP access to the panel as the fallback when neither media option exists; the panel's own documentation shows how its FTP server and its recipe folders are set up.
Budget the download itself on top of the ten minutes for backup and restore. A download that used to be quick and now sits at 2 minutes is a separate fault; the fix for a slow panel project download covers the usual causes.
How do you back up recipe files from the System Screen?
Open the panel's System Screen, choose the backup function, select Recipe Files as the group to save, and send them to the USB stick or to a card in CF2; the copy is finished when the panel reports the backup complete.
- Put the media in place: USB stick in the panel's USB port, or CF card in CF2. Never in CF1 for this job; the next section explains why.
- Open the panel's System Screen. How you reach it depends on how the project is configured; on these panels the backup functions live in the memory menu, shown on screen as
MEMORY >> BACKUP. - Select Recipe Files as the group to save, and the USB stick or CF2 as the destination.
- Run the backup and stay on the screen until the panel reports it complete. Pull the media only after that message.
- Label the stick or card with the date and the project the backup belongs to. A backup that cannot be matched to its project is how the wrong recipe set gets restored.
If the panel has no USB host port, or you want a second copy that lives on the engineering PC, FTP into the panel and copy the recipe CSV files off it. They are plain CSV text, rewritten on every panel-side change, so the copy is current to the last edit. Put the copy in a folder outside the project directory so a later project save cannot overwrite it. The folder names come from the panel's own documentation, so take the path from there.
Why does the backup not go in the CF1 slot?
Keep the backup off CF1, because the panel treats a card in CF1 as project memory: when a project is loaded to CF1, the panel clears the project in internal flash so two different projects never sit resident at once.
CF1 exists to add project memory, not to hold backups. With a card in CF1, the panel treats the card as an extension of project storage: it separates fonts and recipe sheets onto the card, and the base project still counts against the same limit, 10 MB or 40 MB depending on panel size. With no card at all, the whole project including fonts and recipe sheets has to fit in that space. If you are anywhere near that limit, the same arithmetic used to size an HMI project against panel and PLC memory limits applies.
The rule that matters for backups is the clear-on-load rule: a project loaded to CF1 clears the internal-flash project. That is also why a card freshly placed in CF1 can leave the panel booting to a no-program message until a project is loaded to it. CF2 and USB are the slots the panel treats as data-logging and backup space, so that is where recipe backups go.
There is one documented job where CF1 is the destination: a full panel clone. The same System Screen sequence, MEMORY >> BACKUP >> CF1 >> NEXT, with PROJECT and also SYSTEM selected, writes a complete backup that restores the panel without a PC. That is a different task from keeping live recipe values safe across a download, and it does not change where the recipe backup goes.
How do you restore recipe files after the download?
After the download finishes and the panel boots into the new project, put the labeled USB stick or CF2 card back in, open the System Screen, select the backup that matches the project, and restore the Recipe Files before anyone edits a value.
- Let the download finish and the panel boot into the new project. Do not let anyone start typing values into the recipe screens; the restore overwrites whatever is on the panel, and fresh edits made after a download are easy to lose.
- Insert the labeled USB stick or CF2 card.
- Open the System Screen, open its restore function, select the backup that matches the project you just loaded, and restore the Recipe Files.
- Keep the media in place until the panel reports the restore complete.
- If the backup is a set of CSV files pulled over FTP, copy them back to the panel through the same FTP connection.
Run the restore in the same maintenance window as the download. A panel with a new project and no restored recipes is not back in service, even if the screens look right.
How do you check the restored recipe values?
Open the recipe screens on the panel and read the values against the approved record before the line runs again; a panel that boots and displays the new screens correctly has passed the download check and not yet the recipe check.
Open the recipe function on the panel and check the values that matter to the process against the approved record: the printed spec sheet, the recipe approval sheet, or the CSV copy on the PC. Check every recipe the panel holds, not just the one you remember being edited; confirm the panel-side changes are the values now displayed, and confirm the expected recipe is the one selected. If anything is missing or wrong, run the restore again from the known backup, and keep that backup intact; do not write the wrong panel state over it. When the read-back passes, take a fresh System Screen backup or copy the restored CSV files off the panel, so the next download starts from a known good set.
Recipe values are process settings, and a wrong value nobody catches runs the line to numbers nobody approved. That is why the read-back belongs in the same window as the download and restore, with the media still in your hand.
What does a full backup and restore look like in a worked example?
Here is the whole job for one packaging line with the numbers carried through: three recipes, 36 operator-entered values, one USB stick, a 1 minute download, and every value back on the panel for a total of about 19 minutes.
Take one packaging line with a single operator panel and three product recipes. Over two weeks, operators changed 12 values per recipe at the screen, 36 values in all: fill weights, seal temperatures and reject-count thresholds. The engineering PC copy still holds every one of those at its last-saved numbers. The figures below are example numbers for this scenario, not panel specifications.
- Backup: USB stick in, System Screen,
MEMORY >> BACKUP, Recipe Files to the stick. About 5 minutes including the walk to the line. The three CSV files come to about 42 KB, three files at roughly 14 KB each (3 × 14 = 42), against about a million KB on a 1 GB stick. - Download: revised screen layout sent to the panel, 1 minute on a project of this size.
- Restore: same stick back in, Recipe Files restored, about 3 minutes.
- Read-back: 36 values checked against the approved record, about 10 minutes.
Total: 5 + 1 + 3 + 10 = 19 minutes, and all 36 operator-entered values survive the download. Skip the backup and the same download replaces all 36 values with the PC copy's last-saved numbers; recovery then depends on whether an older stick or an FTP copy exists. Nineteen minutes before the download is what that difference costs.
Should you read the project from the panel before editing it?
Yes, read the project from the panel into your PC before you edit it when you can, because the panel holds operator edits the PC copy has never seen; treat that read as the second habit and the System Screen backup as the first.
Reading the project back pulls the panel's current state, recipe values included, into your PC copy, so the next edit and download start from what is really on the panel. It is its own procedure with its own settings; the walk-through for reading an HMI project from the panel before editing covers how to do it.
Treat the read as the second habit and the System Screen backup as the first. The backup copies the recipe files themselves, so the values stay protected even on a day when the project read gets skipped, and both habits fold into the master-copy discipline described in keep a master copy of your HMI project.
Recommendation: back up Recipe Files to a USB stick before every project download, restore them in the same maintenance window, and read the values back against the approved record before the line runs; read the project from the panel before you start editing, and keep the last two labeled backups per panel. When the panel has no USB host port or the stick is not at hand, pull the recipe CSV files over FTP to the engineering PC and restore them the same way.
One boundary to keep straight: the HMI runs the recipe function, and a board operators only read across the line is a different screen. For that job we build industrial shop-floor displays, and they are not a replacement for the panel running your recipes.
Questions
Can recipe values that a download already wiped be recovered?
Only from a copy made before they were overwritten. Check any USB stick or CF2 card used for earlier backups, and any CSV files pulled off the panel by FTP in the past, before you write anything else to that media. A backup taken now captures what is on the panel today and cannot put back values that are gone. If no older copy exists and the values are documented nowhere else, they must be re-entered and re-verified against the process record.
Does an FTP copy of the recipe CSV files count as a backup?
Yes. The panel stores recipe data as CSV files and updates them every time a value changes on the panel, so a copy pulled over FTP to the engineering PC is a valid backup. Keep it in a folder outside the project directory, name it with the date and the project it belongs to, and treat it like the USB copy: restore it by copying the files back, then verify the values on the panel.
How big is the project memory on panels like this?
The base project, including fonts and recipe sheets, is limited to 10 MB or 40 MB depending on panel size. A card in CF1 provides more project memory by holding fonts and recipe sheets on the card, but the base project limit stays the same. Recipe backups still belong on USB or CF2 regardless of how the project memory is arranged.
How often should you back up recipe files?
Before every project download, without waiting for a scheduled date, because the download is what overwrites them. Between downloads, take a fresh backup whenever operators have finished a run with values worth keeping, such as at the end of a shift or after a recipe approval. Two labeled copies per panel is a practical minimum: the current one and the one from before the last download.
Planning information, not legal or engineering advice. Rules differ by place: check codes and permits with your local authority and your licensed trades.