I would just comment that auto-save is not a replacement for the user hitting save, save as or save version. and disk backups.
I could never trust any automated action for something so crucial, and the forum has many posts from people who lost work because they only used auto-save. It is truly unfortunate that the manual does not include this info.
And I apologize to you @Reco29, you and the others have done a ton of work here, but it’s not easy to understand, in my opinion, for a new user or even an advanced user.
I do use auto-save – in my view it’s a safety net for when Cubase crashes or the power goes off, or similar catastrophes.
I view *.bak files as not user-focused project files. I concluded that upon learning eons ago that they are deleted when when you close a project and choose not to save it. This to me showed the developer’s intent, regardless of documentation.
Auto-save saves the current project, it’s really just that simple. It does not work when the transport is running, nor when there are no changes to be saved.
And, there are times when using auto-save is near impossible, for example in a giant project, or where some plugin slows down the saving process – then, you’re in the middle of an edit and now you have to wait for a file save to finish it.
In my view the best workflow is to make a habit of invoking a save command by hand frequently, and to have a proper file (disk and OS) backup system. A workflow like this ensures one does not lose work.