Saving Projects
Ableton Live Sets are organized into dedicated Project Folders. Follow these tips to makes sure all your files, samples and Sets are available while using Live.
Saving Sets
Save each Set as soon as you begin creating in a new Live project. Live's File Menu has two options for saving:
- Save Live Set saves the open Live Set, keeping the current name and location if the Set has been saved previously.
- Save Live Set As... lets you to choose a new name and a new location for the Set.
Project Folders
When you save a Set for the first time, Live creates a new Project folder to contain the Set and related media files. Make sure the Project folder is not "nested" inside another one by saving the new Set to a location outside any existing Live Project folders. They contain the relevant Live Set and related files, organized into the following folders:
- Ableton Project Info
- Backup
- Samples
Each Live Set you create should be saved in its own Project folder. Avoid saving multiple unrelated Live Sets inside the same Project folder, as this can affect Live's performance. Related versions of a Set using the same audio files and samples can be saved to the same Project folder.
Note: "Ableton Project Info" is a data folder that identifies each Live Project.
- If an "Ableton Project Info" folder is present in a general location, like your Desktop, Live will fail to create a dedicated Project folder for any new Sets saved there, and samples and other files will not stay linked to the correct Project.
- If "Ableton Project Info" is removed from the Project folder, a “Missing media files” error may occur even if you've already executed “Collect All and Save."
Collect All and Save
To make sure all samples used within the Live Set are saved within the Live Project folder, use Collect All and Save. This is especially helpful if transferring a Live Project to another computer, so that media files remain available.
Note: The User Library is itself a Live Project folder. However, saving your Live Sets into the User Library is not recommended. This will cause Live to create an .als file, but not a dedicated Project folder. This can lead to problems when trying to find missing samples.