Collect All and Save vs Manage Project

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kingdom_kev
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 12:45 pm

Collect All and Save vs Manage Project

Post by kingdom_kev » Sun Jan 31, 2021 12:57 pm

Hello all,

I have just gone through all my past projects and clicked 'Collect All and Save' which has saved all of the samples within the project folder the set is contained in. From my understanding, this will allow me to move computers/hard drives and still be able to load my project without missing files which is exactly what I need.

Now for the question ..

When I go to View>File Manager

and click on Manage Set - there are no missing files and no external files which is perfect and expected.

But when I go to Manage Project, there are still external files. Which makes it seem like the sounds aren't saved in the project folder but they actually are if I go to the destination on my hard drive (due to Collect All and Save feature).

So my question is what is the difference between Collect All and Save - and Collect Into Project from the File Manager? If I have done collect all and save is that all that is needed to move things around safely or should I also do Collect into Project?

EnABLEr
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:28 pm

Re: Collect All and Save vs Manage Project

Post by EnABLEr » Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:47 pm

hey kingdom, I am NOT an expert, but I had this same problem. The way I understand it, it has to do with "projects" vs "sets." This is a big deal. If you don't get this, nothing about how Ableton saves will make sense.

Think of the project folder as a toymaker's workshop, and the set as the toy. The set is what you're actually creating - the "toy". The project folder is the parts and tools. The toy parts (wood stock, paints, metal hardware, rubber bands, etc). are like the audio files, MIDI files, VST plugin samples, etc. The tools (saws, chisels, files, sandpaper, paintbrushes, etc.) are Ableton's editing tools within the DAW (select, warp, copy, delete, trim, normalize, effects, etc.).

There are at least two ways to collect everything in a nice little package.

Fastest, but takes up most space:
"File",
"Manage Files",
"Manage Project" on the right,
expand the "External Files" option,
make "Collect into Project" YES,
then at the bottom right "Collect and Save."

Longer way, but you'll get a smaller, cleaner project folder:
"File"
"Save Live Set as..." or "save a copy..."
Point Ableton to your Desktop (or wherever you want the nice tidy project folder to be)
"Save"
Close Ableton
Go to the new PROJECT FOLDER you just saved and open it
In that folder, open the new .als file you just saved. This will look identical in Ableton to what you were just working on - but it's a copy. All the audio files this set uses are referenced somewhere else. You're about to change that:
"File"
"Collect all and Save"
make sure everything is selected
"OK"

Now that folder you just made has the set, and all the audio that goes with it - but no other sets, and no audio that shouldn't be there. If there's no other set in the old project folder that you want, you can delete it and just put the new one in its place.

Sets are .als files. Projects are folders. There can be many sets (.als files) within a project (folder). When you save, Ableton says "Save Set". It DOESN'T say "save "project". Ableton creates a PROJECT folder for any new "thing" you start working on... but it saves your work as an .als file called a "set", WITHIN THE PROJECT FOLDER. That project folder has many things inside it: a subfolder of the project's audio samples (maybe), backup .als files (if you autosaved or made big changes) in a folder labeled "backup", all the internally referenced audio, MIDI files/Instruments, VST plugin samples, etc. and data files.

If anyone has more detail or a different way to do things, by all means, please teach me.

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