Ableton Forum

I have an Ableton Live 9 Suite project I've been working on for awhile. I went to open it today and the file seems to have moved (it is greyed out under the "Open Recent Set" list). This has happened to me before, and I had to restart the entire project as a result because the file can't be opened. I am positive I didn't knowingly move the file myself. How can I recover the file/find it? I am on a Macbook Pro.

Thanks in advance!

bump

Perhaps the file in on an external drive?

you could also repair disk permissions...

Just search your computer for the file name. If it's not there, you (or someone else) moved it.

Can someone explain to me how to search for/find my .als files on a mac? I can't even find files that aren't missing, never mind the greyed out ones...

I sometimes can't open my files bc they turn up grey as well. I just close live, reopen, and the problem usually goes away. Is this problem just now happening? Does it say some files are missing, or is the text just greyed out? Try restarting MBP or close and open Live.

Fazi Snaxx wrote:Can someone explain to me how to search for/find my .als files on a mac? I can't even find files that aren't missing, never mind the greyed out ones...

In Finder:

• press Cmd-F
• Enter ".als" in the search box to the upper right of the search window
• A popup window appears below the box, choose "Name contains…"

You can, also in Finder:

• press Cmd-F
• Click the "+" button below the search box
• To the left click on the popup menu and choose "Other"
• Type in "extension" in the search box in the new little window
• Chose "File Extension" and click OK
• Now File Extension in an option in the popup menu, make sure it's the chosen one and
• type "als" in the file extension search box, so it says [File Extension] is [als].

Fazi Snaxx wrote:I have an Ableton Live 9 Suite project I've been working on for awhile. I went to open it today and the file seems to have moved

Are you saving projects in their own folder, not mixing one project with another, but letting Ableton Live making a new folder for every project? And do you keep these project in a predetermined place like this

• [Ableton Live Projects]
  • My Ableton Live project no 73]
  • [My Ableton Live project Blurp]

and so on?

I keep all my projects in "/Users/[my user name]/Documents/Music/Creative/Ableton Live Projects/"

I save backups to another external drive automatically of everything under "Documents" three times a day. Even if I delete something I can go back to an earlier version and get stuff from it.

Typically, I also save a new ".als" file to inside the specific project folder when I make a big destructive change in my project, in case I change my mind.

It's also important to know where your source files are, as you have experienced.

I keep all my external sounds in "Users/[my user name]/Music/Samples" and my own ones in "/Users/[my user name]/Documents/Music/Creative/Sample Library/". Presets are saved where plugins want them and I back these up three times a day with everything else.

Thanks for the replies, everyone, I really appreciate your help. So, update, I've located the files. The one that is greyed out is not in the folder anymore. It has mysteriously disappeared. I am 100% certain I have not moved or deleted it. I keep all of my projects in the same folder, and I have never moved or deleted anything from that folder.

Neither restarting Ableton nor restarting my Macbook worked. Does anyone have any other ideas on how to recover the greyed out file?

yea, son that happens to me also. I'm actually going through the same thing right now. I feel like my mac just moves files around.

Have anybody figgerd it out yet ? im desperet to know, all my set's turn grey yesterday, 1 hour before a show. There must be some explanation...
If somebody knows the answer, I would be extremly glad if they would take the time, and email me.

Mail : [email protected]