Ableton Forum

Standard disclaimer : looked in the doc, google it. Still need a simple answer.

I have many obsolete .als files. Typically, I start a project, save it in a file named for example A-v0.als. Every week or so, I "save as" the project as a new file, say A-v093.als. Finally, the project is completed, so I Save it As A-v100.als.

Now after some time, I know for sure that many of the intermediary files are not needed any longer (as you can guess, they were thought as checkpoints in the evolution of the project). I would like to remove them (quite easy!), but also make sure that (1) whatever file associated with them (recorded tracks mostly) are removed (2) that such removed files won't be missed when I use the A-v100.als.

As you can guess, this means that I don't fully understand the file management system in Ableton. Trying to read again and again the doc did not help (maybe I am a slow learner?)

Thanks in advance.

G

it's probably safest to do a "collect all and save" to a new project, check it, and then delete the old project:

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... l-and-Save

@fishmonkey: thanks it helps for future projects. For existing projects, can I use safely these steps:

1- open the A-v100.als
2- Collect all and save
3- Remove the old .als files
4- How then to remove the unused files (those referenced by the deleted .als files ?

Gilbert

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/manag ... -a-project

See chapter 5.10: Finding Unused Files

@cids : Reading it (again), I see this needs to open a set (a .als). It does not solve the question of files used by >deleted< .als files that, by definition of "deleted", can't be loaded. Or am I misreading/misunderstanding.

cids wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 07, 2022 11:09 am

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/manag ... -a-project

See chapter 5.10: Finding Unused Files

So open your current/latest/finished set - all unused files here are potentially referenced by your previous versions - so here you can delete them

Thanks, will try that.

G.