Create multiple short projects with smaller files from one long sessions

[TLH]

here's my main problem - and fails - and I suspect I'm missing something - since I doubt I'm the only person who has to record entire concerts then then edit them down in multiple separate song projects with manageable total file sizes.

The obvious problem is that I initially recorded 30 songs during a 4 hr session (SESSION X) with 12 tracks of audio which created 12 sample files totaling 14 gigs - but every method I use to save each song as a separate project (totaling 30 projects) to edit and collaborate on ended up collecting entire 4+ hours / 14 gigs of original track samples from SESSION X and included them in each of the 30 songs, I'll end up using up 420 GB's of storage.

My failed methods
To extract SONG A - aka one 3 minute songs including the 12 tracks from my original 4 hr SESSION X Project, I deleted the 3ish hours of time and audio+midi tracks (aka the other 29 songs) that were NOT part of SONG A - so just the 3 minute song displayed on all the tracks

I then tried to (1) "Save A Copy" and (2) "Save Live Set As" to create a separate project for SONG A in a separate folder - and I then opened the new SONG A Project (.als file) and selected "Collect and Save" to ensure the associated media files were included in the Project - so I could have a separate and sharable Ableton Project for Song A to work on and collab with others remotely. I also tried opening the new separated version of SONG A with the tracks trimmed down to 3 min, and then copied/pasted the 12 tracks into a new empty Project, then saved THAT as a different new project.

In each case, the tracks were indeed only the 3 minute SONG A BUT the Samples that were collected using each method from the original SESSION X Project included the entire 4 hours/14 gigs of files - so none of the new Projects with only SONG A contained samples with smaller file sizes one would expect for a 3 minute song.

Any ideas of different ways to extract shorter segments of a long recording - and create new projects with shorter durations AND smaller audio sample files that match the durations?

[borg]

Once you made your selection (in your case the 3 minute tracks), you have to tell ableton to print these selections to new, small audiofiles. Clips, either in session or arrangement, only refer to audio files. They are not 'the' audiofiles...
So when you save your set with just the three minutes you want into its own project, Live is still referring to the original long files. Once you saved the set into its own project, you will want to tell Live to make the smaller audio files by selecting them and then cropping the lot using the menu or apple/command + shift + J.
You don't have to create the new project, but then you'll have to look for your files in the big mother project.
But remember, shortening clips is not the same as truncating audio.