Ableton Forum

Hi everyone.

So i am having an „issue“ that i consider new as i cant recall having this in old-er Live versions

Lets say i have a Project that became too big and i want to save a „tidy up“ optimised version of it.

1) I remove all things i don`t want
2) I "save Project As..“ and give it a name,, lets say "Cleaned Up Project XY“
3) I then go to "Save everything“

This is where i then see that the Project is still Bigger than what i see and what i chose.
I check the „Lanes“ and there is nothing in there.
However i see rendered files and all sorts of things i don`t want listed- don`t want saved to the project

Can anyone here based on what i write give me a Bird eye view of what i am missing and why i keep ending up with all the extra
data i am trying to avoid taking with me?

If you save the set in the same project folder, it's probably in the backup folders.
Take a look in the Backup folder inside the project folder and see what you can delete.

Rivanni wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 09, 2026 6:58 pm

If you save the set in the same project folder, it's probably in the backup folders.
Take a look in the Backup folder inside the project folder and see what you can delete.

But thats the thing. I save it to a new folder and even with a new name.
It is only then when i hit „Save“ and still there are rendered versions of clips etc. Things that are nowhere to be seen in the project.
Not in the Lanes, not in session view. Nowhere.
I might be having something deeper happening in my system. Something i messed up at some point. Dunno

If you temporarily move those files to another folder, and then open the set, do you get a 'missing files' warning?
If so, open the Missing Media Files panel by clicking on the warning in the status bar. In the panel, expand each listed missing item. Once expanded, you'll see the location of the missing file. Double-clicking on it brings you there.
This way, you know if the files were actually used and where.