<scripttype=text/javascript>varbaseurl="https://prokoudine.github.io/ardour-tutorial/en"</script><scripttype=text/javascriptsrc=/ardour-tutorial/js/search.js?1648249004></script></div><sectionid=homelinks><ul><li><aclass=paddinghref=/ardour-tutorial/en/><iclass="fas fa-home"></i> Home</a></li></ul></section><divclass=highlightable><ulclass=topics><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/title=Introductionclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/><b>1. </b>Introduction</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/conventions/title=Conventionsclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/conventions/>Conventions</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/what-is-digital-audio/title="What is digital audio?"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/what-is-digital-audio/>What is digital audio?</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/title="Getting started"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/><b>2. </b>Getting started</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour-on-ubuntu/title="Starting Ardour"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour-on-ubuntu/>Starting Ardour</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/title="Overview of the Interface"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/>Overview of the Interface</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/editor-window/title="Editor window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/editor-window/>Editor window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/mixer-window/title="Mixer window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/mixer-window/>Mixer window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/recorder-window/title="Recorder window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/recorder-window/>Recorder window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/cue-window/title="Cue window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/cue-window/>Cue window</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/creating-tracks-and-busses/title="Creating tracks and busses"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/creating-tracks-and-busses/>Creating tracks and busses</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/importing-audio/title="Importing audio"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/importing-audio/>Importing audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/setting-up-the-timeline/title="Setting up the timeline"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/setting-up-the-timeline/>Setting up the timeline</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/title=Recordingclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/><b>3. </b>Recording</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/recording-audio/title="Recording audio"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/recording-audio/>Recording audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/understanding-routing/title="Understanding routing"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/understanding-routing/>Understanding routing</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/routing-between-applications/title="Routing between applications"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/routing-between-applications/>Routing between applications</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/title="Editing sessions"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/><b>4. </b>Editi
parent"><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/saving-sessions/><b>7. </b>Saving sessions</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/saving-sessions/saving-a-session/title="Saving a session"class="dd-item active"><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/saving-sessions/saving-a-session/>Saving a session</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/saving-sessions/saving-a-snapshot/title="Saving a snapshot"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/saving-sessions/saving-a-snapshot/>Saving a snapshot</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/saving-sessions/saving-a-template/title="Saving a template"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/saving-sessions/saving-a-template/>Saving a template</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/title=Appendicesclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/><b>8. </b>Appendices</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/further-help/title="Further help"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/further-help/>Further help</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/glossary/title=Glossaryclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/glossary/>Glossary</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/links/title=Linksclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/links/>Links</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/credits/title=Creditsclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/credits/>Credits</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/license/title=Licenseclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/license/>License</a></li></ul></li></ul><sectionid=shortcuts><h3>More</h3><ul><li><aclass=paddinghref=https://github.com/prokoudine/ardour-tutorial><iclass="fab fa-fw fa-github"></i> This tutorial on GitHub</a></li><li><aclass=paddinghref=https://ardour.org/><iclass="fas fa-fw fa-home"></i> Ardour's homepage</a></li><li><aclass=paddinghref=https://manual.ardour.org><iclass="fas fa-fw fa-bookmark"></i> User manual</a></li><li><aclass=paddinghref=https://discourse.ardour.org/><iclass="fas fa-fw fa-users"></i> Forum</a></li><li><aclass=paddinghref=https://prokoudine.github.io/ardour-tutorial/en/appendices/credits/><iclass="fas fa-fw fa-bullhorn"></i> Credits</a></li></ul></section><sectionid=prefooter><hr><ul><li><aclass=padding><iclass="fas fa-language fa-fw"></i><divclass=select-style><selectid=select-languageonchange="location=this.value"><optionid=envalue=https://prokoudine.github.io/ardour-tutorial/en/saving-sessions/saving-a-session/selected>English</option></select><svgid="Capa_1"xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"width="255"height="255"viewBox="0 0 255 255"style="enable-background:new 0 0 255 255"><g><gid="arrow-drop-down"><polygonpoints="0,63.75 127.5,191.25 255,63.75"/></g></g></svg></div></a></li></ul></section><sectionid=footer><p>Built with <ahref=https://github.com/matcornic/hugo-theme-learn><iclass="fas fa-heart"></i></a> from <ahref=https://getgrav.org>Grav</a> and <ahref=https://gohugo.io/>Hugo</a></p></section></div></nav><sectionid=body><divid=overlay></div><divclass="padding highlightable"><div><divid=top-bar><divid=breadcrumbsitemscopeitemtype=http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb><spanid=sidebar-toggle-span><ahref=#id=sidebar-toggledata-sidebar-toggle><iclass="fas fa-bars"></i></a></span>
<spanclass=links><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/>Home</a> > <ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/saving-sessions/>Saving sessions</a> > Saving a session</span></div><divclass=progress><divclass=wrapper><navid=TableOfContents><ul><li><ahref=#ardour-file-and-folder-format>Ardour File and Folder Format</a></li><li><ahref=#moving-a-session-to-another-computer-or-disk>Moving a session to another computer or disk</a></li><li><ahref=#continuing>Continuing</a></li></ul></nav></div></div></div></div><divid=head-tags></div><divid=body-inner><h1>Saving a session</h1><p>There are a number of ways to save Sessions in Ardour, so that each
Session can be use later on. The simplest way is to save the entire
Session just like you would save other documents: hitting “Control” + “S”.</p><p>A new Session is first saved at the moment you create it. While you are working on it, you should save it
frequently. Get into the habit of hitting <em>“Control”</em> + <em>“S”</em> (or <em>“Command”</em> + <em>“S”</em> on a Mac) every few minutes.</p><divclass="notices tip"><p>Avoid using any characters other than letters and numbers when naming your session. Avoid white spaces, accented letters, !@#$%*()+, periods, commas, etc. Use dashes or underscores if you like. For example, instead of “My Great Session!”, prefer “My_Great_Session”, or “MyGreatSession”, or “my-great-session”. Instead of “Açaí”, write “Acai” (without accented letters), etc. Once you have created your Ardour session, do <strong>not</strong> manually rename any folders or files that belong to the Session.</p></div><h2id=ardour-file-and-folder-format>Ardour File and Folder Format</h2><p>The contents of a typical Session’s folder on your hard drive might look something like
this:</p><p><imgsrc=en/Ardour4_Session_Folder_Structure.pngalt="Ardour Folder"></p><p>A bit of information about some of the components inside that folder:</p><ul><li>The name of this Session is “<em>my_session</em>”.</li><li>The main session file is called “<em>my_session.ardour</em>”. The Session file is periodically backed up by Ardour with a <em>.bak</em> extension.</li><li>The <em>.history</em> file keeps a record of changes you have made during your Session, and is also periodically backed up.</li><li>The <em>interchange</em> folder contains the actual audio data of all the Regions used in your Session.</li><li>The <em>export</em> folder is where exported files are saved by default.</li></ul><divclass="notices tip"><p>If double-clicking on the session file does not launch Ardour, use the standard method of first opening the application itself, then choosing a session from the Session Setup dialog.</p></div><p><imgsrc=en/Ardour4_Session_Setup_Dialog.pngalt="Ardour Opening"></p><h2id=moving-a-session-to-another-computer-or-disk>Moving a session to another computer or disk</h2><p>If you need to move your Ardour session to another computer, or if you would like to make a backup of it on an external drive, <em>you must copy the entire folder</em> containing all of the files mentioned above. It is <strong>not</strong> enough to copy just the *.ardour file.</p><divclass="notices tip"><p>When copying an Ardour folder to another computer or drive, do not manually change its name or the name of any of the internal files.</p></div><h2id=continuing>Continuing</h2><p>Saving an entire Session allows you to open it again at a later time.
However, if you would like to preserve a certain state that your Session
is in, to be able to return to that state later on after you have made
changes, then please continue to the next session called <strong>Saving
a Snapshot</strong>.</p><p>Next: <ahref=../saving-a-snapshot>SAVING A SNAPSHOT</a></p><footerclass=footline></footer></div></div><divid=navigation></div></section><divstyle=left:-1000px;overflow:scroll;position:absolute;top:-1000px;border:none;box-sizing:content-box;height:200px;margin:0;padding:0;width:200px><divstyle=border:none;box-sizing:content-box;height:200px;margin:0;padding:0;width:200px></div></div><scriptsrc=/ardour-tutorial/js/clipboard.min.js?1648249004></script>