Create, Open, and Save Projects

Create a Solar Sailer project, switch between projects, and save the work you want to keep.

Create a new project

1. Open the File menu and click New Project…, or press Ctrl+N.
2. Choose a folder and name the project.
3. Click Save.

Solar Sailer creates the .sailer project file before opening the new project. There is no temporary untitled project. If you cancel while choosing a location, the project you already had open stays open.

:::info Keep the data folder with the project

The .sailer file holds your edit. Solar Sailer keeps supporting data, including transcripts and Agent conversations, in a matching .sailer.data folder beside it. For example, My Edit.sailer uses My Edit.sailer.data.

Treat the file and folder as one project. Move or copy them together and keep them beside each other.

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A new project has no media or clips. See Import Media to bring in footage.

Open or switch projects

1. Open the File menu and click Open Project…, or press Ctrl+O.
2. Choose a .sailer file.

You can also use File → Open Recent, or double-click a .sailer file in Windows Explorer. Opening another project switches to it.

If the current project has unsaved changes, you must choose what happens to them:

• Save writes the changes before continuing.
• Don't Save discards them and continues. Anything not saved is lost.
• Cancel keeps the current project open with its changes intact.

Solar Sailer makes the same check when you create or open a project, close the window, or quit the app.

An Agent edit can arrive while you're choosing a project file. If that happens, Solar Sailer checks for unsaved changes again before switching. Seeing the choice twice may feel repetitive, but it protects work that arrived after your first answer.

Agent and Terminal conversations

The Agent conversation belongs to the project. When you return to that project, its conversation returns too.

The Terminal starts a new session on every project switch. Its conversation and scrollback don't return when you reopen the project.

Save your work

Press Ctrl+S, or open the File menu and click Save. Use File → Save As… or Ctrl+Shift+S to save under another name or in another location.

Saving keeps your edit, media organization, project settings, and the timeline state you were working with. This includes context such as markers and In and Out points. Playback starts paused when you reopen the project. Changes in the media bin also need to be saved.

Save As creates a separate copy of the project. The new file name becomes the project name, and the open project starts using the new file. If the current project has a .sailer.data folder, Solar Sailer copies it beside the new file. The original file and data folder stay where they were. Be careful when replacing an existing project. Its matching .sailer.data folder may be replaced too.

How Solar Sailer protects unsaved work

Solar Sailer refuses to save while a project switch is underway. It also refuses if the open project changes while a Save As picker is open. Retry after the switch finishes. These checks stop one project's contents from being written into another project's file or data folder.

Edits can also arrive while a save is writing. Solar Sailer leaves those later edits unsaved instead of pretending the earlier save included them. If you were closing or switching projects, the action is cancelled. Save again to include the new work.

:::tip Autosave

Timed autosave is off by default. To turn it on and choose an interval, open Edit → Preferences… and select Autosave.

Solar Sailer always autosaves after expensive work such as Sync or Transcribe. You can't turn off that safeguard.

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