Press Ctrl+S on Windows/Linux or Cmd+S on macOS, and Resolve saves the open project into its Project Library. The shortcut is the smallest part of the job. Keep Live Save on so changes are written as you work, enable Project Backups and Timeline Backups for dated rollback points, and export a DRP or DRA when you need a copy outside the library.
The menu paths here follow the Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual and release notes; the current stable update is 21.1.2 build 10, released October 27. Saving a project doesn't create a video file, though. To save the finished edit as an MP4, export it from the Deliver page; the step-by-step video export guide covers the settings. New to Resolve? The DaVinci Resolve tutorial path covers the wider routine. This page stays with saving and rollback.
Where the saved project lives
Resolve doesn't write a loose project file every time you save. Working projects live inside a Project Library, which can sit on a local drive, on a network server or in Blackmagic Cloud, and each of those brings its own storage and connection risks.
A library path copied from someone else's computer tells you nothing about yours. Open Project Manager, look at the Project Libraries sidebar and confirm which library is active. The on-disk details are in Where DaVinci Resolve Projects Are Saved, and if Project Manager is new to you, start with the DaVinci Resolve beginner tutorial.
For a local library, use its Back Up command; copying database files by hand while Resolve runs risks catching them mid-write. A managed network library goes through Resolve's tools or your administrator's backup routine. Neither a library backup nor a DRP carries your source media, so the media needs its own copy.
How to Save a Project with Live Save
Live Save writes changes incrementally with no action from you, and the Resolve 21 saving documentation says it's on by default. Cut, Edit and Fairlight changes save as you make them; Fusion and Color changes save when you move to another clip and periodically in the background. It even covers a new project you forgot to save, and collaborative projects force it on.
Check it here:
- Open DaVinci Resolve > Preferences
- Select User > Project Save and Load
- Make sure Live Save is ticked
- Click Save if you changed anything
File > Save Project still works as a manual save: Ctrl+S on Windows/Linux, Cmd+S on macOS. With Live Save on, pressing it anyway costs nothing, so I'd keep the habit. It won't give you a version history.
To branch off a separate working version in the same library, choose File > Save Project As and give it a new name. If Resolve asks to overwrite an existing project, cancel and pick another name. You get a second copy of the project data, which doesn't count as a media backup.
Keep Live Save on for everyday editing. If you turn it off on purpose, say for a demo, save by hand before you close. The word Edited beside the project name means unsaved changes; it turns yellow after 15 minutes without a save and red after 30. File > Revert to Last Save Version throws away everything since that save, so don't confuse it with loading a dated backup.
Enable Project Backups and load an earlier version
Live Save keeps the newest state. It can't take you back to a decision you saved over two hours ago. Project Backups do that job: separate, dated copies you can open later.
Project Backups rotate on a grandfather-father-son schedule: frequent backups within the last hour, hourly ones for the day and daily ones for the last few days, oldest dropped first. Snapshots expire, so export a dated DRP for any milestone you want to keep. Each backup is a full project file minus Gallery stills, LUTs and source media. Keep those elsewhere, or use an export option that includes stills and LUTs.
To enable Project Backups:
- Open DaVinci Resolve > Preferences > User > Project Save and Load
- Enable Project Backups
- Set how often to back up and how many hourly and daily backups to keep
- Pick a writable backup location, ideally on a different drive from the active library (the default is a ProjectBackup folder on your scratch disk)
- Click Save, then come back later and confirm backups are showing up in Project Manager
To restore one, open Project Manager, right-click the project and choose Project Backups. Select a dated backup and click Load. Resolve opens it as an independent project and leaves the original alone, so name the copy clearly before you keep working.
Keep Live Save and Project Backups running together; they work independently. One protects where you are now, the other keeps a record of where you've been.
Empty backup list? Check that Project Backups is enabled, the destination is connected and writable, and you've worked long enough to reach the first interval. An idle project gets no new backups, because Resolve only saves them when something changes. Click Refresh before you worry. Switching backups on after a loss won't bring earlier edits back.
A Blackmagic Cloud library has its own Cloud Project Server backup controls. Open the library's Backups tab and check that dated backups are there. Turning on Project Backups in Resolve doesn't prove a Cloud project has a copy you can recover, so keep dated DRP exports outside the library as well.
Restore one timeline without replacing the current edit
Timeline Backups use the same rotating schedule but save individual timelines. They earn their keep when one sequence goes wrong and the rest of the project should stay exactly as it is.
Enable Timeline Backups in Preferences > User > Project Save and Load. Both backup types share the same interval fields and backup folder.
To restore one, right-click the timeline in the Media Pool, choose Restore Timeline Backup and pick a snapshot by date and time. It returns as a new timeline with Backup added to the name, so the current one isn't overwritten; since 21.1 it also keeps its backup history and undo history. Compare with Timeline Backup in the same menu highlights what changed. Deleted a timeline by mistake? Look under Deleted Timeline Backups in the Media Pool options menu.
A Timeline Backup won't stand in for a whole-project backup. Keep Project Backups enabled too. Before a big restructure, duplicate the timeline, which the manual calls the safest route, or choose File > Create Timeline Backup for a named restore point; the command also sits in the timeline's Media Pool right-click menu.
Export a DRP or archive the project with media
Live Save and scheduled backups both live inside Resolve's project system. When the project has to exist as something you can carry, send or shelve outside the library, export a DRP or create a DRA archive.
Export as DRP (DaVinci Resolve Project)
A .drp holds the project structure, timelines, edits, grades, Fusion work and settings. It doesn't hold source media, and a plain export also leaves out Gallery stills and LUTs. If those need to travel with the project, use Export Project With Stills and LUTs in Project Manager.
With the project open, choose File > Export Project. In Project Manager, right-click the project and choose the export variant you need. Save the .drp somewhere outside the active library. In 21.1, project-level Media Management includes a .drp export as well.
Several projects can go out in one pass. In Project Manager, Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the projects, or lasso them, then right-click one of them and choose Export Projects. The manual's project export tip says all of them are saved in the same location, so I'd point the batch at a new folder named with the date, because .drp files from different days look alike once they share a folder.
A DRP works best as a project-data checkpoint, or as a handoff to someone who already has the media. Test it by dragging the DRP into Project Manager and importing it under a new name, ideally in a test library. Open the timelines and relink any missing clips to the media you've kept separately.
Export as DRA (DaVinci Resolve Archive)
A .dra is a folder holding the project plus whatever media you tell it to include, with each media folder mirroring the clip's original path. For an original-media backup, select Media Files. Proxy Media adds the generated proxy files, and a proxy-only archive can't replace your camera originals.
In Project Manager, right-click the project and choose Archive (one section of the manual calls it Export Project Archive). Pick a destination with room for the media. In the Archive dialog, review Media Files, Proxy Media, Only include used media, Include Render Cache, Include LUTs and Include Gallery Stills before you click OK. The stills, LUT and used-media options are 21.1 additions, so older tutorials won't show them.
Leave Only include used media off if you want unused Media Pool clips in the archive too. Resolve lists missing or offline media at the end of the run. The Resolve 21 archive options list Proxy Media and no Optimized Media checkbox. Even after a clean archive, keep an independently verified copy of anything you can't shoot again.
A DRA can't package everything a project depends on. Fonts, plugin installers, licenses, third-party scripts, LUT installers, briefs and client documents need their own folder. Resolve reports missing or offline media during archiving, so fix Media Offline before you call the archive a verified handoff.
To test a DRA, first copy the whole archive folder to the drive where its media should live, because restoring doesn't move it. Drag the folder into Project Manager, or right-click and choose Restore, and give the restored project a unique name. Then open the timelines and check footage, audio, grades and effects.
The restored project stays linked to the media inside the DRA folder, so don't delete that folder; move the media with Media Management if it belongs elsewhere. A project that opens cleanly still hasn't proved every clip and outside dependency made it across.
Save One Timeline, Preset or Grade Without the Whole Project
Save Project and a DRP both carry the whole project. When you only need one piece of it in another project or on another machine, each kind of item has its own save command. None of them copies your source footage, so the media still has to reach the other machine separately.
| What to save | Where to save it | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| One timeline | Select it in the Media Pool, then File > Export > Export AAF, XML, DRT and choose DaVinci Resolve Timeline Files (*.drt) | A .drt file with the timeline and its clip information, but no media |
| Several timelines | Select them in the Media Pool, right-click one and choose Timelines > Export > DaVinci Resolve Timeline Files | One .drt per timeline, named after the timeline in the Media Pool |
| Project settings for new projects | Project Settings (gear button, bottom right) > option menu > Save Current Settings as Preset, or Set Current Settings as Default Preset | A named preset you can load later, or a default every new project starts from; Export Preset writes a .preset file |
| Render settings | Deliver page > Render Settings option (three-dot) menu > Save as New Preset | A named render preset; Export Preset writes an .xml file |
| A grade for other projects | Color page: right-click the Viewer and choose Grab Still, then keep the still in a PowerGrade album | A still whose grade every project in the same project library can apply |
| A workspace layout | Workspace > Layout Presets > Save Layout As Preset | A named layout you can load again from the same menu |
| The finished video | Deliver page: add the job to the Render Queue and render it | A playable file such as an MP4; the project itself doesn't change |
To bring a .drt into another project, select a bin in the Media Pool and choose File > Import Timeline > Import AAF, XML, DRT, or double-click the .drt file in Finder or File Explorer. The manual's timeline import steps say the timeline gets "import" added to its name and conforms to matching media already in the Media Pool. On another computer you may still have to reimport or relink missing media to bring the timeline fully online. I'd send a .drt when the other editor already has the project and its media, because it adds one timeline without creating another imported project.
Project presets pay off once the same setup repeats from job to job. Load Preset and Update Preset both apply immediately with no undo, as the Project Settings preset steps point out, so I'd save the current settings as their own preset before loading a different one, because that leaves a way back. The project settings guide covers which settings belong in that baseline.
Grades follow a different rule. Stills in ordinary Gallery albums stay with the project they were saved in, while a PowerGrade album is shared by every project in the same project library, and the guide to copying color grades shows how to get a still into one. A render preset stores every Video, Audio and File setting, so clicking it later restores the whole setup, as the manual's render preset steps describe. Layouts work the same way, and the workspace layout guide covers saving and exporting them.
Save Settings You Should Configure Before Any Project
Start from this baseline, then match retention and storage to how valuable the work is and how long it runs:
- Live Save: on, and check that the Edited marker clears as changes are saved
- Project Backups: on, with retention that fits the job and a backup location you've confirmed
- Timeline Backups: on for any project you're actively editing
- Before a big timeline restructure: duplicate the timeline or create a named Timeline Backup
- Before upgrading Resolve or a Project Library: back up the library and export the important DRPs, since the 21.1 notes warn that projects opened in 21.1 can't be opened in 20.3.2
- For a handoff or long-term archive: create a DRA, test-restore a copy, and keep fonts, plugins and documents separately
A manual save feels reassuring, but it doesn't add a backup generation. The checks that matter: Live Save is on, scheduled backups land where you expect, and a DRP or DRA restores on another system. An archive protects editable work, so keep a finished master too, made with the Resolve export workflow.
Common Save Problems and What Causes Them
My project isn't showing up in the Project Manager
Open Project Manager and look at the Project Libraries sidebar. Local, network and cloud libraries each show their own projects, and a disconnected or signed-out library can make a project look like it vanished. Confirm you're in the right library before you import duplicates or start moving folders.
I Can't Save: Resolve Throws an Error
Start with the exact error text. For a local library, check free space and write access; for a network or cloud library, also check the server connection, your account and whether the library is available. Copy the current project and backup folders before you try any database repair. If the trouble goes beyond saving, match the symptom in the Resolve troubleshooting hub before you touch project data.
I lost a project after a crash
After a crash, reopen the project and see what Live Save kept. If you need an earlier state, load a Project Backup from Project Manager; if only one timeline is damaged, restore a Timeline Backup. Keep the original project and the recovered copy side by side until you've checked the edit.
No usable scheduled backup? Import the latest DRP, or restore the DRA or library backup. A DRP can't bring back missing media, and a DRA can't restore dependencies it never included. That's the reason to test every layer while nothing is broken.
Frequently Asked Questions About Saving Projects
Does DaVinci Resolve save automatically?
Yes. Live Save is on by default and saves changes incrementally. Check it under Preferences > User > Project Save and Load. Enable Project Backups separately if you want dated versions you can load without overwriting the current project.
Where does DaVinci Resolve save projects?
Working projects live in the active Project Library. In Project Manager, check the Project Libraries sidebar and the details of the selected local library. A DRP is a separate export of the project data and a DRA can include selected media; neither one changes where the active library lives.
What is the shortcut to save in DaVinci Resolve?
With the default keyboard preset, Save Project is Ctrl+S on Windows/Linux and Cmd+S on macOS. Ctrl+Shift+S or Cmd+Shift+S opens Save Project As. Use a unique name, since an existing one brings up an overwrite prompt. If you've remapped keys, check Keyboard Customization.
What's the difference between a DRP and DRA file?
A DRP carries project data and no source media. A DRA is a folder archive whose contents depend on the options you tick: Media Files, Proxy Media, render cache, LUTs and stills. A proxy-only DRA won't replace your original-media backup, and fonts, plugins, licenses and documents still need their own copy.
Can I recover a DaVinci Resolve project after a crash?
Start with what Live Save kept, then load a dated Project Backup, or restore a Timeline Backup if only one timeline is affected. If the library itself won't open, restore a library backup or import a known-good DRP or DRA. Leave the damaged original alone until the recovery checks out.
Does DaVinci Resolve free version have autosave?
Yes. Live Save, Project Backups and Timeline Backups are in the free version as well as Studio. Project Backups and Timeline Backups have to be switched on, and they need a writable backup location.
