Saving your work

Like most Windows programs, Sonar has a File > Save command and a File > Save As command to save your work. Normally, you save your projects in the standard project file format, with a file extension of .cwp. This file contains all your MIDI data and all your project settings. Any digital audio that is part of your project is stored in a separate file, as described in System configuration. The File > Save Copy As command is similar to the File > Save As command, but lets you save a copy of the current project under a different file name without closing the original project.

Sonar also lets you save files in several other formats, as described in the table:

File type	Format	Explanation
Standard MIDI	.mid	Used to transfer MIDI-only projects to other software products that support Standard MIDI files.
Bundle	.cwb	A single file that includes all the material in your project: MIDI data, project settings, and audio data. This format is used for projects that contain digital audio, when you want to back up your work or transfer a project to a different computer. See Backing up projects with digital audio for more information. Note: Bundle files do not save video data.
Template	.cwt	A file that is used as a pattern to create another. Templates make it easy to create and configure new projects. See Templates and key bindings for more information.

If you have made changes to a project and then attempt to close the project, either by closing the Track view or by choosing File > Close, Sonar asks if you want to save the changes you have made. This prevents you from accidentally losing your work. You can tell whether changes have been made to a project by looking for an asterisk (*) after the project name in the Sonar title bar.

Sonar has an Auto Save feature that periodically saves your work into a special backup file. You can request automatic backups at fixed time intervals or every time a certain number of changes have been made to the file. When the limit is reached, the file is saved automatically. If your original project is called MyProject.cwp, the Auto Save version is called Auto Save Version of MyProject.cwp.

If there is a power failure or if you make a significant mistake, you can recover the last-saved version of your project by opening this file. You should then save your project under a different name by using the File > Save As command.

To Save a project

1.	Choose File > Save As to display the Save As dialog box.

2.	Choose the type of file you want to save from the Save as Type list.

3.	Enter a file name and click Save.

Sonar saves the file. You can also use File Versioning instead of using Save As. For more information, see To use File Versioning.

To change the Auto Save settings

1.	Go to Edit > Preferences > File - Advanced to access Auto Save settings.

2.	To enable Auto Save, set the number of minutes and/or the number of changes between saves.

3.	To disable Auto Save, set both values to zero.

4.

Click OK.

From now on, your projects are saved automatically according to the settings you entered.

Using File Versioning

Sonar can be enabled to keep previously saved versions of your project in a temporary file. You can revert to any of these saved versions or use the default of the most recently saved version.

When file versioning is enabled, Sonar retains a list of previously saved project files in your project folder. The most recent version retains the original name of the project. Previously saved versions are saved with a time stamp following the original project name in order of most recently saved.

To use File Versioning

1.	Go to Edit > Preferences > File - Advanced to access File Versioning settings.

2.	Select the Enable Versioning of Project (.CWP) Files check box.

3.	Use the spinner to select the number of versions of your project you would like Sonar to keep.

Note: If you exceed the maximum number of saved file versions selected in Step 3, the oldest version is discarded.

To revert to a previously saved file

1.	Choose File > Revert.

A dialog box appears containing a list of dates and file sizes for all previously saved versions of the current project.

2.	Select the file version you want to work on.

3.

Click OK.

Note: If the current project is unsaved at the time you choose File > Revert, you will be prompted with a warning that reverting the project will cause all unsaved changes to be lost. When the reverted project is loaded, the timestamp is stripped off, and the reverted project assumes the project’s original name.