In your File Menu, you will find two options regarding the process of saving a file - Save and Save As. Save will write over the existing file, and Save As will give you the opportunity to re-name the file and make a new copy of it, leaving the origin in tact.
Save
This will update the open file you are working on with the latest changes you have made, overwriting the previously saved version. It will also apply a QuickLook Preview of the design to the file icon to make it easier to recognise it in the Finder.
When a new design is opened on screen, the file name is Untitled. The first time you save this design, a save sheet will appear, allowing you to choose a name, file format and desired location.
Remember to save your file when you have finished working on it for the day by going to File Menu > Save or using ⌘S.
Note: AVA auto saves any changes you make to the file in the background during the periods you are not actively working on it. This guarantees no loss of work in the unfortunate event of a computer crash or power cut and your file will reopen as it was last seen when you re-launch AVA.
The Save Window uses navigation services, which enables you to connect to a server or mount a disk whilst the window is still open, so you are not restricted to only saving to the internal hard drive.
When reopening a file saved in the AVA format, it will remember and restore a host of specific view settings, which were in place at the time when the file was last used. Some examples for this being visible layers, warnings and viewed colourways at the point of saving.
Save As
This option allows you to create a copy of a file you are currently working on in order to make a change to name, format or location.
- Go to File Menu > Save As.
- Type in the name of the design and select the destination folder or disk the design is to be saved to. Special language characters such as accents, Cyrillic or Japanese characters are handled correctly and retain the correct characteristics.
- You can save a design in any of the listed formats. AVA files should be saved as ava4.
Note: The various file formats are explained in more detail in separate articles. Simply search on the file format you wish to read about, for example if you search on Tiff, you will find the Tiff file formats article which describes tiff, and big tiff files.
Save and Save As work in the background allowing you to continue with other work while the design save is in progress.
AVA automatically adds the file extension when saving documents. For example if you are saving a file in Tiff format, choose the file format in the Save window and the extension .tif is appended.
FAQ: Why can't I save to my server?
Go to AVA Menu > Settings and select File Format, and in the Export tab, untick Make custom icon on save.
You should now be able to save to your (non Apple) server.
Save Combined Copy As...
You can save a version of all the visible layers in your design or Layout Window, combined together into one image layer and saved in a format compatible with most third party softwares. The combined image is created using a profile and when saved, this profile accompanies the design so it will look similar when opened on other systems.
Saving the file
Follow the steps below to ensure your combined copy looks similar to the original artwork.
- Open the document and go to the window you wish to export from (Design or Layout Window).
- From the File Menu go to ‘Save Combined Copy As...’
- Select the format you want to save the file as and if you are saving from the Layout Window select the required resolution (saving from the design window will create a file the same resolution as the source document). Click Save.
Note: The output might appear slightly different to the AVA file but we expect it to be reasonably close to how it appeared in AVA. Files saved this way will appear wrong if reopened into AVA as the Viewing Conditions will be applied again.
The design will be exported in the number of repeats currently being viewed. Therefore if you need to send the file including the complete repeat area and drop, simply view the relevant number of repeats across and down with the correct drop setting before saving.
Specifying the profile to be used with Save Combined Copy As...
You do not need to specify a profile as AVA will automatically apply a generic profile. However, if you wish to choose the profile that will be applied when using Save Combined Copy As… select AVA Menu > Settings and select the File Format button. Click on the Export tab and press the Set button to locate the profile you wish to use.
Note: The resulting image is created in the colourspace of the profile, for example if you have an RGB profile set, AVA will create an RGB file.
Upon pressing Set, a Finder window opens allowing you to navigate to your preferred profile.
Note: The profile must contain a separation table and be in icc format. You can use profiles located at Hard drive > System > Library > ColorSync > Profiles if you wish. We recommend you select the Generic RGB 1998 profile to make an RGB image upon save, or the Generic CMYK profile to make a CMYK image. Click Open to set your selected profile as the profile to be embedded when using Save Combined Copy As… and your profile will be set in the Settings pane and applied to every file saved in this way.
Did you know...
This function could be useful within a Palette
Saving combined copies has for a long time been an integral part of many workflows, allowing you to easily export designs and Layout Windows in popular formats including PDF and JPEG. Hereby, the viewing conditions of your system are embedded. This provides an improved visual match when opening the files into third party applications such as Preview.
In combination with the innovative Palette Technology, especially the looping functionalities, you can streamline workflows such as exporting all your colourways in different formats with the click of a single button.
You can find this Palette Handler in AVA Menu > Settings > Menus > File > Save. Drag it to your Palette, access the settings and tick Save Combined Copy.
To get inspired and find out more, contact our Technical Support Team.
The Movie
Autosave
Autosave is a feature which automatically saves a dirty file (any file with unsaved changes) in the background when you are not working on it. Therefore, if you simply open a file and look at it, no autosave occurs. Similarly, as you are working on the file, no autosave occurs, but as soon as you stop working, the file is autosaved.
This means that in the unfortunate event that your computer crashes or you suffer a power failure, you will not lose any work. When you re-launch AVA the file will re-open and will contain all the changes you had made to it.
You can choose to turn this feature on or off per document, and the state of the function (on or off) is saved with the document. This means if you save a document with autosave off, the next time you open the document autosave will still be disabled. By default this is always switched on.
One reason you may choose to turn this off would be if you are working on an extremely large file where the autosave function may impact on your productivity. In cases like this, you may turn the feature off for a short period of time, then switch it back on later.
When you turn this off, any autosaves which are currently in progress are immediately cancelled. If you choose to switch this back on, AVA will schedule an autosave immediately for any unsaved changes.
Note: By switching Autosave off, your documents will no longer autosave and therefore you have the potential to lose any unsaved changes. We would strongly recommend that this is left on at all times.