Suddenly I can't save my work!

[rkstudio]

I made about 10 or 15 videos so far and I have, with some confusion been able to save the videos. But now I can't save any videos I'm making.

I import a video in the timeline, then work on it, attributes and the like, then I click on file>save...nothing happens, at least no indication that anything happened. Then I try "Save as", and for some reason I have to name it again, even though when I brought the video in, it was already named. Why I have to name it again is beyond me.
Anyway, when I get done working on the video I dragged it into the library. Then as a test, I started a new project and dragged the video back out of the library and it lost all the work I had done.
I really like VS but the filing system is really stupid. I've had many other programs before like photoshop and illustrator and many others but I never had to keep naming and re-naming files before. I wish I can find a tutorial on this because this is the only thing about VS that is really holding me back. it's so aggravating.

Can someone please point me to a tutorial somewhere since Corel doesn't have good tutorials, or at least not nearly enough.

[Ken Berry]

By the number of posts you have already posted in this forum (89 to date, including the one above), I -- and just about any other user -- would have assumed you no longer needed any tutorial on the most basic elements of how Video Studio works...

Pressing Save or Save As only creates a Video Studio Project (VSP) file. This is NOT a video file. All you are saving is a small text file which, when you open it later in VS, tells Video Studio what video clips have been included in the project, where they are stored, and what editing (filters, transitions, music, voiceovers etc) has been done to them. These are NOT video files -- to repeat, they are text files. "Save" creates an initial project (text) file with its own name, and if you later choose Save As, then just like Word for Windows or a huge number of other programs, you will be invited to assign a separate, new name to save a second copy of the (text) VSP file. What you say you were dragging into the library, and later, back out again were NOT videos... just these text files.

Again, after 89 posts, I would have assumed you knew by now that to convert your project into an actual video you don't use Save/Save As, but Share. So when you finish editing and want to create a new video file from your project, and eventually perhaps a disc of some sort (DVD, Blu-Ray), you click on the Share tab at the top of the screen. This opens a new screen where you can choose various options, depending on what you want: you can choose to create either just a video file in a variety of formats, or you can jump straight to a disc option and convert your project, as part of the burning process, into a DVD-compatible or Blu-Ray compatible file. (However, we normally recommend using Share to first create the DVD or Blu-Ray compatible file, and only later go back to Share again, choose a disc option, then insert your new compatible file, and burn the disc that way.)

Now you say you have "made about 10 or 15 videos so far". I am having trouble imagining how you might have done this except by using the process I have just outlined. I have been using Video Studio since version 7, and that's 7 not X7 (17), let alone the current X8/8.5... Certainly you could not have produced your videos by using File > Save or Save As.

And this has certainly been the basic message of even the basic Corel Video Studio manuals which have come with successive versions of the program...

To echo the title you assigned to this post: "Suddenly you seem to have forgotten the most basic processes..."! In fact you have most certainly been saving your work, not once (with Save) but twice (with Save As). You were just not using the correct procedure to convert your work into actual video...

[rkstudio]

Ok, like you say in your second paragraph, .vsp files are to store information like the edits you have made. But why is it that when I want to work on the file, it doesn't show ANY of the changes I made?

This is the first time that I started working on a video late at night and decided to make just a couple of changes and save the file to work on again tomorrow. So for the first time, I figured that maybe the reason for a project file was to save the changes made so you can work at a later time. But I tested it to see if I was correct and I guess I'm not. It didn't save anything in the .vsp file. I know your saying that it's just a text file but what good is it if it doesn't save anything. Should I not use it at all and just go to the "Share" step? I didn't really want to do that because it takes all night to save a video that way.

[lata]

Hi

The “Save” and “Save As” options are identical for all programs it’s a windows process.

Any program

If you open a new document whether that be a Video Studio Project or a Word Document that file does not have a name.
If you choose File Save you will be prompted to give that file a name and choose a save location. That will be the same for Save As.
Existing files…………
Using an existing named file hitting Save will save the recent edits without any prompt, it will be done in the background.
Using Save As will prompt you to give the file a name, this may be useful in creating copies of the project file, if you choose the same name then you will be prompted to replace the file.
Using Video Studio after any changes / edits If you close using the “X” again you will be asked to save the project, same effect as File Save, then the program will close.

If you have used File Save As and given the project a different name then you have made a copy, make sure when opening the project you do actually open the most recent file otherwise you may not see your most edits

When selecting File –at the bottom of the list is upto 4 most recent used projects, selecting the top entry will open the last project used.

Editing in Video Studio
If you have to use rotate because the video is the wrong way I would render that to create a new video before continuing with adding Timelapse.

[BrianCee]

You seem to have got yourself really confused

When you first put your video into the timeline and start editing you should go to "File >> Save" at that point you will have to give it a name - Videostudio (and many other programmes) does not know what you want to call it - so you 'save' and that creates a project file

As with any windows programme doing "Save as" will create a copy of the project and everyone else will give the file a new name - giving it the same name will overwrite the original

Now when you want to stop for a while just do a 'save' and close down Videostudio

When you want to continue working you MUST go "File >> open project" and browse to the project file and select it and then click open

You CANNOT continue a project by dragging the video file to the timeline - that will just show the untouched video

keep using "File >> save" throughout your editing - you will ONLY go to Share when you have finished all editing and want to make a final video to burn to DVD or give to your friends

If you have not been going to Share then none of the videos you have ever made exists as a standalone video

[rkstudio]

Ok, thank you all for your responses!

All the other times I've worked on a video, I worked on it from beginning to end in one sitting (unless I thought of some little tweak here or there). But when I've worked on them before, I finished the work and went to the share step and uploaded it as an .mp4. Done.
However, when I started working on a video tonight, I suddenly got tired and didn't feel like working on it much and just did those couple of things and decided to quit. So that's why all the confusion. I always did save a file into my projects folder first before sharing it (although I didn't really know why). I guess I read it somewhere.
So I think I made my mistake by dragging the file in from the timeline, then, and that must be why I didn't see any changes. I didn't realize that would happen. Now I'll open it from the file menu.
I also didn't know that the most recent changes are at the top of the list in the file menu. Good to know. I hardly ever look at those actually. But I will now.

I can't respond to all the suggestions but I'll re-read them carefully. Although I'm sure I understand now where I'm going wrong.

Thank you all for your help!