Projects and saving

Clate saves your work continuously in the background, so there is no Save command and no work gets lost. Manage your projects from the Welcome page.

The Welcome page with the project cards.

You never need to save

Clate stores every change you make in your project right away. If Clate or your computer stops unexpectedly, your project stays intact and opens again with your latest work.

Where your projects live

Each project is a single file with the extension .clate. Clate keeps all projects in the folder Clate inside your Documents folder. The project file contains everything: pages, objects, and images. Manage your projects in Clate rather than in the file system: use the project commands described below to rename, copy and remove projects.

caution

Do not move, rename, or copy project files in the file system while Clate is running. While you work in a project, Clate keeps extra working files next to it. Use Save Local Copy, described below, to make a copy.

The Welcome page

Click the home tab at the top left to see the Welcome page. It shows all your projects as cards with the name and the time of the last edit. Open projects appear as tabs next to the home tab.

At the top of the page:

• New Project creates a project and opens it. The project is named Untitled, followed by a number if that name is already used, and has one empty page.
• Import Project adds a project from a .clate file. See Import a project.

Import a project

Import adds a project from a .clate file to your projects. Use it to open a project that someone sent you, or to bring in a copy that you saved with Save Local Copy.

1. Click Import Project on the Welcome page. In an open project, you can also choose Import Project in the main menu, and the menu on the Welcome page has the same command.
2. In the Import Project dialog, select a file with the extension .clate. The dialog opens in the folder that you used the last time.
3. Clate copies the project into your projects folder. The project appears as a new card on the Welcome page.

Import does not open the project. To work on it, open it from its card (right-click the card and choose Open), or choose Open Project... in the menu on the Welcome page.

What you should know about importing:

• Importing always adds a new project. It never replaces an existing project. The imported project is named after the file. If that name is already used, it gets the next free name, for example My Project 2.
• Clate imports a copy. The original file stays where it is and is not changed.
• The project file contains everything, so pages, objects, and images come with it. See Assets.
• You can only import Clate project files. Clate checks the file and shows an Import error if it cannot use it. See If something goes wrong.

Work with a project

Right-click a project card to see its commands:

Command	What it does
Open	Opens the project in a new tab.
Rename	Renames the project. If the project is open, the new name applies when you switch to another project or close it.
Duplicate	Makes a copy of the project in the same folder, with the next free name, for example My Project 2.
Save Local Copy	Saves a copy of the project as a .clate file at a place you choose.
Remove	Closes the project and moves it to the Recycle Bin (Trash on macOS). You can restore it from there.

To close a project, close its tab. Clate then shows the next open project, or the Welcome page.

The menu of a project card.

Move a project to another computer

1. Right-click the project card and choose Save Local Copy, then pick a folder and a file name in the Export Project dialog.
2. Copy the .clate file to the other computer.
3. On the other computer, import the file as described in Import a project.

If something goes wrong

Message	What to do
Import error: the project file does not exist	Check that the file is still at the place you selected.
Import error: the file does not have the project file extension	Select a file with the extension .clate.
Import error: the file is not a valid project or could not be opened	The file is damaged or is not a Clate project. Use another copy of the project.
Export error	Choose another folder, and check that you have permission to write there.
Cannot access the projects folder	Allow Clate to access your Documents folder, then choose Retry. Abort closes Clate.

Clate cannot use a projects folder on a network drive. Keep your Documents folder on a local disk.