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Collect All and Save in Ableton Live, and how to fix missing samples
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Collect All and Save is an Ableton Live command, in the File menu, that copies every file your Live Set uses into the Set's own project folder and then saves. Samples from your desktop, another project, your User Library or a Pack end up inside the project, so the Set opens with sound on any computer. If a Set already opens silent with a "media files are missing" warning, the File Manager can find the files and relink them.
This guide covers both: preventing missing samples with Collect All and Save, and fixing them when it's too late.
Why Ableton loses samples
A Live Set (.als) doesn't contain your audio. It stores where each sample lives. When a file is moved, renamed, deleted or sits on a drive that isn't connected, Live can't find it. The Status Bar at the bottom of the window shows a warning, and the affected clips show as Offline and play nothing.
The usual causes:
- You dragged samples in from your Downloads folder or desktop, then tidied up.
- The samples live on an external drive that isn't plugged in.
- You moved or renamed the Samples folder inside the project.
- You sent the
.alsfile (or the project folder) to someone, but the samples were never inside it.
Any sample the Set uses from outside its project folder is a missing sample waiting to happen.
How to use Collect All and Save
- Open the Live Set you want to make self-contained.
- Choose File → Collect All and Save.
- Pick what to collect. Live asks which files to copy into the project, grouped by where they currently live (see the list below).
- Click OK. Live copies the files into the project's Samples folder (or Presets folder for device presets) and saves the Set.
The dialog groups the files by where they currently live:
- files located elsewhere on your computer (desktop, Downloads, external drives)
- files from other Projects
- files from your User Library
- files from Packs
Which to tick depends on where the project is going:
| Where it's going | Tick |
|---|---|
| Staying on your computer | Elsewhere and other Projects, as a minimum |
| To a collaborator or another computer | Everything, including User Library and Packs |
| Into an archive for years | Everything |
Your collaborator might not own the same Packs, and your User Library won't exist on their machine. If you're not sure, tick every category. The cost is disk space, not sound.
A project can hold several Live Sets, such as different versions or mixes of a song. Live keeps a single copy of each sample for all the Sets in the same project, so collecting doesn't duplicate audio between versions saved there.
How to fix missing samples in Ableton
When a Set opens with missing media files, relink them before you do anything else in the Set.
- Open the File Manager. Click the warning in the Status Bar, or choose File → Manage Files → Manage Set and click Locate.
- Check the list. The File Manager shows every missing file.
- Tell Live where to search. Turn on any of the three automatic search locations described below the steps.
- Run the search. Live relinks every file it can match.
- Resolve duplicates. If Live reports several candidates, you have more than one copy of a file. Use the Hot-Swap button to audition the candidates in the browser and pick the right one. In the video, choosing one candidate lets Live resolve the remaining missing files from that same folder.
- Save the Set. Relinks only stick once you save. Close without saving and the files will be missing again next time.
- Then run Collect All and Save, so the files you just found are copied into the project and this can't happen again.
The three search locations:
- Search Folder: a folder you choose, including its subfolders. Point it at the drive or folder you think the samples moved to.
- Search Project: the Set's own project folder.
- Search Library: your Live Library.
The search speeds up a lot when you narrow it. If you know the samples are in one folder, point Search Folder there and turn off the project and library searches, as the video does.
Check a whole project for external files
To audit a project rather than a single Set, open File → Manage Files and click Manage Project. It lists the project's missing files and external files, meaning files used by the project but stored outside it. Its Collect and Save button pulls them in.
The File Manager can also pack a project into a single .alp Live Pack with Create Pack. Live compresses it losslessly, which is handy for archiving or sending a finished project as one file.
Good habits that prevent missing samples
- Save a new Set into a project straight away, before you import anything. Saving creates the project folder that samples get collected into.
- Collect before you share. Run Collect All and Save, with every box ticked, before sending a project to anyone.
- Collect before you move. Changing computers, drives or folder layout? Collect first.
- Keep the project folder whole. Move, zip or back up the entire folder, never the
.alson its own. - Save versions inside the same project. Use Save Live Set As into the existing project folder rather than a new location, so versions share one Samples folder. The same goes for tracks you've separated into stems: the stems are written into the project folder and travel with it.
- Back up the folder, not just the file. A backup of the
.alsalone restores a Set with no sound. If Live crashes or a file gets corrupted, recovering a crashed project is far easier when the whole folder is intact.
The manual's Managing Files and Sets chapter covers every File Manager option in detail.
Frequently asked questions
What does Collect All and Save do in Ableton?
It copies every file the Live Set uses into the Set's project folder, then saves the Set. You choose which sources to collect: files elsewhere on your computer, files from other projects, your User Library and Packs.
Where is Collect All and Save in Ableton Live?
In the File menu. For a whole project there's also a Collect and Save button under File → Manage Files → Manage Project.
Should I tick User Library and Packs when collecting?
If the project is leaving your computer, yes. The other person may not have your User Library or the same Packs installed. Ticking everything costs disk space but guarantees the project opens with every sound.
Why does Ableton say media files are missing?
The Set points to files that aren't where they were: they were moved, renamed or deleted, or they're on a drive that isn't connected. Live shows a warning in the Status Bar and marks the affected clips as Offline.
How do I find missing samples in Ableton?
Open the File Manager from the Status Bar warning, or with File → Manage Files → Manage Set → Locate. Set Search Folder to where the files might be, run the search, then save the Set.
Why are my samples missing again after I relinked them?
The Set wasn't saved after relinking. Live only remembers new file locations once you save.
Does Collect All and Save duplicate my samples?
It copies files from outside the project into it, so those files then exist twice on your disk: the originals stay where they were. Several Sets saved in the same project share one set of samples.