DaVinci Resolve Project Manager
The Project Manager in DaVinci Resolve 20+ is the central hub where you can create, open, organize, back up, export, and manage all of your projects. Unlike many other video editors, Resolve does not treat projects as individual files stored in your operating system’s file browser. Instead, projects live inside a Project Library that the Project Manager controls.
Opening the Project Manager
The Project Manager opens automatically each time you launch DaVinci Resolve.
If you’re already inside Resolve, you can reopen it at any time by clicking the Home icon in the lower-right corner of the interface or by selecting File > Project Manager.
When you click Project Manager, DaVinci automatically opens the library you have previously used.
DaVinci Resolve stores projects inside project libraries (formerly called databases). Projects do not appear as .prj files in your file system unless you export them as individual files.
Please note that on FV computers, your project is automatically stored local to the computer you are using on the Scratch Drive.
DaVinci Project Organization
Create Projects
In the Project Manager, you can choose the project you would like to continue working on. Additionally, Resolve creates a new Untitled Project by default. If you have no projects in your library yet, it will only display the Untitled Project.
To make a new project, you can click New Project on the bottom-right or right click on the new Untitled Project and click Save As to rename it.
Don’t forget to set the path for media storage and update your Master Project Settings as discussed in this article, How to Set Up a DaVinci Resolve Library
Open Projects
Double-click a project thumbnail to open it or select a project and press Open.
You can also Right-click a project and choose Open in Read-Only Mode to inspect a project without risk of altering it.
View Projects
To organize your projects, you can rename and delete your projects by right-clicking said project. Additionally, by right-clicking in your Project Library, you can create folders to group projects together.
You can also load a configuration from another project to the currently open project by right-clicking a project and selecting Load Project Settings to Current Project…
You can switch to List View by clicking the icon on the top right corner. List View will show you more information about your projects.
Or, when in Thumbnail View, you can show more detailed information by clicking the circled i icon in the top right corner.
You can also change the list order of your project display.
If you have saved a large amount of projects in one library, you can click the magnifying glass icon to Search for one of your projects.
Exporting and Importing Projects
If you have multiple libraries on your drive, or if you need to move projects to a different computer or drive you might want to import or export projects across those libraries. Note that this function only applies to your project file, while your media stays in the original location on your drive.
Export Projects
1. Export a project by right clicking on it and selecting Export in the drop down menu.
Optionally, you can export your project including all Stills and LUTs you have created within it. Choose the next option Export with Stills and LUTs from the drop down menu.
2. Navigate to the location, where you wish to save your file, click save.
3. Click Save.
Import Projects
1. Import a project from another library by clicking in the empty area in your Project Manager, choose Import and find your project file.
2. Navigate to the location on your drive. You are looking for a file with a .drp ending.
Relinking Media
By importing a project (.drp file) to a new library, you might have changed all the file paths of your media. Depending on your media storage settings, your file might not be linked to its source media any longer. In this case, or if you changed the media paths in other ways, such as changing the location of your media files by moving them around, you need to relink your media files.
1. Open your project from the Project Manager by double clicking it.
2. In the Media Pool of the Resolve interface: select all media files which need to be relinked, right click, go to Clip Operations, and select Relink Selected Clips…
2. Navigate to the location where your media files are stored, click ok.
If you don’t know their exact location, you can select a top directory. But keep in mind that DaVinci will search the entire directory, and it could take a long time to go through every single sub-directory in search for your files. Hit OK.
Archiving and Restoring Projects
Archiving a project duplicates all media associated with the project file. You create a self contained archive bundle, including all media and the project file itself. This is useful to either transfer your project to another drive or user, or for any archiving purposes. This process is comparable with the process of consolidation known from non-linear editing software.
A .dra archive can include:
- The .drp project file,
- Gallery stills and LUTs,
- Media files (if selected),
- Render cache files,
- Proxies (if selected).
A .dra file is ideal for transporting a self-contained project between systems, meaning you will not need to re-link media.
Export Project Archive
1. Right click on the project you wish to archive, select Export Project Archive.
2. Select the location to save your archive, click Save.
3. Hit OK in the pop up window.
Resolve creates a folder with the extension .dra.
Resolve copies the directory of your media files, the exact same way it was originally set up.
Restore Project Archive
1. If you wish to restore a project from a previously created .dra archive, simply right click in any area of the Project Manager window and choose Restore Project Archive.
2. Navigate to the location and highlight the folder, click Open.
3. The restored project shows up in the Project Manager.
