Projects, Autosave & Snapshots in Zella

Animated stack of Zella project autosave snapshots

Quick answer: Zella autosaves your project as you work, so you can close and reopen with every edit - cuts, captions, titles (text + style + color), color, callouts, keyframes, speed, and reframe - restored identically. On the Mac, versioned snapshots let you roll back to an earlier state, crash recovery offers to rescue an in-progress recording on the next launch, and project files are written atomically so a crash never corrupts them. On iPhone, every take is written to disk in segments as you film, so a call, an app switch or a dying battery never costs you the footage.

On this page: what’s saved · autosave · snapshots · reframe persists · recovery · moving projects · on iPhone · habits · impact · FAQ

What gets saved in a project?

Everything you’ve done: your clips and the order they’re in, cuts and ripple deletes (deletes that slide the later clips up to close the gap), captions (text, style, color), color grades and effects, titles (text, style, color, and where they’re pinned), callouts, transform keyframes (points that animate a change over time), zoom blocks, speed changes, your reframe and platform choice, and audio overlays.

How autosave and reopen work

Your edits autosave (Zella saves them in the background automatically) as you work. There’s no moment where you save or lose everything.
Close and reopen the project and every edit comes back exactly the same: the same cuts, captions, titles (with their colors), reframe, and platform.

This even covers the things that used to be easy to lose. Your title text, style, and color all come back reliably after a reopen.

How to roll back with versioned snapshots

Zella keeps versioned snapshots - saved copies of your project from different points in time - so you can go back to an earlier version:

Use the version history to jump back to an earlier snapshot.
This is handy when you’ve made a bunch of changes and want to compare them, or go back to how things were “before I started color grading.”

Does my reframe and platform choice persist?

Yes - your reframe (the shape, Fit or Fill, and how the crop is nudged) and your platform choice are saved and come back after a reopen. You won’t have to pick TikTok and re-nudge the crop every time you sit down to work.

How crash recovery works

If Zella gets interrupted - by a crash, a force-quit, or the power going out:

Recordings in progress are saved safely as they go. The next time you open Zella, it offers to recover the unfinished recording instead of leaving you with a broken file.
Project files are written atomically - meaning each save either fully finishes or doesn’t happen at all, so a crash in the middle of saving can’t damage the project. You reopen to the last good version.

After an unexpected quit: open Zella again → accept the recovery prompt if it shows up → keep editing.

How to move or back up a project

Your project points to the original recording files rather than copying them in. Leave those files where they are, or use the relink step to reconnect them if you move them.
To save a finished piece for later, just keep the exported file (chapter 21). It stands on its own and doesn’t need the project.

On iPhone

A phone faces hazards a desk Mac does not - an incoming call, iOS reclaiming memory, a battery that gives out mid-take. Zella is built for that:

Segmented, crash-safe recording. The take is written to disk as it goes, not held in memory until you tap stop. If a call interrupts you, the app is backgrounded, or the battery dies, the footage up to that point is safe. Full detail in recording on iPhone.
Your edit travels as a .zella file. Export the project from the phone and open it on the Mac (or the other way around) and your timeline, cuts, captions and effects come with it. Nothing is re-done. See export & handoff.
Nothing is in a cloud to lose. Projects live on the device, with no account and no sync step that can fail. See iOS getting started.

Two things on this page are Mac features: the Library window (⌘L) described in chapter 27, and relinking moved source files in Finder. On the phone you re-open work from Zella’s own project list, and source clips come from Photos or Files rather than a folder you manage yourself.

Good habits for not losing work

Reframe and finish your titles and callouts before exporting so they’re pinned in the right spot for the final shape.
Take a snapshot before a big change (like a heavy color grade or a major recut) so you can go back if you don’t like it.
Keep your source recordings until the piece is completely finished and posted.

What impact reliable persistence has

For content creators and video editors, “never lose work” isn’t a nice extra - it’s the difference between trusting a tool and giving up on it:

Freedom to experiment - snapshots mean you can try a bold color grade or recut, knowing you can go back if it doesn’t work.
No disasters - atomic saves plus crash recovery mean the worst thing in video work (losing a recording or a full day of edits) basically never happens.
Pick up where you left off - autosave lets you close in the middle of an edit and come back later, so editing fits into a real schedule.

Animated stack of restorable Zella autosave snapshots

Projects FAQ

Do I have to save my project by hand? No - Zella autosaves for you. Close it and reopen, and your edits are all still there.

Can I undo a whole session of changes? Yes. Use versioned snapshots to go back to an earlier version, even further back than the normal undo can reach.

Will my titles and captions come back after a reopen? Yes - the text, style, and color are all saved.

What happens if Zella crashes while I’m recording? Open it again and accept the recovery prompt to rescue the recording you were making.

Does my TikTok / 16:9 choice get remembered? Yes - your reframe and platform are saved with the project.

What happens if I get a phone call while recording on my iPhone? Nothing is lost. Recording on iPhone is segmented and crash-safe, so the footage up to the interruption is already written to disk. See recording on iPhone.

Can I carry a project between my phone and my Mac? Yes - projects hand off in either direction as .zella files, carrying your timeline, cuts, captions and effects. See export & handoff.

Pro tips & gotchas

Every change autosaves - there’s no Save button you can forget to press.
Versioned snapshots let you go back to an earlier version if an edit goes wrong.
Reopen any project from the Library (⌘L). Your timeline, overlays, and settings all come back.
Keep your source media in one steady spot so reopened projects can still find their files.
On the phone, long takes are safe - segmented recording means a call or a low battery won’t cost you the footage.