Save your work

Unity categorizes most saved information into either scene changes or project-wide changes.

• To save all current scene and project-wide changes, go to File > Save (or Save as).
• To save Project-wide changes, but not Scene changes, go to File > Save Project.

Note: If you edit in Prefab Mode, saving through File > Save only saves changes to the open Prefab. Exit the Prefab Mode to save wider changes.

Unity saves some information automatically while you work in the Editor. See Automatic saves for more details.

Scene changes

Scene changes include modifications to GameObjectsThe fundamental object in Unity scenes, which can represent characters, props, scenery, cameras, waypoints, and more. A GameObject’s functionality is defined by the Components attached to it. More info
See in Glossary in the SceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info
See in Glossary. For example:

• If you add, move, or delete a GameObject.
• If you change a GameObject’s parameters in the InspectorA Unity window that displays information about the currently selected GameObject, asset or project settings, allowing you to inspect and edit the values. More info
  See in Glossary window.

Project-wide changes

Project-wide changes in Unity apply to your entire project rather than a specific scene. For example, if you create a temporary scene to test changes, you can save the project and not the scene.

Project-wide changes include:

• Project SettingsA broad collection of settings which allow you to configure how Physics, Audio, Networking, Graphics, Input and many other areas of your project behave. More info
  See in Glossary: When you save your project, Unity saves changes to the Project Settings in the ProjectSettings folder, in these files:

  • Input: InputManager.asset
  • Tags And Layers: TagManager.asset
  • Audio: AudioManager.asset
  • Time: TimeManager.asset
  • Player: ProjectSettings.asset
  • Physics: DynamicsManager.asset
  • Physics 2D: Physics2DSettings.asset
  • Quality: QualitySettings.asset
  • Graphics: GraphicsSettings.asset
  • Network: NetworkManager.asset
  • Editor: EditorUserSettings.asset

• Build Profiles: Unity saves changes to platform profiles and build profiles in the Library folder as assets. For more information, refer to Introduction to build profiles.

• Changed assets: When you save project-wide settings, Unity saves any unsaved assets.

  Note: Some asset types have an Apply button in the Inspector. Unity will not save these unless you select Apply.

• Dirty assets: Unity saves Dirty assets, which are files on your disk that are modified in the software but not saved yet. You can use custom Editors and scriptsA piece of code that allows you to create your own Components, trigger game events, modify Component properties over time and respond to user input in any way you like. More info
  See in Glossary to mark an Asset as dirty in one of these ways:

  • Use the SerializedObject class with SerializedProperties.
  • Use the Undo class to record modifications.
  • Use SetDirty.

Automatic saves

Unity automatically saves the following changes to your disk:

• New assets: Unity automatically saves new assets when you create them but you need to save later changes.
• Asset Import Settings: For the changes to take effect with most assets, you need to select Apply in the Inspector window. Unity saves the changes when you select Apply.
• Baked data: When you have data that is set to Baked in your project, Unity saves this data after the bake finishes. This includes:
  • Baked Lighting data
  • Baked navigation data
  • Baked occlusion cullingA process that disables rendering GameObjects that are hidden (occluded) from the view of the camera. More info
    See in Glossary data
• Script execution order changes: After you select Apply, Unity saves this data into each script’s .meta file.