Saving your work

Unity categorises most save information into Scene changes and Project-wide changes.

• To save all Scene changes and Project-wide changes, go to File > Save (or Save as). This is the fastest way to save everything at once.
• To save Project-wide changes, but not Scene changes, go to File > Save Project.

Note: An exception to this behaviour occurs when you edit in Prefab Mode. In this case, File > Save only saves changes to the open Prefab. It does not save Scene changes or Project-wide changes.

Unity also saves some information immediately while you’re working in the Editor. See Immediate saving, below, 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, such as when you:

• Add, move or delete a GameObject
• Change a GameObject’s parameters in the Inspector

Project-wide changes

Project-wide changes in Unity apply to your whole Project, rather than a specific Scene. If you want to save Project-wide settings without saving Scene changes, go to File > Save Project. You might find this useful if, for example, you create a temporary Scene to test some changes.

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: Unity saves changes to the Project Settings in the Library folder when the Project is saved. It saves the settings in the following 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 Settings: Unity saves changes to the Build Settings in the Library folder as EditorBuildSettings.asset.
• Changed Assets: During a save that save Project-wide settings, Unity saves any unsaved changed Assets. This generally applies to Asset types that do not have an Apply button in their 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 for immediate saving.
• Dirty Assets: Unity also saves any Assets that are marked as dirty (meaning that something has touched or modified it). 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 dirty in one of the following ways:
  • Use the SerializedObject class with SerializedProperties.
  • Use the Undo class to record modifications.
  • If none of the above work, you can also use SetDirty.

Immediate saving

There are some changes which Unity immediately saves to disk when they happen. These include the following:

• New Assets: Unity automatically saves new Assets upon creation, but not subsequent changes to those Assets.
• Asset Import Settings: The Import Settings for most Asset types require that you press an “Apply” button for the changes to take effect. Unity saves these changes as soon as you select Apply.
• Baked data: There are some types of data that you “bake” into your Project. Unity saves this data automatically when each bake finishes. This includes:
  • Baked Lighting data
  • Baked navigation data
  • Baked occlusion cullingA Unity feature that disables rendering of objects when they are not currently seen by the camera because they are obscured (occluded) by other objects. More info
    See in Glossary data
• Script execution order changes: After you select Apply, Unity immediately saves this data into each script’s .meta file.