An archive packages a project into files you can store, move, and restore later - your insurance against lost drives and your vehicle for handing a project to another system. Archiving well at the end of a job is what makes a revision six months later painless.
A Lightworks archive is created from the Export panel (format: Lightworks archive) or the project's Archive action. You choose what goes in:
With media included, you can further choose whether to copy local media (copied/converted files), linked files, and generated proxies into the archive. An If archive exists option controls whether a new archive is created, or an existing one is overwritten or updated - updating an existing archive is the quick way to keep a rolling backup as work progresses.
Archives run as background tasks, so you can keep working while one is written; watch progress on the Tasks page.
Note: If some media is offline when you archive, Lightworks warns you that those files were not included. Bring the media online and update the archive for full coverage.
Restore from the Project Browser: choose the archive and Lightworks rebuilds the project - bins, sequences, and (if archived) media. If the original project still exists on the system, you're offered a restore to a new project instead, so a restore never silently overwrites live work.
Separately from archives, deleting clips or sequences from a project doesn't have to be final: the Project Browser's Restore Items function recovers deleted logs. Deleted logs can be restored this way - deleted media files cannot, so treat media deletion with respect (see Media management).