How to Import or Export a Davinci Resolve Project.

If you need to move a project between computers and want to keep every single thing in a simple easy-to-move format. This guide will show you how to export an entire project in Davinci Resolve with all of the supporting files and content. Once you’ve learnt how to export everything we’ll then show you how to import it all once again, before you start though, make sure you’ve got a lot of drive space.

How to Export a Project in Davinci Resolve (Davinci Resolve: Export Project Archive)

In order to export an entire project in Davinci Resolve you'll need to do the following.

Open Davinci Resolve then select the project you want to Export in the Project window.
Next, right-click on that project and select Export Project Archive.

Here choose a location to save the file to. If you are planning to move it to another PC an external drive will be required. Also, make sure you have enough space because it will be taking a copy of every single piece of media used in the project so could be a few hundred GB in a lot of cases.
Once you have selected the Save location a small window will appear where you can choose extra data to export. I generally untick Render Cache and Proxy Media, but if you are moving to a slower PC you might want to include this stuff (if you have space)

Finally, click Ok and wait for the process to complete. Which generally takes a fair bit of time so you might be waiting 20 minutes to a few hours depending on your computer specs and the size of the project.

Important: The only thing you need to be aware of though is that it cannot import things like Fonts, Graphics, Transitions, and any other add-ons. So you'll need to make sure that you install those first. However, if you have all the same stuff installed the project will be an identical copy.

How to Import a Project in Davinci Resolve (Davinci Resolve: Restore Project Archive)

If you have a project that you want to import (restore) into Davinci Resolve the best way to do that is to use the Restore Project Archive option. This will import your entire project into Davinci Resolve. The only thing you need to be aware of though is that it cannot import things like Fonts, Graphics, Transitions, and any other add-ons. So you'll need to make sure that you install those first. However, if you have all the same stuff installed the project will be an identical copy.

That said, if you don't have all the same fonts, transitions etc, you can still import the project using the method below, but you'll need to replace the missing fonts and assets with ones you actually have. If you don't do this you'll see black screens and weird issues when you play the project back or export it.

First open Davinci Resolve then right-click anywhere in the Projects window.
Here select "Restore Project Archive".

Then find the .dra file that you have stored.

Important Tip: This will usually be on an external drive. My advice is to move the entire folder from your external drive to your computer. The main reason for this is to take advantage of faster drive speeds which will make editing and playback during editing 100x smoother and faster. Slow drives are a huge cause of performance issues in Davinci Resolve.

Finally, click Open, and DaVinci Resolve will restore the full project with its media files.

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