Reliable Auto Save for Blender

Reliable Auto Save creates real, timestamped .blend backup files while you work in Blender.

Unlike Blender’s built-in temporary recovery autosave, these backups are normal .blend files that you can open directly.

Installation

1. Open Blender.

2. Go to Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions.

3. Open the options menu and choose Install from Disk.

4. Select the Reliable Auto Save ZIP file.

5. Enable the extension if Blender does not enable it automatically.

Where to Find It

Reliable Auto Save can be accessed from:

• 3D Viewport Header — autosave icon and dropdown

• 3D Viewport Sidebar — press N and open the AutoSave tab

• Blender Preferences — extension settings

Quick Setup

1. Enable Reliable Auto Save.

2. Set the Interval in minutes.

3. Set the maximum number of backups to keep.

4. Enable Save Only If File Changed if desired.

5. Enable Backup Before Render if desired.

6. Optionally choose a custom backup folder.

For most users, an interval of 2–5 minutes and 20–50 backups works well.

Backup Location

By default, backups are placed in a folder named:

_autosave_backups

This folder is created beside your current .blend file.

Example:

D:\Projects\MyScene\MyScene.blend

Backups will be stored in:

D:\Projects\MyScene\_autosave_backups\

You can also enable Use Custom Backup Folder and select your own location.

Backup File Names

Backup files include the project name and timestamp.

Example:

MyScene__autosave__2026-10-27_01-30-00.blend

This makes it easy to identify previous versions.

Max Backups

The Max Backups setting controls how many backups are retained for the current project.

When the limit is exceeded:

• the newest backups are kept

• the oldest matching backups are automatically deleted

Save Only If File Changed

When enabled, Reliable Auto Save checks whether Blender reports unsaved changes.

If nothing has changed since the previous save, another backup is not created.

This helps reduce unnecessary files and disk usage.

Backup Before Render

When Backup Before Render is enabled, Reliable Auto Save creates a backup when a render job begins.

For animation renders, it creates one backup at the beginning of the render job rather than creating a new backup for every frame.

Header Controls

The 3D Viewport header provides quick access to Reliable Auto Save.

The autosave icon can be used to enable or disable the system.

The adjacent dropdown opens the full Auto Save controls, including:

• autosave interval

• maximum backups

• Save Only If File Changed

• Backup Before Render

• backup folder settings

• Save Backup Now

• Open Backup Folder

• Re-Arm Timer

Manual Backup

Click Save Backup Now to immediately create a timestamped backup.

This does not change the path of your currently open Blender project.

Open Backup Folder

Click Open Backup Folder to open the folder currently being used for backups.

Re-Arm Timer

The Re-Arm Timer button resets the autosave countdown.

This can be useful after changing the autosave interval or troubleshooting the timer.

Recommended Settings

For a typical Blender workflow:

• Interval: 3 minutes

• Max Backups: 20–50

• Save Only If File Changed: Enabled

• Backup Before Render: Enabled

For very large Blender files, you may prefer a longer interval.

Important

Reliable Auto Save is designed as an additional safety layer.

It is still recommended to:

• save your working project normally

• keep Blender’s built-in recovery options enabled

• maintain external backups of important projects

For best reliability, use a local SSD or another folder with reliable write access.