Save Director Pro

Stop losing work to bad saves.
One hotkey: new version, comment, thumbnail, auto-cleanup. Browse every version of your project from the N-panel and restore in one click.

What it does

Install

1. Download SaveDirectorPro-1.0.0.zip

2. In Blender: Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions → drop-down (top-right) → Install from Disk

3. Pick the .zip

4. Open a 3D Viewport → press N → click the Save tab

Requires Blender 4.2 or later. Tested through 5.1.

Usage

First save

1. Save your project once with a normal name (Ctrl+S → MyProject.blend)

2. From now on press Ctrl+Alt+S instead of Ctrl+S

3. A dialog asks for a short comment ("blocked main character", "first lighting pass", etc.)

4. Click OK → MyProject_v001.blend is created with a thumbnail and your comment

Roll back to an old version

1. N-panel → Save tab → Versions sub-panel

2. Find the version you want (each shows thumbnail + comment + age)

3. Click Restore → Working → confirms, then opens that version as the working file

Browse without restoring

1. N-panel → Versions → click Open on any version

2. Blender opens that file (will warn if you have unsaved changes)

Auto-cleanup

1. Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Save Director Pro

2. Enable Auto-Cleanup After Save

3. Set Keep Newest Versions (default 10)

4. Choose Archive (move to _archive/) or Delete (permanent)

5. Every Smart Save now automatically prunes old versions

Manual cleanup

• Maintenance sub-panel → Clean Up Old Versions... for one-shot cleanup with custom keep-count

• Purge Orphan Datablocks to manually trigger the file-size optimizer

Configuration

Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Save Director Pro

• Capture Viewport Thumbnails (default ON) — OpenGL screenshot per save

• Purge Orphans Before Save (default ON) — smaller files

• Also Save Working File (default ON) — keeps your current MyProject.blend in sync with the latest version

• Auto-Cleanup After Save (default OFF) — opt in to automatic pruning

• Keep Newest Versions (default 10) — pruning threshold

• Cleanup Mode — Archive (safe) or Delete (permanent)

• Show Thumbnails in Version List (default ON) — toggle off for compact UI

• Max Versions in Panel (default 15) — caps the panel list length

How it organizes your project

MyProject/
├── MyProject.blend
├── MyProject_v001.blend
├── MyProject_v001.blend.savedir.json
├── MyProject_v002.blend
├── MyProject_v002.blend.savedir.json
├── ...
├── .savedirector_thumbs/
│   ├── MyProject_v001.png
│   └── MyProject_v002.png
└── _archive/
    ├── MyProject_v001.blend
    └── MyProject_v001.blend.savedir.json

Nothing is hidden.
You can move, rename, or delete any file manually at any time — the addon re-scans and adapts automatically.

Compatibility

• Blender 4.2 through 5.1+

• Windows, macOS, Linux

• Works with any project size

• Uses sidecar JSON, no database lock-in

• Pure Python — no compiled binaries

Support

Email: [email protected]

License

GPL-2.0-or-later. See LICENSE.