<chapter id="sessions">
<title>Sessions</title>

<para>
&frescobaldi; supports named sessions.
A session remembers the list of open files and optionally a base directory.
If you are editing a group of files you want to quickly reopen later, you can
create a new session via
<menuchoice>
  <guimenu>Sessions</guimenu>
  <guimenuitem>New...</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>.
</para>

<para>
In the dialog that appears you can enter a name for the session.
The session will automatically remember the list of documents that are currently loaded
in the editor.
</para>

<para>
By default &frescobaldi; saves the list of open documents when switching to a different session
or when you close &frescobaldi;.
But if you want to keep this list fixed in the session,
even if you later close some documents or open other documents,
uncheck the option <guilabel>Always save the list of documents in this session</guilabel>.
You can always save a session manually via the menu command <menuchoice>
  <guimenu>Sessions</guimenu>
  <guimenuitem>Save</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>.)
</para>

<para>
In the session dialog you can also specify a base directory for the session,
which will be shown if you save a new document.
</para>

<para>
The new session will automatically be selected,
and it shows up in the <guimenu>Sessions</guimenu> menu.
You can open a session by clicking its name in this menu.
In the same menu there is also the option <guimenuitem>Manage Sessions...</guimenuitem>,
that will show the list of sessions. Here you can change, add or delete sessions.
The name of the current session is also visible in the titlebar of the &frescobaldi; window.
</para>

<para>
You can start &frescobaldi; in a specific session by using the <option>--start</option>
option on the <command>frescobaldi</command> command line.
In this case, if you specify a non-existing session, it will be created on the fly.
</para>

<note><para>
If you switch to a different session, the current list of open documents will be closed.
If you cancel the closing of a modified document, sessions will not be switched,
and all current documents will remain open.
</para></note>

<note><para>
If you switch from a named session to the "No Session" state,
all current documents will remain open.
</para></note>

<note><para>
If you run &frescobaldi; with arguments (e.g. by clicking a &lilypond; file
in the file manager), it will always open without a session.
This way your sessions will not be cluttered with unintended documents.
</para></note>

</chapter>