Sending a REAPER project? Copy the media before sharing the folder
A REAPER project can open normally on your Mac while depending on audio stored elsewhere. Before sending it to another editor, prepare a separate delivery folder and check the copy you intend to send.
Start by agreeing on the deliverable. Someone continuing your edits needs a project and its dependencies. Someone approving the sound may need only a separately rendered listening file. Sending one does not establish that you supplied the other.
Download the project handoff acceptance card. It is a blank record for you and the recipient. Its unchecked boxes are not a compatibility test.
Choose copying deliberately
Geoffrey Francis's official REAPER user guide, checked in its version 7.84 edition, distinguishes the options for putting a project in its own folder, copying its media there, and moving media there. Section 3.3 covers these choices. Copying and moving have different consequences for the original source locations.
For a delivery copy, inspect the copy-media option in the save dialog and choose a new, clearly named destination. Leave your original project and source media available. Do not select a move or conversion option merely because it is nearby.
The guide also documents optional media conversion. Treat that as a separate decision with the recipient. Collecting the original media and changing its encoding are different operations.
Write a small delivery agreement
| Item | Agree before preparing the folder | Record after checking |
|---|---|---|
| Project | REAPER version and intended revision | Actual project filename opened |
| Media | Which recordings and edits belong in this delivery | Missing-file messages or unresolved references |
| Processing | Important plug-ins, instruments and external libraries | Dependencies available in the recipient's environment |
| Listening reference | Passage and revision the editor should hear | Separately rendered file compared |
Copying project media does not establish that another computer has your plug-ins or instrument libraries. List the dependencies that matter and ask the recipient to confirm them. If their environment differs, agree on an alternative deliverable before promising an identical editable session.
Keep the folder name and reference filename consistent. For example, use the same revision identifier for the delivery folder, project and listening reference. These are naming suggestions, not files we generated or transferred.
Check the delivered copy
Use a small, non-sensitive project for your first comparison. Keep production work untouched while learning the workflow.
- Record the original project and the new delivery destination on the card.
- Prepare a separately named project folder using the documented copy-media choice for your installed release.
- Save and close the delivery copy, then reopen that copy deliberately. Confirm which project file you opened.
- Check the beginning, one important edit and the ending. Record missing media, changed processing or unexpected timing.
- Send the agreed folder through your usual transfer route, keeping your original available.
- Have the recipient open the received project in their environment and record the result independently.
A successful reopen on the original Mac is a useful local observation. It does not prove independence from that Mac's other folders. Recipient-side opening and listening remain separate checks. Do not delete or rename your source folders to manufacture a portability test.
Keep useful reading and recovery close
The REAPER Blog's 2013 file-management article offers a broader introduction to organising media, filenames and backups. Its age matters: use the current manual for current controls. The discussion also includes the practical question of packaging a project for remote collaborators.
If the recipient reports missing audio, keep the received folder and record the exact project revision and missing-file message. Compare that with what you intended to include before preparing a new, separately named delivery. Repeatedly sending an unchanged project file does not establish that the missing media travelled with it.
For a Logic project, use the separate asset-consolidation guide. To compare the bytes of a received file, use the checksum and listening guide. Matching bytes and an accepted editable project answer different questions.
SoundBuddy does not package REAPER projects or verify media dependencies. This guide is based on documentation and an original blank checklist. No REAPER project operation, transfer, plug-in compatibility check or recipient acceptance was performed for this article.