Create, open, or save a scene file

User Guide > General > Basics > File management >

To start a new, blank scene file

Select File > New Scene.

You can select to always create new scenes with default content by choosing File > New Scene > and turning on Enable Default Scene.

To open an existing scene file

Select File > Open Scene.
The Open dialog box appears, open in the scene folder of the current project.
Note
- You can open a file that is created in a later version, provided the Ignore version setting is turned on.
Maya files of later version types that are opened in an earlier version of Maya are not supported as feature compatibility to earlier software versions cannot be ensured. The Ignore version feature is primarily provided for users in production environments where multiple versions of Maya are in use simultaneously.

To save the current scene file

Do one of the following:
- To save the scene with its current name, select File > Save Scene.
- To save the scene with a new name, select File > Save Scene As.
- To change how Maya saves the scene, select File > Save Scene > and set the options.

When you use Save Scene As you can select whether to save the file as Maya Binary (smaller) or Maya ASCII (human readable). To save in a different format, use File > Export All.

You can optionally lock a file to prevent the file from being edited whenever it is referenced from other scene files using the Lock file option.