Thanks for the welcome. So, I am referring to workspaces. This is a look at my current workspace(attached). Very chaotic, but only half as chaotic as if the program is closed and reopend. Because when you reopen the workspace the files are not layered in any order, so what is on top may end up on the bottom. I just want them to maintain their location and proper positioning.

For example, I may have all my slower hip hop stuff layed out as a column running down the left of the screen. Each on top of the last, so i can see every title for every file. If the program closes, either by crash or deliberately, the workspace that opens will not maintain that cascaded structure, so files on the bottom will be on top, and block view of other files and filenames. When dealing with 100s of files, that is a lengthy problem to fix, particularly when things are tightly packed on the screen.

Hope that clarifies. I can send a more clearly organized desktop, but anything i open will have to be reordered for a half hour, because sound forge will open it with the proper layering destroyed....

I opened about 10 timeline files and they return to the same size configuration, layout and layers when Sound Forge Pro 16 is exited and re-launched. (I did not try restarting my PC though).

Do you have SF set to 'Single-instance behavior' and have "Open default workspace on startup" enabled. These settings are in the "Options> Preferences" menu which I assume you are familiar with. Otherwise I am not aware of other settings that would affect this behavior.

You can request an offical tech support ticket . Peruse the revised support request instructions below, it is still a little confusing.
https://www.magix.info/us/forum/sound-forge-display-font--1264650/#ca1822142
or email Magix customer service at infoservice@magix.net .

What is single instance behavior? Open Default Workspace at Startup is enabled on my settings. I have been using SF since version 8, so I am definitely not new to it.
There is no mention of Single Instance behavior either in the help file or in settings that I can see. It would be extremely annoying to find that all i needed to do was change some hidden setting that is not mentioned in help(look up single instance and nothing shows up) searches. I can't imagine why it would be useful to anyone to have files reordered, so maybe making that setting DEFAULT makes more sense? Unless there is some point to reshuffling the layers for some person's purposes - I can't think of any, and after yet another extremely frustrating crash today caused by a useless windows reminder, I had to spend another 45 minutes putting files back in some kind of useful order...

Below are pics of multiple types of searches in both the index and help files which reveal no mention of a single instance behavior. Please let me know what i am missing. Thanks

I am not sure switching to the single instance mode will resolve your issue, It is relatively easy the change however. Sorry, I just assumed you were aware of the menu system.
- hold 'Shift' key and select 'Preferences' in the "Options"menu
- select the 'Internal' tab
- find "Force Single Instance behavior" (bottom of list or use search)
- change value to "TRUE"
- move cursor off of field (important)
- click 'Apply' and 'OK'
- Exit and restart Sound Forge

If this does not help, request a support ticket.

Its interesting seeing the other options window, but it still didn't work. Do you happen to know if there is a way to make backup files on here a little more reliable/thorough? Like, I have space on my hard drive and would rather burn some space to make sure I don't lose work rather than have a whole lot of space and regular issues losing data like I do now.

Also, I don't use layouts but would saving the Layout work for keeping my workspace in order? Not sure why I would need to save separate files to do that(workspace and layouts), but it sure would be easier than worrying that if I close the program I am going to have to spend another half hour organizing it when it reopens.

Thanks for your help. I do appreciate it

I back-up files to a secondary external drive and to a cloud drive.. DropBox, GoogleDrive, Mega, OneDrive, pCloud, 4Shared, are popular choices. IMO, Dropbox sucks and my preferred cloud drive is Mega.nz . The desktop app is even comparable with XP and Vista. My second fav is pCloud,com, which does not have a maximum 'single file' size limit like most of the others, which I recall is 2GB. Most of the above give you 10 or 15GB for free.

Backing up custom Sound Forge settings can be copied from the 'AppData> Roaming' and 'Local' folders .. for instance:
C:\Users\--USER NAME--\AppData\Roaming\MAGIX\SOUND FORGE Pro\
(btw, AppData is a Windows system folder and is usually hidden)
Other customs settings, like the toolbar, and such are in the registry which can be exported and imported. I wish SF had a easier way to back up settings.

@Jason-Wasner

Hi

Are you saving the Workspace layout and/or View before quiting the program?

John EB
Forum Moderator

With backup, I meant active files in SF, not to cloud etc. The program is wonky about what it actually keeps, if it does actually remember anything. So, when you open it after a crash and it says "do you want to recover X files" - those files should be recoverable, but many times they are not. That has nothing to do with storing to the cloud or any other location - it has to do with what the program retains(or saves as temp files) as one is working. I am wondering if there is a way to make that work better/save more copies or edits - cuz last night it said "do you want to recover X files," had a list of 25+ filenames I was working with, and none of them came up(well, 3-4 came up as about 1/2 second files, when they started as songs, so not very useful).

As for Workspace, yes I am saving before I close, as I am not sure it is possible to save a workspace file After you have quit the program. The problem isn't that it isn't saving, its that when the files reopen they aren't tiered correctly anymore. So, a file I had on the bottom of a line of files is on top, ones from the top are on the bottom, and to get them back to a usable setup I am having to set them all up again essentially. Look at the screen shot above(2/3/2023, 7:32 PM, third shot)and you will see how I have stuff laid out. I need to see file names for everything i may use - so shuffling files on top to the bottom means they have to be reordered which isn't so easy because they blanket the screen. This allows me to cut hours of music in a session - when things work properly.

As I said above, I have never saved views before because I thought saving the workspace(as in, the space/layout I am working with) should do the job since that would seem to be the whole point of it. I am going to try to open a view file I saved after I restart, but I am in no mood to spend another half hour realigning files if it doesn't work.

Cheers

I do not think so, but contact Magix support for a definitive answer.

However as I stated, when I tried to duplicate the behavior, the files layout and order returned as it was when SF was exited.
You may want to try resetting Sound Forge and clearing the cache. 'File> "Reset all preferences and clear cached data", or uninstalling with a third-party uninstaller/cleaner (Revo Uninstall for instance) and then re-install SF,

Will do. Thanks!