Crash recovery
If DNA closes unexpectedly, your unsaved work is waiting for you the next time you open the project.
DNA quietly saves a backup copy of your project while you work. So even if your machine sleeps badly, the power drops, or DNA closes without warning, you almost never start from your last manual save.
Autosave runs in the background
Every few minutes, DNA writes a backup alongside your project file. These backups sit next to your .dna project on disk and keep rotating — the newest few are kept and the oldest is dropped.
You don't have to do anything to turn this on. It just runs.
You can set how often autosave runs, and how many backups to keep, in Preferences. Tighter intervals mean less lost work; the change takes effect on the next autosave.
The recovery prompt
If DNA didn't shut down cleanly last time, the next time you open that project it checks for a backup that's newer than your last manual save. If it finds one, you'll see a prompt:
"Unsaved changes detected. Restore?"
You get two choices:
Yes, restore — DNA brings back the edits from the backup, so the work you hadn't saved comes back.
No, discard — DNA keeps your last manual save as it was and clears the backup. Use this if the backup is older than what you want, or you'd rather start clean.
That's the whole decision. Pick one and carry on.
The prompt only appears after an unclean shutdown and when there's a backup newer than your saved file. If you always close DNA normally, you'll never see it — that's expected.
Restore replaces the freshly opened project with the recovered version. If you're not sure which is which, restore first — you can always re-open your saved file afterwards. Discarding cannot be undone.
See also
Preferences — set the autosave interval and backup count
Time & playback — how DNA tracks your session
Exporting — saving and sharing finished work