Working offline

What keeps working without internet, why collaborative projects go read-only, and how to prepare a show laptop before you lose the connection.

What keeps working

Almost everything. Reads and writes go to your local copy, so you can open downloaded projects, edit, coordinate, and run your show without a connection. Changes are recorded locally and sync automatically when you’re back online.

The exception: collaborative projects lock offline

If the open project has other collaborators with editing rights, going offline locks it to read-only: editing controls across the app are disabled (their tooltips read “SoundBase Pro is offline”), and the cloud-icon popover shows “Project is offline locked. Sync options are disabled.” In older versions this appeared as a red “Offline” button whose popover explained: “For collaborative projects, SoundBase Cloud connectivity is required. To edit offline, remove collaborators or set their permissions to “Viewer”.“ The lock lifts when the connection returns (or when, while online, you remove or downgrade the collaborators).

Solo projects (no other editors) stay fully editable offline.

Before going offline for a show

1. Finish the one-time initial data sync (if this is a fresh computer).
2. Open the show’s project at least once while online so it fully downloads. Confirm the cloud icon reads “All changes saved to SoundBase Cloud.”
3. If you’ll need to edit offline, remove other collaborators from the project or set their permissions to “Viewer” — otherwise the project will be read-only offline.
4. Check that your 60-day license check-in isn’t about to come due (see Signing in again). If it triggers while you’re offline, “Snooze” buys 3 extra days at a time.
5. Don’t edit the same project on another computer while this one is offline.
6. Optionally, export the project as a .soundbase file as your own backup.

When you reconnect

Nothing is required from you. The app checks for internet about every 15 seconds; when it returns, it automatically reconnects, pulls down anything that changed in the cloud while you were away, merges it with your offline work field by field, pushes up your offline edits and deletions, and re-establishes the live update stream. The cloud icon returns to green once everything settles.

See Conflicts and reconciliation for exactly how simultaneous edits are merged.