Saving a show cue list and reopening it exactly as you left it, on Windows

Stage3 Team · 1 March 2026

You have spent an hour, maybe two, building your cue list: the playlist in the right order, every video trimmed to the frame, fades set, markers placed, cues linked, notes written in the margin for the operator. Everything is ready for tonight. One plain question remains: how do you save that work so you find it intact next time, without redoing any of it? Here is how Stage3 saves a complete session to a single file and reopens it exactly as saved.

The real problem: losing it all every time

A show cue list is not just a list of files to play. It is a pile of fine settings, built up cue after cue: the point where each video has to start and stop, the length of a fade-in, a marker that triggers a blackout on the right timecode, two sequences chained automatically, a note that says "wait for the stage manager's go". Without a reliable save, all of that work lives only in the open session.

And that is where the trouble starts:

• You close the app after rehearsal, and the next day you have to redo every trim and every fade from memory.
• The show comes back in three months and nobody remembers the exact order or the settings.
• Another operator takes over and has no record of the cue list: no markers, no notes, no links between cues.
• The machine has to reboot, or the laptop changes, and the whole prep stays stuck on the old computer.

What you need is the opposite: save the entire cue list in one go, file it away like a document, and reopen it later in exactly the state you left it.

How it works in Stage3

Stage3 is a Windows app for live video and audio playback. Everything you do in a session, it can write to a project file with the .stage3 extension, then restore on open.

• 1. Save. Press Ctrl+S (or the SAVE button) and name your cue list. Stage3 writes everything to a .stage3 file: the playlist order, the markers on each item, the Trim In and Out points, the fades, the links between cues and the notes on every line.
• 2. Reopen. Next time, OPEN reloads the file and restores the whole session. You get the cue list back as it was, ready to fire, with nothing to re-align.
• 3. Know where you stand. An indicator flags unsaved changes at all times. One glance tells you whether what is on screen matches the file.

And if you forget to save? A guard is watching. When you close Stage3 with unsaved changes, a window steps in and offers to save before quitting. Losing a cue list to a moment of distraction becomes very hard.

Where it changes everything

• A recurring show. A production that runs every week: you reopen the same .stage3, the cue list matches the last performance, and you fire without re-prepping.
• Touring. One file per show, traveling from venue to venue. Content and settings stay identical from one date to the next, wherever you play.
• Handing over to another operator. You pass on the .stage3 and the media: whoever takes over opens the full session, with your markers, links and cue notes in front of them.
• Backup. The whole prep fits in one file you copy to an external drive or a cloud folder. If the hardware fails, you restart from the exact state of your last save.

Common questions

What gets saved in the .stage3 file?

Your entire cue list. The playlist order, the markers set on each item, the Trim In and Out points, the fade settings, the links between cues and the notes on every line. The .stage3 file describes your session end to end. It does not contain the media itself: it points to your original files, which stay on your disk.

Will I get my cue list back exactly as it was?

Yes. OPEN restores the whole session exactly as you left it: same order, same trims, same fades, same markers, same links, same notes. Nothing to redo, nothing to re-align. You reopen the show right where you left it.

What if media files have been moved since?

Stage3 detects it on open. A dialog lists exactly which files are missing and gives you the choice: load the available ones right away and get back to work, or cancel while you put the media back in place. Your cue list itself is not lost: only the missing paths are flagged.

Am I protected against losing my work?

Yes. An indicator flags unsaved changes at all times, so you always know where you stand. And if you close Stage3 with unsaved changes, a guard steps in and offers to save before quitting. It is hard to lose a cue list by accident.

Does everything fit in one file?

The whole cue list fits in a single .stage3 file, small, easy to store, duplicate or hand over. The media stays separate, in your folders. To archive or move a complete show, keep the .stage3 and the media folder together and everything reopens cleanly.

Read next

• Keyboard control for live video playback: run the saved cue list, one key per cue.
• Trim video without re-encoding: the trims your .stage3 file keeps, set to the frame.