Exporting a Studio Show to the Desktop App

There are two routes, and both produce the same show.

Open directly in the desktop

With CueSync running and signed in on the same machine, use Open in CueSync desktop — in the Studio header, or from the Cmd+K palette. The desktop fetches the show over your license and imports it immediately. This is the fast path when you design and run on the same computer.

Export the file

Press Export to download a .cuesync file, then File → Open it in CueSync. Use this when the design machine and the show machine are different, or when the show machine is offline.

The export dialog first shows a sign-off summary by discipline. It is advisory — it never blocks an export, and the button reads Export anyway only when something is still unapproved.

Importing replaces the open show

An import replaces whatever show is currently open in the desktop. If a show is live, or you have unsaved changes, CueSync asks before proceeding rather than pulling the floor out mid-show. Choosing Cancel leaves your current show untouched.

What transfers

Show metadata, the track structure, acts and scenes, and every cue — position, number, name, notes, tolerance and offset frames, enabled and standby flags — segregated into one lane per discipline. Cue intent is folded into the desktop's notes field as an [INTENT] block, so the design reasoning arrives with the cue.

What does not transfer

• Protocol actions. Studio holds no bindings — it does not know your rig. Every imported cue arrives with an empty action list, and the desktop's flight check flags them as needing binding. This is the intended handover: the operator decides which console, universe, and fixture each cue speaks to.
• Audio. The export carries no audio bytes. It carries the filename it was prepped against, and CueSync tells you which file to attach — "Prepped against act1.wav". Attach the master in the Show Editor to restore the waveform and timecode playback.

After importing

1. Bind protocol actions to each cue.
2. Attach the master audio file named in the import message.
3. Save.

On DJ Edition, which has no Show Editor, an imported Studio show is flattened into the DJ cue stack automatically, so the cues are reachable where that edition runs them. Theatre and Production editions open the track structure as designed.

Bringing tech-week changes back

Cue times move during tech and previews, and those changes happen on the desk. To bring them back into Studio — where the cue sheet, the reports and the console file are generated from — save the show in CueSync, then use Import from desktop… in the Cmd+K palette.

Studio shows you what would change before anything is written: how many cues would be updated, how many added, and whether any approved cue moved. Nothing is applied until you confirm.

• Nothing is deleted. A cue that exists in Studio but not in the file was cut on the desk. Studio reports it and leaves it in place — deleting it would take its comment thread and sign-off history with it. Remove it yourself if the cut is final.
• A snapshot is saved first, so an import can be undone from Version History.
• Approvals that no longer describe the cue are cleared. If the desk moved a cue's position or its intent, that cue returns to draft for re-approval. Renames and colour changes leave sign-off alone — the same rule as editing a cue by hand.
• Applying an import needs an admin or owner role, because it writes across every discipline at once. Any member can run the preview.

If it doesn't work

• "Open in CueSync desktop" does nothing — CueSync must be running and signed in on that machine. If it is not signed in it will say so; if it is not installed, the browser has nothing to hand the link to. Export the file instead.
• Imported cues do nothing — expected until you bind them. Imported cues carry no protocol actions; the flight check lists every cue still waiting for one.
• No waveform after import — the audio is not attached. Add the master audio file in the Show Editor.

Related Articles

• What CueSync Studio Is
• Working with Cues