Sessions

A "session” refers to a collection of one or more layers, coupled with their respective layer settings, saved as a unified object.

Sessions can be conveniently accessed and manipulated by loading them into your workspace.

Sessions can also be imported and exported, allowing them to be shared between different instances of ICE.

Current session

Your workspace maintains a record of the current session, which can be reviewed via the session widget as illustrated in the image below.

Upon loading a session, it automatically becomes the current session.
Adding new layers will append them to the existing current session.
Renaming the current session will prompt the creation of a new session under the updated name when saved.

Creating a new session

Clearing all the non-pinned layers within the workspace will result in a new session being created, this can be done in one of the following ways:

Using the 'new session' button within the session menu of the desktop toolbar.
If you are working within the Canvas UI, a new session can be created via the three-dot drop-down menu.
Manually deleting all non-pinned layers from the workspace.

See General | Pinned for more info on pinned layers

Editing properties of the current session

To open the Edit Session window and modify the properties of the current session, select the edit session button

Layer List

The layer list demonstrates which layers are incorporated within the session. It's important to note that pinned layers are not included within sessions

Name

Assign a unique name to the session. If a duplicate name is attempted, when saving the session you will be prompted to either overwrite the existing session or rename the new one.

Description

The description is where you can provide more detailed information about the session. This could include an overview of the session's purpose, or any other notes or details that might be useful for understanding or using the session.

Thumbnail

In the absence of a custom thumbnail, a default thumbnail image will be used. Thumbnails are particularly useful for session identification on a Home Layer, so try to make them visually appealing!

User Groups

For information on user groups, visit the following User Management Window

Read Only

A read-only session refers to a session which, once loaded into a workspace, cannot be saved over.

Read-only sessions are typically used to prevent accidental changes to data that is important or crucial to a workflow.

If changes are necessary, you can do one of the following:

Disable the save only property within the edit session window
Change the name of the session before saving it
Choose the 'save as' option to create a copy of the session where modifications can be made.

Saving the current session

Save

You can preserve the current session in one of the following ways:

Using the 'save' button within the session widget.
Using the 'Session > Save session' option from the desktop toolbar.
If you are working within the Canvas UI, the session can be saved via the three-dot drop-down menu.

Save As..

The 'Save As' option necessitates the specification of a new session name.

Loading a session

Once a session has been saved, it can be loaded into any workspace. Upon loading a session, it instantaneously assumes the role of the current session. The loading of a session can be achieved via several methods:

The desktop content library - Session Library
The canvas content library - Canvas UI - Launching Sessions from the Homescreen
A Home layer - Home

Appending a session

If you have a session loaded in the workspace and you would like to load in another session without clearing the current you, you can use the ‘append’ session functionality.

Session Library | Appending-a-session

Edit non-current session properties

Properties of a session can also be modified without loading them into a workspace. Open the content library window then right click > edit on a session, the settings will be saved when the Edit Session window is closed.