---
title: "Projects explained"
slug: "projects-explained"
tags: ["Overview", "End user", "Curator for Adobe", "Photoshop", "Illustrator", "Adobe projects"]
updated: 2026-10-21T22:02:00Z
published: 2026-10-21T22:02:00Z
canonical: "help.ipv.com/projects-explained"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.ipv.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Projects explained

In Curator, a **project** is a Photoshop (.psd) or Illustrator (.ai) file that you work on through the [Curator for Adobe panel](/docs/adobe-panel-explained).

Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition work is stored in a **production**: a Curator collection that wraps the Adobe project file (.prproj, .aep or .sesx). Photoshop and Illustrator files are different. They hold all their content in their layers, so the file itself is the project and Curator does not wrap it in a production.

- In Clip Link, a project appears as an ordinary image asset (.psd or .ai).
- In the Curator for Adobe panel, the same file appears as a project that you can open, save, and close (release).

When you open a project, a copy is downloaded to your computer and the file is locked to you, so no one else can work on that version until you save and release it.

Learn more about how projects and productions relate in [Adobe projects and productions in Curator](/docs/adobe-projects-and-productions-in-adobe).