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# Projects: everything for one thing you make, from parts to print files

Projects in SimplyPrint lets you keep everything for one thing you make in one place: its parts, the printers it prints on, its plates and the print files for each printer. This guide covers who Projects is for, what you can do with it, the building blocks of a project and where projects show up in SimplyPrint.

| Projects is included in the **Print Farm** and **Enterprise** plans. It is marked **Beta** in the panel.

If you make the same thing again and again, the files for it pile up: an STL per part, a 3MF per printer, a sliced file per color, a folder of "final_v3" copies. A project keeps all of it together. You add the parts once, say which printers you print on, and SimplyPrint makes the plates and the print files for every one of them. When you print, you pick what to make, not which file to use.

Projects live in **Files**, beside your files (**Show projects** in the Files view menu hides or shows them). Open one to work on it. A project's address is `/panel/files/project/<project>`.

![A project open in the workspace for Fernwood Print Co.'s "Honeycomb Desk Organizer": header with name, "Ready to print" status and the Add to print queue button, the Overview view with parts, plates for two setups (Bambu Lab P1S, Prusa MK4), and a Size option with three values.](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/00-projects-overview-projworks_xasazg.png)

## Table of contents
- [Who is this for?](#2-who-is-this-for)
- [What can you do with it?](#2-what-can-you-do-with-it)
- [The building blocks](#2-the-building-blocks)
- [How it all fits together](#2-how-it-all-fits-together)
- [Projects and libraries](#2-projects-and-libraries)
- [Where projects show up](#2-where-projects-show-up)
- [Plans and what happens without Projects](#2-plans-and-what-happens-without-projects)

## Who is this for?
- **Print farms and shops** that make products in several sizes or colors, on more than one kind of printer.
- **Anyone printing the same model on mixed printers**, such as a Bambu Lab and a Prusa, who is tired of slicing it twice by hand.
- **Teams** who want one place to find "the file we print for this", with its print files already made.

If you print a one-off model once, you don't need a project. Upload the file and print it.

## What can you do with it?
- **Start from the files you have.** [Create a project](/en/article/creating-a-project-in-simplyprint-and-importing-stl-3mf-and-sliced-files-2kzfbp/) from STL, OBJ, 3MF, STEP and already-sliced files. A 3MF saved by Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer keeps its plates.
- **Keep your pre-sliced files.** A [sliced 3MF or G-code](/en/article/pre-sliced-files-in-a-project-sliced-3mf-gcode-3mf-and-g-code-2ulbhe/) becomes a plate with its print file, exactly as you sliced it.
- **Print on several kinds of printer from one project.** Each printer you pick becomes a [setup](/en/article/plates-printer-setups-and-slicing-in-a-project-zftkhm/), and every plate gets a print file for each setup.
- **Make sizes, colors and sets.** [Options such as Size and Color](/en/article/sizes-colors-and-variants-in-a-project-options-variants-sets-and-skus-1k299kb/) make variants, and a set prints several variants and parts together.
- **Queue it as one thing.** A project goes into the [print queue as one entry](/en/article/printing-a-project-add-to-print-queue-start-print-and-autoprint-cxsj70/), and prints on any printer one of its print files fits.
- **Sell it.** A [Shop product can be made from a project](/en/article/projects-and-the-shop-making-a-shop-product-from-a-project-or-variant-hkx3k8/) or one of its variants. The Shop is rolling out to a closed pilot first, so some accounts won't see it yet.

## The building blocks
SimplyPrint explains each of these in the project itself, under **What is a ...?**:

- **Part**: "A part is a file you add, or one plate of a 3MF. Variants print from their parts."
- **Plate**: "A plate is what goes on one bed. Each plate is sliced once for every setup."
- **Setup**: a kind of printer the project prints on, with how it slices: nozzle, bed type, filament, and the process profile or any settings changed for it.
- **Print file**: the sliced file for one plate on one setup. Each one shows whether it is waiting, slicing or ready.
- **Option**: "what changes between variants, like Size or Color."
- **Variant**: "one thing you can print: one value of each option, with the parts those values take."
- **Set**: "prints variants and parts together, each with a count, like a starter kit."
- **Slicing settings**: changes to how the slicer prints the project, a part or a plate.

## How it all fits together
1. [Create a project and add parts](/en/article/creating-a-project-in-simplyprint-and-importing-stl-3mf-and-sliced-files-2kzfbp/).
2. Pick the printers it prints on. Each becomes a setup.
3. Keep your file's plates, or let SimplyPrint arrange the parts onto plates for each printer.
4. Slice. SimplyPrint [slices every plate for every setup](/en/article/plates-printer-setups-and-slicing-in-a-project-zftkhm/) in the cloud.
5. Add [options and variants](/en/article/sizes-colors-and-variants-in-a-project-options-variants-sets-and-skus-1k299kb/) if it comes in sizes or colors.
6. [Add it to the print queue, or start it on a printer](/en/article/printing-a-project-add-to-print-queue-start-print-and-autoprint-cxsj70/).

## Projects and libraries
When you create one, you choose **Project** or **Library**:

- **A project** "holds the parts for one thing you make".
- **A library** "holds parts that projects share", such as shared hardware. A project uses a library's parts by reference, so a change to the library reaches every project that uses it. A project never contains another project; a part taken from another project is copied in.

## Where projects show up
- **Files**: projects sit beside your files, with **New project** and **Create project from this file** in the Files menus.
- **The print queue**: a project added to the queue is one queue entry.
- **Start print** on a printer: pick a project and you see which of its print files can print there.
- **The Shop**: products [mapped to a project](/en/article/projects-and-the-shop-making-a-shop-product-from-a-project-or-variant-hkx3k8/).
- **Settings > Projects and files**: account-wide choices, such as how project pictures are drawn and the remembered answers to questions like "Upload as a file or a project?"

## Plans and what happens without Projects
Projects is part of Print Farm and Enterprise. It isn't part of School.

Without Projects, you can't create or open a project. Queue entries already made from a project still show, print, and are taken by AutoPrint.

## Related articles
### Building a project
- [Creating a project in SimplyPrint and importing STL, 3MF and sliced files](/en/article/creating-a-project-in-simplyprint-and-importing-stl-3mf-and-sliced-files-2kzfbp/)
- [Pre-sliced files in a project: sliced 3MF (.gcode.3mf) and G-code](/en/article/pre-sliced-files-in-a-project-sliced-3mf-gcode-3mf-and-g-code-2ulbhe/)
- [Plates, printer setups and slicing in a project](/en/article/plates-printer-setups-and-slicing-in-a-project-zftkhm/)
- [Sizes, colors and variants in a project: options, variants, sets and SKUs](/en/article/sizes-colors-and-variants-in-a-project-options-variants-sets-and-skus-1k299kb/)

### Printing, exporting and selling
- [Printing a project: Add to print queue, Start print and AutoPrint](/en/article/printing-a-project-add-to-print-queue-start-print-and-autoprint-cxsj70/)
- [Downloading, exporting and deleting a project](/en/article/downloading-exporting-and-deleting-a-project-1guiiy1/)
- [Projects and the Shop: making a Shop product from a project or variant](/en/article/projects-and-the-shop-making-a-shop-product-from-a-project-or-variant-hkx3k8/)
- [The Shop: run your 3D printing orders from store to shipped](/en/article/the-shop-run-your-3d-printing-orders-from-store-to-shipped-11v71lf/)

### Files, slicing and the print queue
- [The file manager: your 3D printing file library in the cloud](/en/article/the-file-manager-your-3d-printing-file-library-in-the-cloud-mt36mf/)
- [Uploading files and splitting multi-plate 3MF files](/en/article/uploading-files-and-splitting-multi-plate-3mf-files-1dpbgrz/)
- [The Cloud Slicer feature: slice prints directly in SimplyPrint](/en/article/the-cloud-slicer-feature-slice-prints-directly-in-simplyprint-80qgxg/)
- [The print queue: manage, schedule and automate your prints](/en/article/the-print-queue-manage-schedule-and-automate-your-prints-1syc86o/)
- [AutoPrint: put your printers on autopilot](/en/article/autoprint-put-your-printers-on-autopilot-1hssb9u/)