# Open-FIDES files

FIDES Lab was created in parallel of the OpenFIDES exchange file format. The software use this format as the storage format. In means all your work will be saved in an XML file according to the Open-FIDES format.

You can save you work at 3 different places, depending on what to want to save/re-use.

The simplest way is the “Save file” action, that you can find in the menu or using CTRL + S keyboard shortcut. It will save the full document (BOM, profiles, results). The file extension is “.fides”, you can reopen it with FIDES Lab using the " Open file" action or using CTRL + O keyboard shortcut.

The second way is the saving of your profiles. In this case you save only the selected profile.

Then, you can create another file and go to the Mission profile tab and click on the import button .

The third way of saving data into OpenFIDES file format is to export the BOM partially.

Since this export saves only the BOM, the profiles are not saved. If you create a new file and import the BOM.fides file, the containers and components will have no profile definition. In case you import a BOM.fides file in a document that already contains profiles a linking mechanism exists. When you save the BOM, the software memorise the index N of the profile used by a container/component. When you import the BOM file, the software will try to link the container/component to the Nth profile.

## XML-notice

The OpenFIDES format comes with a XML notice file that can be consulted in the External Links menu (top right).

This notice file enumerates all possibles params for all families with all possibles values that can be used in the OpenFIDES file.