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

# Choosing what to collect

> Scope the collection to exactly the comps you need.

The **Collect** dropdown at the top of the dialog decides which compositions (and therefore which footage files) end up in the collected project.

| Option             | Collects                                                                                               |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| All                | Every composition and every footage file in the project, used or not.                                  |
| For All Comps      | Every composition, plus only the footage actually used in them.                                        |
| For Selected Comps | The compositions selected in your Project panel. Disabled unless at least one composition is selected. |
| For Queued Comps   | The compositions queued in the Render Queue. Disabled unless at least one item has Queued status.      |
| Regular Expression | Every composition whose name matches the pattern you type in the field beside the dropdown.            |

<Callout icon="lightbulb" color="#F05F3F">
  For Selected Comps, For Queued Comps, and Regular Expression automatically pull in every **precomp** nested inside the comps they match, so you never end up with a collected project full of missing precomps.
</Callout>

Compositions outside the scope are **removed from the collected copy** of the project (your original is untouched), and footage not used by any collected comp isn’t copied.

## Regular expression

With **Regular Expression** selected, type a pattern into the field beside the dropdown and every composition whose name matches it is collected. The summary at the bottom of the dialog updates live, so you can see how many comps the pattern catches before you commit.

A few things to know:

* Patterns use standard regular expression syntax and are **case-sensitive**.
* A pattern matches anywhere in the name: `v02` catches `Shot_v02_final`. Anchor with `^` (starts with) and `$` (ends with) to be exact.
* An invalid or empty pattern matches nothing, and the summary will show 0 comps.

Some useful patterns:

| Pattern         | Matches                                               |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| `^MAIN`         | Comps whose name starts with `MAIN`.                  |
| `_v02$`         | Comps whose name ends with `_v02`.                    |
| `^(16x9\|9x16)` | Comps starting with either `16x9` or `9x16`.          |
| `Shot_\d+`      | `Shot_` followed by any number: `Shot_01`, `Shot_42`. |