Reference Editing: Controlling Automatic Persistence of Edits to Referenced Files

When using Maya’s Reference Editing feature to modify a referenced asset, artists can either save changes directly to the source file or leave them as scene‑only overrides. In a collaborative environment where multiple users share the same reference, it is unclear whether Maya will automatically persist edits to the referenced file when the file is writable and not locked, or whether it will fall back to storing edits as overrides. This uncertainty affects version‑control workflows and namespace isolation, especially because the UI does not enforce manual namespace assignment.

Specifically, the behavior may differ depending on whether the referenced file is locked or checked out in a VCS, and whether the user has write permissions.

• Does Maya write reference edits to the source file automatically when the file is available for writing?
• How does Maya handle the edit persistence when the file is locked or checked out?
• Can a studio‑wide setting be configured to force persistence of reference edits to the file rather than retaining them as scene overrides?