My iMovie Project won't save - what should I do?

Unlike earlier versions, iMovie '08/'09 automatically saves every change you make to your projects. Therefore you don't need to do this yourself. This is possible because iMovie '08/'09 doesn't construct or render your projects as you work on them but only saves the necessary "instructions" on where to get the video files and what to do with them once you want to export your project.

i have the same misgivings...

how do i know that imovie will save the hours of editing i just did? do i just close the app and hope that it saves?

seems like a strange way to build an app...everything has a save & close command! even this forum!

iMovie will '09 will save it, as long as you quit the application by selecting iMovie/Quit iMovie. The only time changes might be lost is when it crashes or you force quit.

seems like a strange way to build an app...everything has a save & close command!

Some applications auto-save. FileMaker Pro for example.

But yes, you should close them in a proper fashion!

Not true. iMovie will kind of save your file. It will drop some of your changes and randomly keep some others. There is no way to do a save-as so if you want multiple versions... good luck. I've never actually wanted to beat the ever living ***** out of my computer with a baseball bat before.

Bernhard VonZastrow1 wrote:
There is no way to do a save-as so if you want multiple versions... good luck.

Could you not first create a project with all parts you want in then right-click on that complete project, create a copy (put both maybe even in a folder to be more organized) and then remove parts and change things to created a second project version? This way you CAN create multiple version (or back-ups).

I am wondering if you could re-organize the file structure of your projects by hand in the finder and iMovie would see and accept it or if you are forced to do that oranization only from within iM09 (like you have to do it when moving events around).

Thanks
gfisch

I have this same issue with not being able to save. I have lost all changes I have made to a project. I have recreated the project and changes to the project won't be saved. Also having issues adding a still frame to a project. Imovie will freeze up leaving the still frame floating on the screen. The only option I have is to quit imovie, only to restart the program and find no changes have been saved. Also some slides are created multiple times but have a 0s duration and I am unable to select and delete them from my movie. Really really crappy new version of iMovie.

There's no need to do anything in the Finder. In the project library in iMovie '09 right-click on the project and choose "Duplicate project". You get a second copy of your project and will be able to make another version of your video.

Valenciano,

Thanks for the help. That i something I will try.

I still think it is a bad idea that Apple hid the standard "save" and "save-as" functions in a pop up menu. It even took me a while to find the project list. I know I will get to learn all this eventually, but as far as "discover-ability" they have dropped the ball. The interface is completely different from just about any other app.

Wow, that's lame. I just LOVE it when Apple thinks it knows best. Not only does an Apple a day keep the doctor away, but it seems to keep logic away as well.

I have been having the same problem, and I'm getting desperate. I'm almost done with my project, but now it won't save anything I do. I don't want to put a lot of time into my project if nothing is going to get saved. Has anyone been able to fix this problem?

Friends:

From iMovie's Help menu:

If you have experience working with video projects, you might be accustomed to saving your changes. In iMovie, this isn’t necessary because all the changes you make are saved automatically. You can undo all of your changes up to the last time you quit and reopened iMovie.

iMovie never alters the original source media, so changes that you make in a project do not affect the original video. You can restore a video clip or photo to its original state at any time.

THE APPLICATION AUTO-SAVES!

That's just the issue. It doesn't automatically save.

It claims it does. It thinks it does. But it arbitrarily and randomly loses work. In my case, I have many many text slides (about 100). Even after I edit these files and quit, the next time I open up the app, some of the slides are correct (usually any new ones I created in the last session), and a large number are at least a generation old (have text on them that I had changed, but the changes are lost).

So the application "auto-saves" but there is at least one (and it sounds like more than one) bug that causes it to arbitrarily discard some of your work.

So to be picky (and I like being picky 🙂 ) it does not actually auto-save.

It's more like it auto-kind-of-decides-what-work-you-did-is-worth-saving-and-just-randomly-throws -the-rest-away.

What do you mean by "text slides"? A title you applied reverts back after you quit and relaunch iMovie?

Yeah, I have a bunch of titles on black backgrounds. Everytime I save, some of them are saved, some of them remain the way they were before the editing session. I'm not the only one having this issue either... There is another thread on the issue here:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1898158