Lost Project: Ended up with "iMovie Temporary Items" folder

1. Move the folder that is your project to ~/Movies

2. Add the .rcproject extension to the folder. This will make it a proper iMovie project bundle.

It should look like ~/Movies/MyProject.rcproject

Wow! This worked for me, too. I added .rcproject to the "Project" file, and closed iMovie. When I opened it again, my project was BACK. Thanks so much. I had used "Share>iDVD" and then read that I couldn't put in custom-length chapters in iDVD. When I tried to go back to iMovie to put in chapters there, my iMovie project was GONE, and I couldn't find the files anywhere on my laptop. I think it's a terrible idea to hide files like this without at least warning us our iMovie project disappears after sharing. It was easier with my old iMovie 4, and maybe I need to get iMovie 6, the free downloads have been taken down.

Where did you find this "iMovie Temprorary Items" folder? I left iMovie exporting at 3am last night only to find my Mac crashed the next day. I started it up and pulled up iMovie to find my source clips still in the event library, but nothing in the project window. I'm really upset because I don't have a lot of time to be troubleshooting this. I'm sure we're all busy people and have better things to do than troubleshoot Apple's mistakes. And not allowing a "save project file" kind of deal is definitely a mistake. If I were in FCP, I could just open the project file. Here, when I click on the ".rcproject" file iMovie opens and displays only my source clips--every last edit, transition and voice-over is gone.

Hi, Pete,

Here's how I got my project back after it disappeared: Close the iMovie application. Then on your desktop click to open "Macintosh HD>Users>YourName>Movies>iMovie Projects>"YourProject'sName." This folder will have the name of the project you "lost." Open the folder, and you will see "Project," which will look like a document, but will not open. There will also be folders for QuickLook and Stills. Go to the "Project" document and change the name of it to "Project.rcproject." Then open iMovie, and your project will be back in the projects just like it was before the crash. At least that was my experience.

Good luck!
iMama

I have imovie 09 shared the project and now it wont open. I have found the .rcproject file but no other files or even the imovie events folder. can any one help

iMama,

I did exactly what you said and when got to the last step (reopen iMovie), the project still does not show up. I've tried restarting iMovie as well as my computer a few times. Still no project. Is there anything else I could do?

iMama,

i have the same issue as adam13adam and sociolifehizzy - your explanation was very clear but it doesn't work.

just one thing i don't understand: jim2006 says we need to "Move the folder that is your project to ~/Movies"...move the folder from where? from imovie does he mean? if so, it doesn't work.

to be clear, all i see in my imovie is:

folder (project name)

proxies
quicklook

...

iMama,

i have the same issue as adam13adam and sociolifehizzy - your explanation was very clear but it doesn't work.

just one thing i don't understand: jim2006 says we need to "Move the folder that is your project to ~/Movies"...move the folder from where? from imovie does he mean? if so, it doesn't work.

to be clear, all i see in my imovie is:

folder (project name)

sorry, here it is what i see in my imovie:

folder (project name)
- proxies
- quicklook

never mind, already solved the pbm. thanks though!

Excuse me! What did you do??? I still have the problem!

it turns out to be really simple - check out the main folder, i mean the blue folder (project name) - just change the extension to .rcproject - that is all.

Unfortunately, I have the same problem, but can't seem to fix it. I was editing a movie project that was a long slide show of photos (200-300). I made it a few months ago. Made some changes and about 40 minutes into working on it, iMovie just quit and I got a dialog box saying a volume had been improperly removed, which is odd since I'm working on this on the main system drive.

I restored the project file from Time machine. I double click on the project folder, iMovie opens, I see all my pictures in the top left window and then they disappear.

Since installing Snow Leopard, I've also had problems with Light Room crashing complaining that my catalog is corrupt. 😟

/Chris

Ok, seems to be user error. After loading iMovie, if I clicked on Project Library and there it was.

Seems like just the default project was messed up.

/Chris