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User profile for user: ezdizzy
ezdizzy Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Restoring Old iMovie projects

Hey there--


So I recently found several old iMovie project folders that appear to contain all the data for a particular video, but I haven't been able to figure a way to get them back into iMovie so I can re-export the video. Any suggestions here? For example, below is a screenshot of one folder. The highlighted file is the original video clip that was imported into iMovie. I then made edits. In this case, to the audio - deleting (minimizing) original audio and adding new audio. The new audio files are in the same folder -> "02 No World...." is one of them. I assume there is some sort of file in this folder structure that would tell iMovie how to arrange the media into the edited version that I had initially saved and exported way back when.


First of all: Is this a fair assumption?


and second: How would I go about getting this project back into iMovie in it's originally edited condition?


Thanks!







iMac 21.5", macOS 10.13

Posted on Dec 23, 2019 8:59 PM

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,670 points

Posted on Dec 24, 2019 9:23 AM

Hi,


You won't be able to play the old project unless you can open it with the application that created it. It looks like you have an iMovie 6 or earlier project. Perhaps you still have it on your computer or on the CD discs that came with an older computer that you bought. Or you could maybe purchase the iLife 6 package on Amazon or ebay. iMovie 6 (that might also play older version projects) can be run on op systems before Catalina, although it is a little tricky. No guarantees. If you go that route, feel free to post back for instructions.


You can Option-drag (copy) the media out to your desktop and import it into iMovie 10, but you would then need to re-edit to add your trims, transitions, etc. In other words, recreate the project. iMovie 10 will not automatically update Projects and Events from iMovie versions prior to iMovie 7.


Looking at your screen shot, if you click on Shared Movies>iDVD you should see a .mov file in there that you can Option-drag to your desktop and try to open or convert. (Doesn't matter that you never shared to iDVD.) Sometimes these .mov files can be opened with QuickTimePlayer 7. (You could also try QuickTimePlayer 10, although I have not been able to have any success with that version.) I have been able to play the .mov with QuickTimePlayer 7 with some old project .mov files, but not others. The same with trying to use a video converter like Handbrake to convert them. If you can open or convert the .mov file that would give you your whole project back with all edits, but in a video format that makes it difficult to do editing, although you can do some limited editing if you drag the .mov clip into an iMovie 10 project.


Good luck with your endeavor. If you have time, let us know how this turned out. It might help others with the same issue.


-- Rich


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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,670 points

Dec 24, 2019 9:23 AM in response to ezdizzy

Hi,


You won't be able to play the old project unless you can open it with the application that created it. It looks like you have an iMovie 6 or earlier project. Perhaps you still have it on your computer or on the CD discs that came with an older computer that you bought. Or you could maybe purchase the iLife 6 package on Amazon or ebay. iMovie 6 (that might also play older version projects) can be run on op systems before Catalina, although it is a little tricky. No guarantees. If you go that route, feel free to post back for instructions.


You can Option-drag (copy) the media out to your desktop and import it into iMovie 10, but you would then need to re-edit to add your trims, transitions, etc. In other words, recreate the project. iMovie 10 will not automatically update Projects and Events from iMovie versions prior to iMovie 7.


Looking at your screen shot, if you click on Shared Movies>iDVD you should see a .mov file in there that you can Option-drag to your desktop and try to open or convert. (Doesn't matter that you never shared to iDVD.) Sometimes these .mov files can be opened with QuickTimePlayer 7. (You could also try QuickTimePlayer 10, although I have not been able to have any success with that version.) I have been able to play the .mov with QuickTimePlayer 7 with some old project .mov files, but not others. The same with trying to use a video converter like Handbrake to convert them. If you can open or convert the .mov file that would give you your whole project back with all edits, but in a video format that makes it difficult to do editing, although you can do some limited editing if you drag the .mov clip into an iMovie 10 project.


Good luck with your endeavor. If you have time, let us know how this turned out. It might help others with the same issue.


-- Rich


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User profile for user: ezdizzy
ezdizzy Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Dec 26, 2019 10:55 AM in response to Rich839

Thanks for the info and suggestions Rich.


I didn't have luck opening the files with QuickTimePlayer 7, but I was able to locate online and install iMovie 6, which recognized the project folders and opened them with no issues. I think I may have run into issues doing this if I had a newer machine, with a newer OS (I am still working off of a 2011 iMac that is running High Sierra), but it seems I lucked out. I can even edit the projects if I really want to (which I am not looking to do, but nice to know if I ever need to).


Thanks again so much for taking time weigh-in on this, I really appreciate it.



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Restoring Old iMovie projects

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