iMovie for High Sierra

Due to license restrictions, iMovie is often removed from computers before transferring them to someone else. It can cause problems in certain situations where the recipient wishes to acquire iMovie.

In order to download current iMovie 10 you would need to upgrade to at least Mojave 10.14.6. Unfortunately, your computer probably is too old to upgrade to Mojave. So, your only other option would be to download an earlier version of iMovie 10, that you could do if iMovie 10 had ever been on your computer, but was deleted, provided that you use the same Applie I.D. that was used to initially acquire iMovie 10. If you do not have access to the original Apple I.D, then the option to download an earlier iMovie 10 version would not be available.

iMovie versions 7, 8, and 9 are not fully functional on High Sierra. So those are not options.

However, iMovie 6 should work on High Sierra, although it can be a little tricky to download and get working. I downloaded it when running El Capitan and it subsequently worked on High Sierra and Mojave. You said that you had tried iMovie 6 but couldn't get it to work. By that I take it that you have the iMovie 6 app and have downloaded it but it won't work. Correct? If so, try this procedure:

Applications folder>Control-click iMovie HD>Show Package Contents>Contents>Mac OS>iMovie HD.

iMovie 6 should then open and work fine. A terminal window also will open, and must remain open, but you can park on your dock.

A variation of the above procedure that eliminates the opening of the Terminal window was posted on another website by a person named Rolando. Here's a copy of his post if you are interested.

-- Rich

What year model is your "other Mac".

Is it running Mojave or Catalina? Has it ever had iMovie ver 10 on it?

If your "other Mac" has iMovie 10 on it , then sign into the App Store on your "new to me " Mac with same Apple ID as other Mac and go to your Purchased page where you should see iMovie listed and download. You should get a message to say a compatible version for your OS is available.

When you say "and tried every version of iMovie from 6 through 10." does this mean you have actually tried the application on that Mac or that you can't download them to that Mac?

If you have tried iMovie 10 on "new to me " Mac ,how did you download it to it?

In my post above I suggested this.

If your "other Mac" has iMovie 10 on it , then sign into the App Store on your "new to me " Mac with same Apple ID as other Mac and go to your Purchased page where you should see iMovie listed and download. You should get a message to say a compatible version for your OS is available.

Try it......

Yes, I think I am 8 hours ahead of you.

Looks like some software has been copied or transferred over already by some means.

"I needed to upgrade to High Sierra to get several of my software programs on another Mac to work."

Nice that our time zones overlap enough to let us be up at the same time. :)

-- Rich

Hmmm. Good idea. Wonder if it will work.

I suppose that if the OP has iMovie on his "other Mac" he could just copy it over to his "new to me" Mac.

-- Rich

Yes ,that did occur to me but not knowing what version/iteration it was wasn't sure it would be compatible.

Certainly worth a try though.

You are welcome. :)

Thanks for posting the iM6 link. Might come in handy sometime.

Subsequent updates to iMovie 6 don't add much. If you can find them, you can go to 6.0.3.

-- Rich