My iMovie project disappeared comes up blank

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Level 1

8 points

My iMovie project disappeared comes up blank

Hello,

To start off, I have been reviewing the forum and web for answers regarding this subject, but haven't found a solution.

I am working on a MacBook Pro running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 and using iMovie 10.1.4. Today while I was working on a project in iMovie, the video/audio clip edits disappeared from the workspace section (I don't remember doing anything in particular). Now the project is completely blank and reads "0.00." The video still appears on the main screen "Projects," but it is empty. I looked in the iMovie Library on my drive by clicking "Show Package Content" and the files are all intact (such as the original media and the .imovieevent files).

After researching, I tried many different things, but nothing worked. Here are some of my actions:

Deleted the iMovie preferences and then reloading.
Made a "new movie" and then copied the project files into that folder (on the Mac HD)
Created a new iMovie library and copied files into it (on the Mac HD)
Copied the project into a new iMovie Projects folder (on the Mac HD)

None of this worked for me. It seems like iMovie lost it's link to the project folder. This is very frustrating because I spent a lot of time editing the project.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jul 8, 2021 2:53 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Rich839

Level 8

47,322 points

Jul 9, 2021 9:25 AM in response to Music531

Select Go/Home. In the screen that appears, click on the Action button (the little gear) in the menu bar. In the drop down dialogue box that appears, click on Show View Options and then "Show Library in Folder". That should make the Library item appear when you select Go/Home in the Finder.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

47,322 points

Jul 8, 2021 4:16 PM in response to Music531

HI, Music531,

Some glitch happened there. Hard to know what caused it. Often deleting preferences will cure such misbehaviors but you already tried that with no success. So try the following:

Try recovering your project from the iMovie Backups folder. To get to the iMovie Backups folder, follow this file path from the Finder menu:

Go/Home/Library/Containers/com.apple.iMovieApp/Data/Library/Caches/iMovieBackups

When you get there you will see a list of previous backups of your iMovie library. Click on one dated just before your issue started. iMovie will open in that library. Navigate to your projects browser (where your projects are displayed as icons) and see if your projects are intact.

-- Rich

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Answer 3

Music531 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 8, 2021 6:27 PM in response to Rich839

Thank you so much for your reply!

Hmm, that file path is not available for me (or obviously I'm missing something).

In Finder, when I select Go/Home, the only options that I see are:

Applications, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public

I can navigate to Library by selecting my Mac under "Devices," but I don't see "Containers" within it. More so, searching "iMovieBackups" under the Home folder structure doesn't return anything.

Any ideas? Thank you so much.

(I did actually see this in an earlier post and forgot to mention that I couldn't follow the file path.)

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Answer 4

Music531 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 10, 2021 10:40 AM in response to Rich839

Thank you so much! This worked beautifully! Saved me hours/days (because of course when I submitted the project, the requestor had edits).

I figured this out, but for the purpose of the thread, when I opened the project a number of files were missing (they appeared red in the track window). What I did was went into the Original Media folder in the iMovie Library (Finder - Go - Home - Movies - Right click the iMovie Library - Show Package Contents - select the Project folder - Original Media) and then dragged the missing file into the My Media window of the selected project (under “Project Media”). There may be a more efficient way to do this, but just wanted to share.

Again, thank you so much for your help. I hope that this chain will help other people as much as it helped me.

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Answer 5

Rich839

Level 8

47,322 points

Jul 10, 2021 10:50 AM in response to Music531

Great! Glad you were able to salvage the project. 😊

For future reference, generally it is not safe to drag out things from the Show Package Contents folders, as it could corrupt your library. In your case you dragged it out and then put it back in when you dragged it into the Project Media browser. So you should be O.K.

It is safer to copy, rather than move, items from the Show Package Contents folders. You can copy-drag them out by holding down the Option key as you drag. Or just Select/Edit/Copy and then Edit/Paste to your destination.

-- Rich

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Answer 6

Music531 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 10, 2021 11:02 AM in response to Rich839

Very good to know! Thank you.

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My iMovie project disappeared comes up blank

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