iMovie Library cannot be opened after downgrading from Catalina to Mojave.

Thank you Rich for your responses and assistance. None of the suggested methods worked for me straight forward however, your responses sparked confidence that it is possible to make it somehow. Please continue!

My iMovie Library was on the external hard drive - it was neither backed up by Time Machine nor it had any backups by the app found anywhere.

Your suggestion of recreating new iMovie package content resembling the old version also does not work with the iMovie Library, which once was opened with newer version of iMovie. However, after several trials and attempts I found the way to make it work.

The solution was:

Step 1: Creating new i Movie Library

Step 2: Moving all the projects EXCEPT the files playlist, settings, sync, temp, latestlibrary dot something - I mean anything but projects.

Step 3: Opening each project folder (inside the copied package content) and deleting files "CurrentVersion.imovieevent" - sometimes it could be found twice - inside the folder with the same name inside the project folder (I presume this is the case for the projects created with the much older version of iMovie) - all of these files have to be found and deleted otherwise this method will not work!

Step 4: Opening this altered iMovie Library with iMovie will prompt the message "iMovie Library is damaged and needs to be repaired..". Click on "Repair". It has to be done for EACH project. Yes, it is time consuming but it is still less time consuming rather than reconstructing each project from the source files.

What bothers me now is that path you wrote for iMovie Library is not the same for me. I cannot find any Library in "Home". My Library is in Macintosh Hard Drive. There is no folder "Containers" in my Library. I suppose that could be the reason why my iBooks app is not working. When I try opening my iBooks Library the message says that Library could not be found. When clicking on repairing or resetting or something like that - nothing happens. my iBooks app is not working after downgrading from Catalina to Mojave. Do you have any idea how to fix it? I also have a copy of that Library on my iPad.

P.S. I cannot edit my message above any more so, this update is for those who might want to try my solution.

Do NOT move any files from your original iMovie Library - copy them instead to a new as Rich suggested.

As Rich suggested I also deleted the project folder inside the new iMovie Library's Package Content, which was created by default when new iMovie Library was created. I have no idea whether it makes a difference or not but this is how I've done it and it worked.

Make sure you move all projects you want to open, and locate and deleted all "CurrentVersion.imovieevent". If you move them later after the Library is repaired - iMovie will just ignore these projects and will not display them. You will need to create another Library and move them there to repair to open them or start all over again.

If you forget to delete one of the "CurrentVersion.imovieevent" the project folder would read "null" and appear empty.

I suggest to repair all projects because if some of them used files from other projects, then these source files will be missing and you will need to locate and replace these files manually.

Thank you for your response, Rich.

I contacted Apple Support before I wrote this post. Unfortunately, my experience with Apple Support did not result in any resolution. Perhaps, I was not lucky and got a wrong assistant for that because the only solution he offered me is to upgrade to Catalina, and he was not willing to think and suggest anything else.

His (Apple Tech assistant's) vision was that MacBook I am trying to open my iMovie Library is vintage or obsolete, and it was clear from the tone of his voice that he is not going to do any brainstorming outside Apple's regular checklist to help me to figure out an alternative solution, which I am looking for. By alternative solution, I mean to extract required files from the Library I cannot open and somehow upload them to the Library, which is working with my current version of iMovie. For some reason, Apple Techs do not even consider my argument "I don't want to buy Apple Products any more because in my opinion they are lacking integrity they once used to have" as sufficient reason for me not being willing to "upgrade" and accept his "resolution".

My vision to this situation is that I have my intellectual property trapped in Apple's "genius" software, which never warned me of the consequences for opening it with a newer version of the named application - that it will become unreadable by any older versions of the same application. The task I would like to accomplish is to extract required data from the Library located on an external disk for me to be able to open it with a certain version of Apple software (iMovie 10.1.14). Whether it will be done with a vintage MAC or brand-new running on Mojave - I do not see any difference.

The fact that Apple Support can access any Apple computer remotely is actually quite scary. Obviously, this means that Apple devices are the easiest to be tracked and wired. In my case, the iMovie Library is located outside my computer - on an external disk. I am planning to find someone less fussy than Apple Support Techs to find a way to extract required data for me. Before I do that, I still want to try to do it myself.

I saw you suggested to one of the users that there is a workaround of copying the files from the non-working Library to a working one. What did you mean by that? Which files you suggested copying and where to?

Thank you for the prompt and detailed response. I have already figured out that I can extract the data from the package contents. Just like you wrote - I did not want to mess with it by modifying anything there. I also was confused by 2 more folders Pro Cut Original Media and Pro Cut Optimized Media, which are located outside of iMovie Library but also contain data related to the projects sorted by dates.

I tried to be clever and copy folders from the iMovie Library I cannot open to the new Library, and so far I only achieved that iMovie reads the folders but does not recognize the content. I was looking for a way to get the edited content because to recreate all the projects for 2 years from raw data is going to take at least a year.

I presume that perhaps it is possible somehow to alter the content of the projects' folders manually to read them by new iMovie Library, along with modifying string info, library ID in settings and playlists. The problem is that I don't know how the previous Library functioned.

I probably should try to recreate one of the projects to see the difference in organization of folders in the previous Library version vs. new version package content. Then, perhaps, I could try to copy projects folders and alter them to be readable by the older version of iMovie. It's just very time-consuming, which I cannot spare right now. For this reason, I was looking for advice of someone who knows whether it is possible to manually alter an updated iMovie Library to become readable by an older version of iMovie or not.

Well, "thanks" Apple once again for making it IMPOSSIBLE to store iMovie Library on iCloud and thus not having opportunity to get it back from a iCloud backup and TimeMachine backup...

thesurreyfriends

I saw your message but I did not want to respond to avoid off topic (pointless) conversation.

Yes, there could be many reasons not to upgrade to Catalina. If I write you my 10 reasons - would you give me a solution how to fix my iMovie Library, which cannot be opened now? I doubt. So, why is that post? What are you trying to achieve with it?

Are you that guy who answered my call and hung up?

Do you know that some people could be working in remote locations for a long period of time? Like sea/ocean, islands, etc.?

Do you know that some people might be on vacation and do not have access/opportunity/time to fix the issues they have with their computer properly OR they have taken with them old laptop or only old laptop or computer is available there but they urgently need to access some files?

Do you assume that people might be studying or be on a project which requires certain version of the OS otherwise they cannot run that software, which they need and they cannot upgrade?

There could be many reasons why people do not want and cannot follow your suggested path.

Be like Rich!

To thesurreyfriends I apologize if I offended you. I am not a native English-speaker and I understood your question as a sarcasm. I called Apple Support earlier and whoever answered asked me the same question and insisted it was the only solution. He also wanted to know the reason why I cannot follow his advice, which for me (and my mentality) is unacceptable because there should be 1) a choice 2) another solution. In my opinion the reason why I do not want to do it does not really matter. As if it changes the fact that it cannot be done... I thought he decided to follow up and is asking same thing again. He had my Apple ID so, I presume he could find my post here. I think that I have mentioned somewhere above that this laptop I currently have with me (and I am away from home for a while) is too old to run smoothly on Catalina and I would not risk to upgrade it because currently this is the only computer I have access, which runs on Macintosh. I cannot wait until I go back to finish that project (and obviously not planning to buy a new laptop just to open two projects I need). I was looking for a solution how to do it without reconstructing the entire movie from the source files because there is a lot of work needs to be redone.

What you have offered could be a solution perhaps for someone else. I noticed that there are several posts like mine and none of them found a solution except opening it on a different computer. Is there a good tutorial somewhere how to install MAC OS on an external hard drive?