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Q: El Capitan - quicktime player does not launch

I have a new Macbook Pro with El Capitan. It has very little software installed on it and I have not made any significant modifications. I see the QuickTime icon Player in Applications, but when I select it, all it does is open a new Finder folder. The application doesn't launch. Support search and Google search do not reveal any answers for this and I cannot download or install QT from the web site as it says it is built in. Ideas?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 16, 2016 7:45 AM

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Q: El Capitan - quicktime player does not launch

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  • by judysings,Solvedanswer

    judysings judysings Feb 22, 2016 7:06 AM in response to loadtester
    Community Specialists
    Feb 22, 2016 7:06 AM in response to loadtester

    Hi loadtester,

    Sorry about the confusion regarding QuickTime.  Yes, you are correct that a Finder window appears.  If you had a file that you wanted to play using QuickTime, you would select it from the Finder window and choose Open.   If not, click Done, then head up to the menu bar in the top-left corner of your screen and beside the word QuickTime, you will see file.  Choose File and then the option you want (New Movie Recording, etc.).  But before you do that, click on the Help command in the Menu bar to learn how to use QuickTime Player.   The resource below will provide an overview as well:

    How to use QuickTime Player

    Use QuickTime Player (version 10) to play, record, edit, and share audio and video files on your Mac.

    Play

    Use the playback controls to play, pause, rewind, fast-forward, adjust volume, and take other actions. The controls appear when you move your pointer over the QuickTime Player window, and they hide when you move your pointer away.

    To move quickly forward or backward through the timeline, swipe with two fingers on your trackpad, scroll with your mouse, or drag the handle in the timeline. You can also repeatedly click fast-forward or rewind to increase playback speed in increments.

    To view a video in full screen, click the full-screen button or choose View > Enter Full Screen. Beginning with OS X El Capitan, you can also use split-screen view and stream videos to your Apple TV from QuickTime Player.

    Record

    QuickTime Player can record a movie from your camera, or record the screen of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. It can also record audio from a microphone or record the screen of your Mac. 

    Record a movie

    Movie recording works with your built-in camera and many external cameras. If you're using OS X Yosemite or later, you can also record the screen of any iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) with a Lightning port and iOS 8 or later. 

    1. Choose File > New Movie Recording.
    2. To change the recording settings, click the arrow next to the Record button. Then choose your camera or iOS device, microphone, and recording quality.

      Movie recording window with settings menu
       
    3. To monitor audio while it's being recorded, use the volume slider. 
    4. Click the Record button   to start recording. Click it again to stop recording. 
       

    Record audio only

    Audio recording works with your built-in microphone, external microphone, or other Core Audio-compliant audio device.

    1. Choose File > New Audio Recording.
    2. To change the recording settings, click the arrow next to the Record button. Then choose your microphone and recording quality.
    3. To monitor audio while it's being recorded, use the volume slider.
    4. Click the Record button   to start recording. Click it again to stop recording. 

    Record your screen

    Screen recording creates a movie of all or part of your Mac screen. To record the screen of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, use the movie-recording function instead.

    1. Choose File > New Screen Recording.
    2. To change the recording settings, click the arrow next to the Record button. If you don't want to record a voiceover or other audio, choose None as your microphone. If you want to show a black circle for every onscreen click, choose Show Mouse Clicks in Recording.
    3. To monitor audio while it's being recorded, use the volume slider.
    4. To start recording, click the Record button  , then click anywhere on the screen to begin recording the entire screen. Or drag to select an area to record, then click the Start Recording button within that area.
    5. To stop recording, click the Stop button   in the menu bar, or press Command-Control-Esc (Escape).

    Edit

    QuickTime Player offers several options for editing your movie, including trimsplitcut/copy/paste/delete, and flip/rotate.

    Trim

    Use the trim function to remove unwanted parts of your movie.

    1. Choose Edit > Trim. The yellow trimming bar appears, with handles on each end.

    2. Drag the handles to select the part to keep. You can also take these actions: 
         
      • Click the Play button to play back the part selected.
      •  
      • Move quickly through the part selected by swiping with two fingers on your trackpad, scrolling with your mouse, or dragging within the trimming bar. 
      •  
      • Choose View > Show Audio Track to identify quiet sections of the movie. 
    3. Click Trim. All video and audio outside the trimming bar is removed. To undo the trim, choose Edit > Undo Trim.

    Split

    Use the split function to split your movie into multiple sections that can be manipulated further.

    1. Go to the point in the timeline where you want to make the split, then choose Edit >Split Clip.


    2. From here you can take several actions: 
         
      • Drag a clip before or after another clip.
      •  
      • Move through a clip by swiping with two fingers on your trackpad or scrolling with your mouse. At any point in the timeline, you can choose Edit > Split Clip to split the selected clip.
      •  
      • Choose View > Trim to trim the selected clip.
      •  
      • Choose View > Show Audio Track to identify quiet sections of the clip. 
      •  
      • Select a clip and choose other editing commands from the Edit menu, such as Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.
      •  
      • Click the Play button to play back all clips. 
    3. Click Done. To see your clips again, choose View > Show Clips. To undo your splits, choose Edit > Undo Split Clip.

    Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete

    Use the Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete commands from the Edit menu when you're editing split clips. If you're pasting a clip into another movie, you don't have to be editing clips in that movie: just go to any point in the timeline of the other movie, then paste the clip. 

    To quickly join movies together end to end, open the first movie, choose Edit > Add Clip to End, then select the other movie from the file dialog.

    Flip, rotate

    Use the flip and rotate commands from the Edit menu when you're viewing a movie or editing split clips. These commands flip or rotate the entire movie or clip.

    Share menu

    Share

    After saving your movie, you can share it by Mail, Messages, AirDrop, YouTube, and other methods:

    • Open the file in QuickTime Player, then choose File > Share.
    • Or open file in QuickTime Player, then click Share   in the playback controls.
    • Or Control-click the file in the Finder, then choose Share from the shortcut menu.

    Learn more

    For more information, open QuickTime Player and choose Help > QuickTime Player Help.

    Last Modified: Oct 19, 2015

     

    Have a great day!

  • by loadtester,

    loadtester loadtester Feb 22, 2016 7:06 AM in response to judysings
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2016 7:06 AM in response to judysings

    This is the nicest RTFM ever.

     

    I wasn't trying to open a file, I was wanting to do screen capture with it, and it just happened to be the first time I used it. As a long time Windows user, I forgot that there is always menu options available at the top and you have to put your cursor to the upper panel to have them appear. I got it.

     

    Thanks!

     

    Scott

  • by judysings,

    judysings judysings Feb 22, 2016 9:09 AM in response to loadtester
    Community Specialists
    Feb 22, 2016 9:09 AM in response to loadtester

    Hello loadtester,

    Thanks for your kind comments.  I'm glad the information above helped and you are getting used to the powerful features of QuickTime.

    To get you started with your new Mac, I'll include the User Guide for OS X El Capitan here as well.

    Enjoy!

     

     

     

     

    Have a great day!