iMovie project file NOT attached to a library

Hi,

The projects displayed in the Show Package contents are not playable projects. They only contain data that the iMovie app itself refers to when you open a project within iMovie. The projects and subfolders in the Show Package Contents should never be moved, modified, renamed, or deleted or you risk corrupting your library. Fortunately in your case you only copied them, so no harm done.

iMovie 10 projects must always reside in an iMovie library and they can only be copied or moved from library to library. Or, you can copy the projects by copying the iMovie library that contains the projects (Edit/Copy the library), located in the Movies folder, and Edit/Paste the library to an external or thumb drive that is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). You can transfer the copied library to your new computer by plugging the external drive into your new computer. Formatting erases all data on the drive, so before formatting or reformatting back up any data that you want to keep.

Another way is to create a destination library on an external drive or thumb drive that is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then you can copy the project from within the iMovie app by opening the Projects browser (where the projects are displayed as icons), and then moving the cursor over the project icon. Click on the little circle with dots in it that appears next to the title. A drop down menu will give you a "copy to library" option that you can click on. The destination library needs to be open or the option will be grayed out. After the project has copied to the new library, you can plug the external drive into your new computer and transfer the library containing the projects over to it.

Here is a link to the iMovie online Help menu that explains how to work with multiple libraries and projects:

https://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/#/mov3fa25bae7

I suggest that you read the link before doing anything further to transfer your projects.

-- Rich

Why do you need to do any re-editing? If you have an intact project on your original computer you can transfer that per the instructions in my previous post. Was your library corrupted when you copied or moved the projects listed in the Show Contents Package? If so, that might require some re-editing.

If your projects have been corrupted, but the media is still intact on your computer, you might be able to retrieve them from the iMovie backups file. To get there, follow this file path from your desktop Finder window: Go/Library/Containers/com.apple.iMovieApp/Data/Library/Caches/iMovie Backups. When you get there you will see a previously backed up libraries. Open one that is dated just before you copied your projects from the Show Contents Package. iMovie will open in that library and your should be able to access your projects.

-- Rich