iMovie Library problem on Macbook air

You can create as many iMovie libraries as you like, keep them all on your Mac or an external drive, and each library will be independent of the other. By holding down the Option key while you open iMovie you can choose from the dialogue box the library in which you want iMovie to open. You can move or copy projects and events from one library to the other. Deleting any one of the libraries can be easily done by moving the library's icon to the trash. Deleting a library will not change the work flow of iMovie, except that you will need to operate in a library other than the one you deleted and that is no longer available. However, when you delete a library, as you have found, it permanently removes from your Mac all projects, events and media that was contained in the deleted library. That is why it is important to store your original media in a place additional to iMovie. Projects, however, can only be stored in an iMovie library, so you would need to have a backup of your library or create a new library to store the desired projects.

Here's a link to Apple's online help menu that explains how to work with multiple libraries:

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

EDITED BY POSTER: You can delete all iMovie libraries and the next time you open iMovie it will create a new blank library in which to open. All of your projects, events, and media that were contained in the deleted libraries will be lost, however. For that reason, I would avoid getting into the habit of deleting iMovie libraries. It is easy to store them on an external drive that is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or APFS.

-- Rich

Regarding the absent Library item in the Backups file path, you can make that appear. Click on Go/Home and then in the tool bar at the top, click on the little gear icon and from the pop up menu click on Show View Options. Another pane will pop up and from there you can click on Show Library Folder. That will restore the Library item that you are missing.

-- Rich

Hi,

If you keep a Time Machine Backup you can restore your iMovie library to a point in time before you deleted it.

Or, you can try looking in the iMovie Backups folder to see if there is a prior backup of your library that you can open and use.

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 you deleted your library.  iMovie will open in the backup library.   Navigate to your projects browser (where your projects are displayed as icons) and see if your projects are intact.

If neither of the above procedures work you are probably out of luck unless you have a backup of the library somewhere on your Mac or on an external drive.

-- Rich

Unfortunately, the library is completely separate from the iMovie app, although the iMovie app references it. Redownloading the iMovie app will not restore a library that has been deleted. When the iMovie app is reinstalled it will open in a new blank (empty) library. And the original deleted library itself cannot be independently reinstalled.

Was there an issue about finding the iMovie backups folder? The file path I provided should lead you there, even if your backed up library is not accessible because the media was deleted. So, were you able to get to the backups folder? And if not, what was the problem?

-- Rich

These files in the library seem to be pointers or lists of where the actual video files are, not the video files themselves. Did you empty the trash after you deleted the files? Can you drag the iMovie library out of the trash?

The items are listed in alphabetical order. Scroll carefully and keep and eye out for it.

-- Rich

Deleting the library deletes all of the projects along with it.

-- Rich