Recover iMovie Project From File

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Level 1

6 points

Recover iMovie Project From File

A student accidentally deleted an iMovie project from the Projects tab in iMovie, and immediately brought it to me. It was not in the trash. The footage is still available in event. When I went to the iMovie Library to Show Package Contents, I found the project folder with all the footage and a file called something like CurrentVersion.imovieevent. How do I get iMovie to recognize the project again? It doesn't show up in the Projects tab anymore even though the files are there. I can't find any files in working projects that are absent in the project in question.

I've tried copying the folder to a different location and then copying back into the library and that didn't work. I tried creating a new library with the folder but when I opened the library nothing happened. There's an option in the File dropdown for "Update Projects and Events" which tells me iMovie didn't find anything to be updated.

I have what I believe is the file we need, but I can't find any information on how to put that back into iMovie.

MacBook Air (2018 – 2020)

Posted on May 8, 2023 10:54 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

peterharrisAudio

Level 1

9 points

Mar 13, 2024 5:51 AM in response to Rich839

Hi Rich,

Trying to recover iMovie Project files following the above. I'm running Ventura 13.6.3 but can find no folder called Containers in the Library file. Any ideas?

Many thanks

Peter

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

47,676 points

May 8, 2023 1:07 PM in response to Snowhart

HI, Snowhart,

Go to the iMovie backups folder and open a previous back-up of your iMovie library, and restore your project from there.

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

NOTE: If running Ventura, in the above file path substitute iMovie for com.apple.iMovieApp. So, for Ventura,

the file path would read:

Go/Home/Library/Containers/iMovie/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

Rich839

Level 8

47,676 points

Mar 13, 2024 1:18 PM in response to Snowhart

Retrieve the 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

NOTE: If running Ventura or later, in the above file path substitute iMovie for com.apple.iMovieApp. So, for Ventura, the file path would read:

Go/Home/Library/Containers/iMovie/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.

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Recover iMovie Project From File

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