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Timeline editing and then what

This is a pretty basic question but I am new to iMovie recently and can't figure it out. So I edit something in the timeline. But then what happens to it? I don't see it show up on the screen. I can save to disk but don't see how to get back into iMovie. So I edit but then how do I save and get access to it?


Michael

Posted on Aug 30, 2021 11:24 AM

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Posted on Aug 30, 2021 7:35 PM

As you move your cursor down the timeline every clip that it passes over will appear in the preview screen as you have edited it.


Your work will be automatically saved to the project as you edit, and when you exit the project (click on the Projects tab in the upper left of your screen) it will be saved in the Projects Browser with all of your edits intact.


To open a new project, go to the Projects Browser view (click on the Projects tab) where all of your projects are displayed as icons. At the top left of the Projects Browser screen you will see a large gray icon with a + sign in it. Click on that and then click on the Movie icon in the box that appears. That will open a new project.




Here's a link to a good online help tutorial that has a good search feature. It will explain in a step by step fashion how to use the various features of iMovie.


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


-- Rich

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 30, 2021 7:35 PM in response to Michael Peterson1

As you move your cursor down the timeline every clip that it passes over will appear in the preview screen as you have edited it.


Your work will be automatically saved to the project as you edit, and when you exit the project (click on the Projects tab in the upper left of your screen) it will be saved in the Projects Browser with all of your edits intact.


To open a new project, go to the Projects Browser view (click on the Projects tab) where all of your projects are displayed as icons. At the top left of the Projects Browser screen you will see a large gray icon with a + sign in it. Click on that and then click on the Movie icon in the box that appears. That will open a new project.




Here's a link to a good online help tutorial that has a good search feature. It will explain in a step by step fashion how to use the various features of iMovie.


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


-- Rich

Sep 10, 2021 2:35 PM in response to Michael Peterson1

True, you are not getting it. And we are having some communication problems. You might want to use this online help menu, that has a good search feature, that will explain in a step by step fashion the features of iMovie 10.


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


After you finish editing your clip, select it in the timeline, do an Edit/Copy, and then create a new project and Edit/Paste it into the timeline of the new project. Your edits will carry over. Then go back to your old project and edit the other clips and repeat the above procedure. As I explained to you, the edited clip is stored in the project that is in turn stored in the Projects Browser. After pasting the edited clip into the newly created project, you also have the option of exporting the new project to your desktop, and then importing the standalone movie into iMovie by dragging it into the timeline of an iMovie project.


Try consulting the help menu to learn how to do these procedures.


-- Rich

Aug 31, 2021 10:59 AM in response to Michael Peterson1

Files in Project Media are the unedited versions.


Click on the Projects tab in the upper left of your project screen to get to the Projects Browser where the projects are saved.



You then click on the project icons in the Projects Browser screen to reopen a project. See my earlier post.


I don't know why your clips disappeared in the project timeline. Might be a corrupt preference causing that. Try deleting preferences. To delete preferences open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and select to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects.  Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.


Also, you can try creating a new project and see if that cures the problem.


If you will refer to the link that I gave you to the online help menu, I think that you will find the answers to all of your questions there.


-- Rich

Aug 31, 2021 10:05 AM in response to Rich839

Thanks Rich. Well, not sure I follow that. Right now I do not have anything called projects. Under Project Media there is a folder names My Movie 2 (was my movie but somehow this changed). This does contain video that I edited in the timeline earlier. However the basic edits that I did are no longer there . I have to start all over again in the timeline. But then I don't see how they are stored anywhere.


I am also unclear how an edited project becomes stored as an event that I can access later.


Program is very very confusing unnecessarily so,

Sep 10, 2021 10:58 AM in response to Rich839

I don't know if anyone will respond to this but I am still having issues regarding the original post. Let me describe.


So I have opened a project that was entitled movie 2 (how do i name projects?). It has 5 video clips that I imported. Each clip is me playing a song on a guitar. I want to slightly edit and share each of these clips.


So I pull one clip down to the timeline and do the edits. OK, so fine. But where are these edits stored. If I look at the clip showing under mymovie 2 the edits are not there. If I delete the video from the timeline and go to the original video in my movie2 the edits are not there.


So the original question. How do I do edits in the timeline and have them saved where I can access them again?


Michael

Sep 10, 2021 12:33 PM in response to Michael Peterson1

Edits will not show in the Project Media view. The edits show in the timeline only.


Edits in the timeline will be automatically saved, and when you exit the project by clicking on the Projects back button at the top left of your screen the project will be saved in the Projects Browser where you can open and access it with all edits preserved. When you click on the Projects tab for the first time a box should come up giving you the option to name your video. Or, you can rename your video in the Projects Browser by clicking on the My Movie 2 title below the project icon, and typing in a new title.


-- Rich


-- Rich



Sep 10, 2021 1:15 PM in response to Rich839

If I delete the video in the timeline to work on another clip saved under the project name it is not saved anywhere. That's my problem. Yes, if I leave it in the timeline it will be saved in the project. But how do I work on the other clips? Create a new project for each. Then how do I move these other clips to a new project? And when I load clips into I movie I should only load clips under a project for that clip? I loaded several clips at a time and iMovie put them all in one project. Help again appreciated. I am not getting this.


All the stuff on creating projects and editing timelines and no one, no one talks about how the video is stored and managed.


Michael

Timeline editing and then what

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