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User profile for user: john_l_uk
john_l_uk Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Problems exporting from iMovie 10.1.12 on High Sierra

Has anybody else experienced problems exporting from iMovie since the update to 'make the library compatible with future versions of Mac OS'? Basically I can't update my system beyond High Sierra and can't afford a new Mac at the moment so I really didn't have an urgent need to change the format of the library and since this was included in the iMovie update I've had nothing but trouble exporting. Things I've done which has brought temporary relief have been resetting the PRAM, booting in Safe Mode then re-booting and in extremis deleting and re-installing iMovie. these have worked in the past but now I can't even get a simple image to export. I have a fair number of YouTube subscribers and its driving me nuts not being able to share new content. any help would be appreciated.

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.13

Posted on Oct 21, 2019 12:37 PM

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,730 points

Posted on Oct 22, 2019 8:18 AM

Are you getting any error message when you try to export? What actually happens? A crash? A failure part way through the export process? Are you trying to export to You Tube directly out of iMovie? Are you able to export as a file to your desktop?


Try exporting using the Best Quality pro res setting and see if that works.


If still no luck, try running Apple Diagnostics to rule out a hardware problem. This link will explain the process.


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202731


-- Rich

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,730 points

Oct 22, 2019 8:18 AM in response to john_l_uk

Are you getting any error message when you try to export? What actually happens? A crash? A failure part way through the export process? Are you trying to export to You Tube directly out of iMovie? Are you able to export as a file to your desktop?


Try exporting using the Best Quality pro res setting and see if that works.


If still no luck, try running Apple Diagnostics to rule out a hardware problem. This link will explain the process.


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202731


-- Rich

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,730 points

Oct 21, 2019 2:43 PM in response to john_l_uk

As I understand it, your aren't able to avail yourself of the current upgrade and update of the OS and iMovie. Therefore, the update and upgrade wouldn't affect your earlier running OS and iMovie versions. iMovie 10.1.12 and High Sierra should work fine. At least in my case, running Mojave and iMovie 10.1.12, there have been no export problems.


Try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and selecting 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. Now see if you can export from iMovie.


-- Rich

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User profile for user: john_l_uk
john_l_uk Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Oct 22, 2019 1:46 AM in response to Rich839

Hi Rich, thanks for your reply. Unfortunately it didn’t work in this case. That update said it would make the libraries compatible with Mojave and beyond so it should work in Mojave but seems to have messed for me as it worked fine before. Could be my set up as I’m running my main libraries on two external drives. A 3 and a 4TB but I had no problems until recently.

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User profile for user: john_l_uk
john_l_uk Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Oct 22, 2019 10:10 AM in response to Rich839

Thanks Rich I’ll try that. The error message is “This is null” and it comes after a long delay. Yes trying to export directly to YouTube but also won’t export a file or image. Stop press after deleting iMovie, ejecting the external drives, rebooting and resetting PRAM, reinstalling iMovie and reconnecting the external drives - libraries and deleting the preferences. I have now had success exporting images and a movie to YouTube from one of my drives. The one I have been having particular trouble with is exporting a single image from a movie that I previously successfully exported to YouTube. This just brings up the progress wheel in the top right corner but fails to export.

thank you so much for your advice.

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User profile for user: john_l_uk
john_l_uk Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Oct 26, 2019 8:02 AM in response to Rich839

Thanks Rich, a variation of that solved my problem. I discovered that I could export with no issues from projects opened from the library of my newest 4TB drive, which has loads of free space (not sure why this would affect exporting) but had the export issues with projects on my other, nearly full, 3TB drive (I say 'nearly full' but there's actually 385GB available).

Anyhoo I exported the project from the drive causing export problems to the new one, then closed the problem one and was able to export images and videos like the good old days when everything worked! Still not sure why that drive which has stored the files perfectly gets into problems exporting but I'm very happy with this workaround. Thanks very much for your patience in helping me to sort it out!

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Problems exporting from iMovie 10.1.12 on High Sierra

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