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Serious lag time while editing in imovie

I have an imac with 3.3ghz processor, 8gb 1867 MHz DR3 running Catalina 10.15.3 and have been using it for about 3 years. Over the years, I have used imovie and it has gotten worse and worse as far as allowing me to edit without lagging.


Sometimes adding a video clip will initiate the spinning color-wheel for a few minutes. While I'm listening through the video I've edited, some of the audio will play from the clips and some won't...it's intermittent. The editing process is really bogged down and takes me much longer because it just won't respond like it used to. What should I do?

iMac 27", macOS 10.15

Posted on May 13, 2020 5:28 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 13, 2020 8:28 AM

Check that you have enough free space for iMovie to function efficiently. (Apple Logo/About this Mac/Storage.) Make sure that you don't have any CPU intensive apps running at the same time as iMovie. (Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor).


If all O.K, 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 the editing lag is improved.


If still no luck, you could also try booting up in Safe Mode (see Finder menu for instructions) and, after everything loads, immediately shut down and reboot in normal mode. Then see if iMovie works properly.


Another thing to try is to reset your Systems Management Controller. It is easy to do. See this link for instructions:


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295


All else failing, try a redownload of iMovie 10. To update/redownload iMovie 10, drag your iMovie 10 app from the Applications folder into the trash, but do not empty the trash. Sign in to the app store and open your purchases folder by clicking on your name at the bottom of the app store side bar. You will see your purchases displayed, including iMovie 10. Redownload/update iMovie from there. If not successful, drag your present iMovie app out of the trash (if you moved it there) and return it to the Applications folder.


-- Rich





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1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 13, 2020 8:28 AM in response to JonathanLowe82

Check that you have enough free space for iMovie to function efficiently. (Apple Logo/About this Mac/Storage.) Make sure that you don't have any CPU intensive apps running at the same time as iMovie. (Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor).


If all O.K, 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 the editing lag is improved.


If still no luck, you could also try booting up in Safe Mode (see Finder menu for instructions) and, after everything loads, immediately shut down and reboot in normal mode. Then see if iMovie works properly.


Another thing to try is to reset your Systems Management Controller. It is easy to do. See this link for instructions:


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295


All else failing, try a redownload of iMovie 10. To update/redownload iMovie 10, drag your iMovie 10 app from the Applications folder into the trash, but do not empty the trash. Sign in to the app store and open your purchases folder by clicking on your name at the bottom of the app store side bar. You will see your purchases displayed, including iMovie 10. Redownload/update iMovie from there. If not successful, drag your present iMovie app out of the trash (if you moved it there) and return it to the Applications folder.


-- Rich





Serious lag time while editing in imovie

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