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iMovie Does not import media

I recently had trouble deleting media from iMovie but resolved that by uninstalling and redownloading iMovie onto my iMac - but now it will not import any media at all - it just sits there after I select a movie file but does nothing - I tried restarting it while holding option and command down and reset my preferences but nothing has worked so far - any ideas?

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.1

Posted on Jan 13, 2021 6:34 PM

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Posted on Jan 14, 2021 9:49 AM

Try opening iMovie in a new library. To do that, open iMovie while holding down the Option key and selecting to create a new library in the box that appears. Then create a new project in the new library and see if you can import media.


You can import media by using the import button or by simply dragging clips from desktop into the timeline or from the photos app library. Or you can click on the Photos item in the media side bar of an iMovie project and import videos and photos from there. For it to work you would need to make sure that the General Preferences of the Photos app designates the library as the system photos library.


Also, media that is stored in the cloud might not import into iMovie. It would first need to be downloaded and then imported.


-- Rich

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 14, 2021 9:49 AM in response to xsam2

Try opening iMovie in a new library. To do that, open iMovie while holding down the Option key and selecting to create a new library in the box that appears. Then create a new project in the new library and see if you can import media.


You can import media by using the import button or by simply dragging clips from desktop into the timeline or from the photos app library. Or you can click on the Photos item in the media side bar of an iMovie project and import videos and photos from there. For it to work you would need to make sure that the General Preferences of the Photos app designates the library as the system photos library.


Also, media that is stored in the cloud might not import into iMovie. It would first need to be downloaded and then imported.


-- Rich

iMovie Does not import media

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