Lost an iMovie Project-how can I find it

Question

My first time using iMovie.  I had completed an iMovie project and it was sitting in Edit Projects.  I chose "Finalize Project" and after that was completed I can't find the project.  I had burned a CD of the movie before it ws finalized-it shows up as iDVD but don't know if I can re-convert that to iMovie.  I ultimately want to save the movie in Dropbox to share.  It's some frustrating.  Hope someone can help-much appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi great2ode,
My understanding is that when a project is finalized using the menu option "File > Finalize Project", all the exported files are saved in the project file. To access them, in Finder navigate to your User folder Movies/iMovie Projects. Locate your project then right-click (or control-click) on it. From the pop-up menu select Show Package Contents. Inside that folder you will find the exported movies in the Movies folder.
The movies will have a generic name (such as, medium.m4v, large.m4v or 720p.mov and so on). You can copy (or move) the files to another location and rename them if desired. They can also be opened in iDVD from iDVD's Media Browser > Movies panel. The best option is to copy the files, leaving the originals in the package contents folder for possible later use elsewhere (such as in iTunes or uploading to YouTube or Vimeo etc.).
John
NOTE: After finalizing, or simply exporting from the Share menu item, the iMovie project should still be listed in the Project Library. If it has disappeared from the Library, hopefully it is still in the iMovie Projects folder in the Finder - and all exported files are in place in the project's package contents folder. Finalizing creates a movie in all sizes (resolutions) supported by your project.
Message was edited by: John Cogdell - added NOTE