Premier CS3 Essential Project Housekeeping Query

Question

I hope someone will help with their experience
I have created several home film projects over the years, which take me a long time as I am constantly working out how to work the program. Typically after a year or so and I become more accomplished, I wish to revisit the old projects to iron out those glitches and blemishes which will finally make the film fully professional.
The problem is all the files are someplace else, colour bars keep appearing and usually a whole series of 'where is .. file' appear and I have to go and search around and find them and then it seems that I have to go look for them again the next time I open the file. Also a whole bunch of quite large files are thrown into a folder somewhere not very well signposted with not very intuitive names/extensions which cause further uncertainty as to what is what and probably might be part of the problem also.
I'me sure this does not happen to most users who have basic housekeeping skills and procedures, and I am wondering if someone could enlighten with some simple workflow guidelines which will get me out of Free Parking and up and away in film making and essentially bring all my efforts of the past to fruition. I typically  move files from disk to disk to offset strorage problems.  Thanks

Answer 1

Welcome to the forum.
Most of that "housekeeping" starts when one chooses New Project, and then progresses from there.
For each New Project, I create a Project Folder (in some cases, these will be under a "Client Folder," but are often just located on E:\. Under each Project Folder, [Project Name], I create sub-folders, say Videos, Audio, Music, Still Images, Captures, etc., and in Edit Preferences, I point the Scratch Disks to "Same as Project." Everything is in the [Project Name] folder hierarchy.
In my case, and with the exceptions of Captures from miniDV tapes, I keep the originals of all of my Assets elsewhere (on a NAS in my case), and will Copy all of them to the appropriate sub-folders. I will then Import those Copies into my Project. Everything stays within the [Project Name] folder hierarchy. This makes everything easy to handle.
When one Imports an Asset, PrPro creates a link in the PRPROJ file, in XML code, with the Absolute Path, i.e. the full Path to where that Asset is located. In my case, say for a Video file, the Path will be: E:\[Project Name]\Videos. Note: if anything changes with that Path, one will get the "Where is file ____?"query. This is any part of that Path, including the file's name. PrPro will follow that linked Path, when reopening that Project, and if anything has changed, been Deleted, Moved or Renamed, PrPro cannot find it, without the user's help. This is where you are having issues.
If one has Imported Assets from all around a system, there are two potential problems: if anything changes in the Path to those Assets, PrPro is lost. If one Moves their Still Images to another folder or sub-folder, PrPro needs your help. Also, PrPro can have issues, when one uses Project Manager to archive a Project, where Assets are scattered about. This is one reason that I work with Copies of all Assets, and keep them in the [Project Name] folder hierarchy. Project Manager can locate everything easily, and depending on the settings that one chooses in Project Manager, all Assets can be archived, along with the PRPROJ file.
For archiving older Projects, the Project Manager is a great tool. I would read all about it in the Help File, as there are several useful settings, and understanding what each offers will be VERY helpful.
When one has used Project Manager, and they have a folder structure, as I described, one should check the archived Project (the output from Project Manager), to insure that EVERYTHING is in place. I archive to a set of external HDD's. I then test each archived Project, and when I am certain that they function 100%, and that all Assets have been included, I will just go to the [Project Name] folder, and Delete it. This takes ALL of the sub-folders and Asset Copies with it, but I never do that, until I have fully tested the archived version of the Project. Housekeeping is then just three clicks: select [Project Name] folder, click Delete, then OK.
As mentioned above, the reason that you are getting the "Where is file _____?" is because something has changed in that Absolute Path, since the Assets were Imported into the Project - could be a Move, a Delete or a Rename. In the "Move" area, it could be that those Assets were on an external, and that day, the OS assigned the drive letter H:\, but today, when you plug that same external into the computer, the OS assigns the drive letter G:\. The way around this is to set the drive letter of each external HDD to a unique drive letter. Then, every time you plug it in, it will always get the same drive letter. If you work with those externals on several computers, then you must go into the OS on each computer, and set that drive letter.
Good luck, and please spend some time with the Help File, on Project Manager. If you then have any questions with any aspect of Project Manager, drop by here, and ask what _____ means, and someone will help explain that to you. Several options, and each has a use, and is important.
Hunt
PS - do not recall if PrPro CS3 had a manual, but if so, then spend some time reading of Project Manager there.