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7SBF
7SBF
Known Participant
July 2, 2025

After Effects project with dynamic links deletes itself (Win > Mac)

  • July 2, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 110 views

Hi there,

 

I discovered a really annoying bug that needs to adressed asap. When I create a Premiere project with Dynamic links in After Effects on a Windows machine and later on open the same project on a Mac, upon saving the After Effects project, it deletes itself. It vanished, literally.

 

Example: I create and work on a project with multiple dynamic links on a windows machine. Later I open the same project on my MacBook, and right click the dynamic link > edit original. Change the composition in AE, hit save and boom! Gone. 

 

When you close out AE you're in bad luck. It;s nowhere to be found. Workaround is to hit 'save as...' 

 

I've read online multiple people running into this problem. This is a serious and known problem and needs to be fixed asap! 

2 replies

7SBF
7SBFAuthor
Known Participant
July 25, 2025

Hi Nishu,

 

The problem is still consistent with different projects. Here are the answers to your questions:

 

1. I work from an external SSD (ExFat)

2. all files including projects are on the same external drive.

3. The problem is reproducible any time. It's not random, it does this with every project.

 

I'm not sure how to screen record the issue. The project file is just deleted if I hit save and the dynamic links are offline. If I close out AE at that time, the project is gone and nowhere to be found. 

To be clear, this only happens when starting a project with dynamic links on a windows machine and then proceed working on it on a macbook.

nishu_kush
Community Manager
nishu_kushCommunity Manager
Community Manager
July 8, 2025

I agree! That could be a big problem. Do you mind sharing the following details so that we can try to reproduce the issue on our end?

1. How do you transfer your project from one machine to another? Are you using an external drive?

2. Are you using the projects and media files directly from the external drive? Or do you first copy them to the local drive before starting your work?

3. Is this issue reproducible every time, or does it happen randomly? If possible, can you share a screen recording that shows the issue?

We're here to help.


Thanks,
Nishu

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