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G
ghuff
Inspiring
April 10, 2026

File Import Failure Window on Footage Sidecar Files

  • April 10, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 14 views

This is on macOS Tahoe 26.4 with the latest version of Premiere (26.0.2). I routinely shoot on Canon EOS Cinema cameras that generate a lot of sidecare files for metadata purposes, primarily XML and CPF files that Premiere should just ignore when the folder of footage is dragged into a bin so that I don’t have to click out of the “File Import Error” dialogue box every single time. It’s a minor annoyance for sure, but I can also see how it would be concerning to newer users.

Premiere should be intelligent enough to realize these are merely sidecar files with metadata it is going to apparently ignore and not worry about it, or at least make it an option I can toggle on/off.

    1 reply

    mattchristensen1
    Adobe Employee
    mattchristensen1
    Adobe Employee
    April 10, 2026

    It’s a good point, but it’s also tough for Premiere to know which files are safe to ignore only by the extension. For example, Premiere does support importing XML files that are used for sequence interchange. 

    One thing you can try is to use Import Mode or the Media Browser panel in Edit Mode, both of which allow for selecting a folder and shouldn’t trigger warnings on those extra files.

      G
      ghuffAuthor
      Inspiring
      April 10, 2026

      I said it should be smart enough to figure out it was sidecar files that it was going to ignore the metadata of, not that it should solely be looking at the extension. As you yourself said, it knows when the XML is used for sequence interchange and will import that.

      Media Browser defaults to “all supported files”, it still lists the sidecar files, so I have to then do more clicks to select to only show me the MP4 clips, however, the Import Mode does ignore the sidecar files, so somehow it understands those XMLs are not going to be sequence interchange.

      mattchristensen1
      Adobe Employee
      mattchristensen1
      Adobe Employee
      April 10, 2026

      There’s no understanding happening with the XML. It’s just that Import Mode filters out all XML (including ones that are describing sequences). I’m with you that there is room for more intelligence here. With Import Mode/Media Browser Premiere gets a chance to look at the folder and files first and can so at least do some filtering or guessing at if it’s a known camera structure.

      With drag & drop, Premiere doesn’t get to see the file structure so it can’t do much to pre-understand things. The OS just hands Premiere a list of files you dropped. So it has to assume you are trying import the XML, so it gives it a try.

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