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Question

Premiere Elements 24 offline clips - where can I find the path that is expected?

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
July 27, 2025
3 replies
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Premiere Elements 24 offline clips. I made a video in March, now in July all of its clips and all the videos I've ever made in past years say they are off line. I would like to know what path the software is expecting. I don’t know what changes could have occurred. I am using the same drive with same drive label and even the same drive letter and have not changed any directory structure. Where can I find the path that is expected? Under Pro it says to go to Linked Media in the context menu – but Elements does not have this option its clips context menu. Now where do I look? I would rather try to recreate the path than spend numerous hours relinking each clip. Thank you in advance for your help.

John T Smith

Community Expert

I only use an external drive to make backup copies, so you may need to search Microsoft to find details, but I **think** it is possible in Windows to LOCK the drive letter of an external drive... my guess is that your drive letter somehow got 'lost' and then 'found' again and that messed up your history

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Bill Sprague

Community Expert

I only use an external drive to make backup copies, so you may need to search Microsoft to find details, but I **think** it is possible in Windows to LOCK the drive letter of an external drive... my guess is that your drive letter somehow got 'lost' and then 'found' again and that messed up your history

By @John T Smith

John,

I think the traditional way to do that is to assign drive designators far down the alphebet like "S" or "T". There does not appear to be a specific lock in Windows. I have several externals with high assigned drive letters for years and they've not been been forced to change by the operating system.

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Big_Lou123Author

Participant

This is all helpfull - Thank you.

The question still remains though -

Why does Premiere Elements not allow me to see the path it requires to find my files?

Or is that info available somewhere? Given how important it is and that the software obviosly has the info - it should be able to produce it easily.

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Bill Sprague

Community Expert

Open the project assets box in your project and pick a missing file. Note the file name and then double click on it. That will open Windows File Explorer. Put the file name in the search box in the upper right corner. Be sure the folder selection is high enough in the file structure. If the video file is still on your computer it will find it and you can open it. Premiere Elements will rember that new path to that file. If the other clips are in the same place, it should see them.

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Big_Lou123Author

Participant

thank you for this, I can relink 1 entire project at a time - so a useful solution. However, I still want to find out how to access the path it believes I need. I would rather recreate the path than have to relink all my projects - there are hundreds. Is the path getting corrupted somehow ( bad disk, virus, etc ), has an os upgrade changed how the path is presented to the app, something else...? I'd like to be able to see what Elements is expecting, to compare with what I have.

Thanks

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Bill Sprague

Community Expert

The only logical answer is that somehow you moved the files. As I'm sure you know, video editing programs don't "contain" the source media files. They only link to them. Like the rest, Premiere Elements expects the source files to be where they were when you last saved the project. Although possible, a bad disk, virus or OS upgrade is not likely to cause your issue. Those things would be causing bigger issues.

John T Smith

Community Expert

Do you have anything on an external drive?

If yes, have you unplugged and reconnected that drive?

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Big_Lou123Author

Participant

yes. its all on 1 external drive. Tried your suggestion, it had no effect on the project.

thanks for the suggestion.

I still want to find out how to access the path it believes I need. I would rather recreate the path than have to relink all my projects - there are hundreds. Is the path getting corrupted somehow ( bad disk, virus, etc ), has an os upgrade changed how the path is presented to the app, something else...? I'd like to be able to see what Elements is expecting, to compare with what I have.

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