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Rob217717683hsl
Inspiring
January 23, 2023
Question

Premiere Pro's 'Link Media' panel can't access cloud storage on MacOS

  • January 23, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 1227 views

I need to re-locate all of the files in my Premiere Pro project.

 

Unfortunately, Premiere Pro uses its own window instead of the native OS window.

Even more unfortunate is the fact that if anything is located in cloud storage in the 'Library' folder within the user foler, you can't access it. Double clicking on 'Library' doesn't work. Furthermore, in the sidebar it doesn't even show up.

 

I feel like if the software really has to use its own dialogue box, it shouldn't have inferior functionality to the native OS one...

    3 replies

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Conrad_CCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 12, 2026

    Although Kevin Monahan already solved this by advising to deselect the “Use Media Browser…” option, after marniemarniemarnie’s reply resurfaced this old thread I wanted to clarify why this problem happens, and another workaround. 

     

    What’s happening in the Media Browser also happens in any other file browser that isn’t using the standard macOS file browser. After a change Apple made a few years ago, Apple requires all cloud services (iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox…) to store their files in an area that’s hidden by default (maybe to sandbox them), and any access to those synced cloud services that you see in the Finder is an illusion through shortcuts that Apple set up. 

     

    Apple mandates two actual locations for cloud-synced file services. One location for iCloud Drive, and another containing all non-Apple cloud services like Dropbox. Both locations can be found inside the Library folder (hidden by default) inside your user account Home folder. So they exist and can be found in a non-macOS file browser, it’s just that they aren’t where you expect to find them. 

     

    For iCloud Drive, the real location is:
    /Users/[username]/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud Drive

    For non-Apple synced-file cloud services, the real location is:
    /Users/[username]/Library/Cloud Storage/

     

    When you know those paths, you can browse to them in the Premiere Media Browser and in other non-Finder file browsers in applications including Adobe Bridge and Adobe Lightroom Classic. The picture below shows browsing to iCloud Drive in the Locate File browser in Premiere. You can see that at the top, Premiere remembers the “Last Path” as ending at:

    …/iCloud Drive/test files

    …but to successfully relink, if “Use Media Browser…” is selected, you have to point the Media Browser to what it says in “Path” which ends in:

    /Users/[username]/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud Drive/test files

     

     

    M
    marniemarniemarnie
    Participant
    February 12, 2026

    My problem is that for the past few days, for an unknown reason that I don’t have the patience to investigate, when I open my project, all files that I have saved locally in my Sharepoint folder (literally all the files) are no longer linked. And the Sharepoint folder isn’t visible. I have two OneDrive folders, but only my personal folder is visible. The only way to navigate to the Sharepoint folders in OneDrive is through the MacOS interface. It’s super duper annoying.

     

    A
    Adeline23296387jnj3
    Participant
    January 20, 2025

    Hi,

    I have this problem, with a. bit more than 160 files to relink... Is there a workaround?

    MacOS Sequoia 15.2

    Premiere 25.1

    Dropbox

    Thanks!

      B
      Brian23908552v46v
      Participant
      June 24, 2025

      Same ish - multiple projects and files across all Adobe products in box.com. I can't access them in Premiere or latest Bridge.

      Kevin-Monahan
      Community Manager
      Kevin-MonahanCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      March 18, 2024

      Hello @Rob217717683hsl,

      Thanks for your bug report. You can access the Finder instead of the Media Browser to relink media. See this screenshot.

       

      Just deselect the box I marked here.

       

      As for linking media from cloud storage, I've not heard of a reliable workflow with services like OneDrive, iCloud, or Google Drive with Premiere Pro. Does anyone in the community have a comment here?

       

      Still, I will investigate if a bonafide workflow is possible there. I use DropBox for most items related to Cloud Storage, which seems to be available using Finder (I'm on macOS). I use it primarily to back up my AutoSave files.

       

      Does anyone in the community have a comment? I don't believe there's an addressable bug here, so let's move this post back to the Discussions forum to discuss cloud storage workflows. I hope that is OK. I'd love to hear what others are doing in this realm.

       

      Thanks,
      Kevin

      Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
      S
      Sam36668247d2dv
      Participant
      October 16, 2024

      @Kevin-Monahan's troubleshooting fixed my similar issue – I'm editing remote from a Synology NAS and the folder structure changed overnight resulting in all of the footage going offline and similiar to @Rob217717683hsl,  The "Link Media" tab would no longer display anything located in the "user Library" folder. (which is where my Synology NAS was either moved or has already been... not sure). Being able to access Finder to relink footage in Premiere saved a lot of stress on my end. 

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