Check filepath of broken links

[mttplbkp]

I have an AE file with a bunch of missing links... is there a way to view what the filepath is currently set as like I can with InDesign?

I know I can replace links, but it would be helpful to know where AE is trying to pull the links from in the first place

[shachar carmi]

double click on one missing file and AE will open a dialog to find it. once found, AE will look for matching file names in the same relative path. in most cases, all files are found with a couple of clicks.

[mttplbkp]

Thanks but isn't that just to replace the link? I'm more looking to see the original file path

[shachar carmi]

ah. i misunderstood your question. sorry.

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

Press the Tilda key (~) to expand the Project Panel. If the File Path does not show as one of the columns, click on the Project Panel menu, the three little lines to the left of Project, and open the Columns menu to select the columns you want to display.

[mttplbkp]

Thanks! I've just tried that and the column does show, but I only see part of the path unfortunately.

Annoyingly AE adds the word "missing" at the start of it so all I see is "<Missing... somefilename.jpeg" if that makes sense, so doesn't really tell me where it is trying to pull the file from.

[shachar carmi]

this script should do the trick:

function TellFilePath() {
	var sel = app.project.activeItem;
	if(!sel || !(sel instanceof FootageItem)) {
		alert("select just one footage item in the project window");
		return;
	}
	
	alert(sel.file.toString());
}

TellFilePath();

[shachar carmi]

btw, on my machine the project window shows the full path of the missing footage. perhaps it's a matter of extending the "File Path" header wide enough to show the whole path...

[mttplbkp]

Thanks! I didn't realise there was one 'Size' column after the path column, which was preventing the path from showing... didn't realise I could resize it. The Size column was blank so hadn't noticed it was there originally

[Catherine27780403fqcp]

In my case, the files were located in the shared libraries. I copied all the linked files in the hidden librabries into a new folder (basically, moved them out of the shared libraries) and then went to AE to replace the footage. If you place everything in one folder, AE will detect and restore the files all at once, without needing to replace them one by one.

Hope this helps.