Dynamic Link Afetr Effects -Premiere Pro recurring media offline problem

[Bernat5E78]

Hi!

I have a Premiere Pro timeline with  many linkes After Effects compositions (about 8 comps).

Whenever I'm working in After Effects to change something and I save the project, ALL linked compositions in Premiere Pro go Offline. I need to relink them, and I can relink them no problem, becasue the project hasn't gone anywhere and hasn't changed name, but I lose my render files in Premiere and constantly relinking is being a total drag for my workflow.

Does anyone know if there's a fix for that?

[dolphinganz]

Yeah, Mac based. Interesting idea... 🙂

[Joe_wpi]

Next time you experience the bug, reconnect the links, then hit edit orginal on one of the linked comps and see if the project file directory shows different in the header. I'm just working out of a project that was having the issue constantly, but now working just out of the project following hitting "Edit Orginal" and it hasn't disconected.

[dolphinganz]

Oh, wow, that is A pro tip. I will def check that out! :)) Huge thanks for sharing it!

[Ruwid]

That worked for me! Thank you so much

[TIM_Producer6]

This fix worked for me (PC) and referencing files from a server (may be relevant):

It will bring your Windows File Explorer Window to find the last location of the AE file, BUT don't just click the project file that shows up in the initial window, instead go to a seperate windows file explorer window and navigate to your project's location, copy your file path from there and paste it into the windows file explorer window that After Effects had launched, then click your AE project file you want it to link to. For whatever reason, this works for me and I can now save in After Effects and not lose connection to linked comps in Premiere.

[Leigh-DTP]

This advice helped solve my issue. Posting my experience here in case it helps anyone else. In my case, it may been a combination of issues with the new Dropbox for macOS and Adobe's Media Browser. Since the dropbox default location has changed maybe the Media Browser is giving the AEP files the wrong address 🤷‍:male_sign:. Just a guess.

When I was working in the AE project and save, it would go offline in PPro. First I used TIM_Producer6's advice and unchecked "Use Media Browser to locate files" in the Link Media dialogue. Then, using Joe_wpi's advice above, once it was reconnected I right-clicked and selected "Edit Original". And even though the active AE project was already open, AE  closed it and opened it again. Now saving the AE does not cause the dynamic link to go offline.

You can see in the PPro Project Panel, if you have the File Path metadata column activated, that it shows different Finder addresses for AEP files that work and ones that have the issue.

[Leigh-DTP]

I also meant to mention that both my PPro and AE are the same version, but the problem had persisted until I followed the procedure above.

[Joe_wpi]

Glad it worked for you aswell @Leigh-DTP  I think its something to do with how the Mac file system works. You can see it for yourself when hit edit orginal, look at the pathname change in the header bar of After Effects, its a subtle change, but it is different enough to disconnect the linked comps for whatever reason. Haven't encountered the same issue on my PC workstation.

[ashley_8328]

THIS is the answer! Still facing this issue in 2025 but after trying every other suggestion in this thread, this one finally worked. No more "offline media" warnings when saving the AE file and it now immediate updates between AE and Premiere! Thank you!

[Joe_wpi]

No problem @ashley_8328 ! I still have this issue from time to time as well, so glad to know the workaround still works!

[leonardc18823883]

Removing special characters such as à or é (Yes I'm French) in all folder names on the way and the project file names solved it for me as well. Thanks to Pedro Rabbi

[dolphinganz]

Thank you! This has 100% solved it for me! :)) Genius!

[lpowaski]

I was having the same issue. Then I realized I was working in Premier 24, but after effects 23. After I updated after effects to 2024 it seems to be working for me.

[pmcdonald]

Midway through 2024 and still having this issue. It has plagued me for years but I'm finally doing some searching for a cure.

• Running Windows 11
• Both programs on the same version (24.4.1)
• No illegal characters in paths
• Ae and Pr projects living in the same folder on a local network drive
• Saving in Ae causes the Pr dynamic links to go offline. I can batch relink from Pr by pointing it at the Ae project but it's tedious (I save a lot)

Anyone got a consistent solve? Or better yet Adobe got a bug fix?

[dolphinganz]

Yes, @Pedro Rabbi's special character advise solved it 100% for me. Rock solid since then. I had a special character in my root work folder before, this was causing the problem... Since changing it and also avoiding all special characters in any folder or file names, I have a super Dynamic Link experience. Unbelivable, after all those buggy months and years. :))

[pmcdonald]

Great to know. Beats me what's up with mine then ... zero illegal characters in my neighbourhood 😕

[Joe_wpi]

When it unlinks, re-link your dymanic linked comps as you would normally. Then right click and hit, "edit Orginal" Your After effects project will basically close out and then reopen, which is strange seeing it was already open, but, it shouldnt unlink when you hit save if you do that.
Try it and see if it fixes it and let me know

[Akshay30014633pt4n]

Hitting Edit Original doesn't close AE for me. And changing and saving in AE still causes the unlinking.

I'm on an M1 MacBook with 16Gb RAM, Apps are installed to the Applications folder while the projects are on an external drive, no strange characters in the path, PPro v24.5.0 (Build 57), AE v24.5.0 (Build 52). This is such a nonsensical bug, and especially the fact that Adobe hasn't fixed it for years...

[Leigh-DTP]

Have you tried TIM_Producer6's advice from the previous post above? When you save in After Effects and the AEP goes offline in premiere, go to relink media and make sure to uncheck the "Use Media Browser to Locate File" checkbox in the PPro relink dialogue (TIM_Producer6 includes a screenshot in the post). That has worked on my M1 Max Macbook Pro. I think something about the MacOS file system is confusing Adobe, as Joe_wpi suggested.  That has been working for me. If it's a different issue for you, good luck! I know your pain.

[Akshay30014633pt4n]

I'll give that a shot when I work on the project next time, thanks for pointing it out.

[lehestro]

I did this and it worked... once. But I saved again in AE and now it's back offline again. 

There seems to be a distinction without a difference that is throwing Premiere off. See screenshot. /Users vs. /Volumes/Macintosh HD/users

[Ruwid]

Hi there, I'm having the same issue, I have my project files (both AE and Premiere) in the same directory on Google Drive, with the "available offline" option checked. If I move the AE project to my desktop the composition gets updated successfully without going offline.
I'm on Mac 15.3.1, Premiere and After Effects 2025

[Joe_wpi]

I can not speak for Google drive but I can speak to macs having this issue. Did you @Ruwid try when it happens to right click on the linked comp inside premiere and select the "edit original" button?

I've found that on Mac the file path can differ slightly, but by hitting edit original, it directs after effects to open the project from the directory that adobe sees it from, rather than the directory you opened it from. When you hit it, after effects will reload the project and it should be working again.

[Ruwid]

Yes, I tried this and it's working! Thank you so much

[Abdellah_Chi3235]

Open your AE project before launching or opening your Premiere Pro project.