How to remove 'old' Premiere Elements files just taking up space?

[Offul Duster]

Hi,

INFO

Windows 10 64bit

The usual default installation of Premiere Elements 2019 (UK)

My projects are being saved in C:\Users\Pete\Documents\Adobe\Premiere Elements\17.0

My current project is called Irene.

As expected, each time I save my progress, I increment my project, and note that PrE creates project files in C:\Users\Pete\Documents\Adobe\Premiere Elements\17.0 called Irene1.prel, Irene2.prel, Irene3.prel etc.  I am now up to Irene10.prel and have run out of space - hence the need to delete versions 1-8!

The source files I need to build the video are all in folders in D:\AdobeProjects\Irene 2018

BACKGROUND

I'm just getting started with Premiere Elements 2019, and I'm gradually working my way through some of my lack of knowledge issues.

So my question relates to how to safely remove old user project files I don't need to keep.

This was prompted by a 'File importer detected an inconsistency in the file structure ' error message which was quickly traced to a full C drive.

This was the result of an intensive few of days with my project, and, because I was saving my progress at regular intervals, I did not notice the space filling up the drive.

I would like to keep the current folder arrangement, just keep Irene 9 and Irene 10.

QUESTIONS

1.

So firstly, before I just simply delete C:\Users\Pete\Documents\Adobe\Premiere Elements\17.0\Irene 1.prel, Irene 2.prel, etc..I want to know if itis safe to do so, or will cause issues.

2.

Of course there are other folders in C:\Users\Pete\Documents\Adobe\Premiere Elements\17.0 :

Adobe Premiere Elements Audio Previews

Adobe Premiere Elements Auto-Save

Adobe Premiere Elements Captured Audio

Adobe Premiere Elements Captured Video

Adobe Premiere Elements Video Previews

Encoded Files

Layouts

Media Cache Files

Peak Files

Score Files

Styles

I do not yet understand the purpose of these (except Media Cache Files), however I want to be clear about what if anything I will need to delete in these folders if I only want to keep my projects Irene9 and Irene10?

3.

My thoughts are that (after deleting old versions of a project) I would like to aim to keep a seperate backup of the source files and final created project so that if changes are needed to a project - even after a few years - I would still have retained the original material and PrE files.

I hope then I would only have to make changes - and not have to start from scratch.

Assuming that I reinstall PrE2019 in a few years to work on an old project, what do I need to backup and archive? I would backup the source files obviously, but 'what and where are they' other files?

PS

I am aware that there is 'another method' of changing PrE so that it is changed to save everything belonging to a Project into individual Project Folders - and I might come back to this method - but for now I would like just to stay with 'where I am up to in my learning'.

Thanks for any helpful advice guys

Pete

[Steve Grisetti]

Removing the old project (.prel) files is as simple as deleting the .prel. But I'd be concerned if a couple of dozen project files were filling up my hard drive!

Project files are very small. A few hundred kilobytes at most. (Mine average about 100 kb  each.) I hope you've got more than a couple of gigabytes of free space on your hard drive.

I start to panic if I've got less than 100 gigs of free space. And, if free space gets too tight, the program is going to become unstable and may not even launch.

How much free, clean space is on your C drive?

[Offul Duster]

Hi Steve

I have about 10Gb left of 250Gb SSD drive.

Firstly, I will remove some stuff not related to PrE2019, but I ran Treesize, and the \Documents\Adobe\Premiere Elements is 67.6 Gb.

Of this, 64.8Gb is in \Documents\Adobe\Premiere Elements\17.0\Adobe Premiere Elements Video Previews, plus about 2.5Gb in the Media Caches Files folder, and the other folders are Mb not Gb....

I looked at the *.prel files, and of course you are right, they only are a few kb.

So, what can I delete in Adobe Premiere Elements Video Previews ?  I want to be able to keep Irene versions 9 and 10 and dont want to make a mistake.

Thanks

Pete

[Peru Bob]

Preview files can be deleted and will be recreated if Premiere Elements needs them.

As Steve suggested, keep the .prel files and delete the files in the preview folder and the media cache folder.

And DON"T delete the media files (your photos and videos).

You may want to look into a separate drive for your media and/or preview files or get a larger SSD.  As Windows adds more and more updates to Windows 10 (I am assuming you are using W10), you may find yourself running out of room.