Can I re-link all clips at once by just locating the folder?

[melbendi]

To re-link footage files in After Effects, you only have to re-link the first one and then AE sees all the other in the folder.  How can I do this in Premiere? I have a hundred files, too many for one at a time. Thanks!

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

Select all clip in project window, hit Link Media.

Locate first clip and the rest will follow.

[melbendi]

Hi Ann, thanks!  When I open the project, I have to say Offline All because relinking more than one doesn't work there. So after opening the project, I select one file, right-click > Relink media, and it looks like it does something, but the sequence in the timeline still shows everything offline.  What else do I have to do? Thank you!

[Ann Bens]

Select ALL clips in Project window

[melbendi]

When I do that, it opens the same window as when trying to load the file initially. The box says "Link media for these clips", but clicking Locate only allows locating one clip and it doesn't find the others. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

[Ann Bens]

After it has found the first clip, select and hit ok or locate or whatever. (not at my machine)

Rest will follow.

[melbendi]

I selected them all, right-click > Link Media, then in the list that opens, I select one, click Locate. Another box opens to browse, so I find it, then click OK. That browse box closes and the box with the Locate button is still open with no option but to select another one to find. I must be missing something.

[Sumeet Kumar Choubey]

Hi melbendi,

I'm sorry to hear about this. Are the other media files in the same directory as the first one you linked, or were they moved to different directories? 

Thanks,

Sumeet

[melbendi]

Thank you, Sumeet. Yes, they're all in the same directory.
After I link the first clip and click OK, should the box with the Locate button automatically close instead of staying open as it is for me?

[melbendi]

This didn't work for me, but I believe you that it should, so I'm marking it Correct.  Thanks everyone for helping. I still don't know why it isn't working here.

[Stan Jones · Accepted solution]

> This didn't work for me....

I agree that the solution was given, but as I lurked along, it seemed to me that a detail or 2 might be overlooked. So I'm going to give it one more try! lol. If I am wrong, and this is what you tried, no problem.

> Select all clip in project window, hit Link Media.

I think you got that right. We are at this screenshot:

> Locate first clip and the rest will follow.

In at least one place, I think you said that at this step you selected one clip. You can't really select anything at this step. The top clip is highlighted, and there are no checkmarks. I do not recall it being mentioned, but at this step, make sure that "Relink others automatically is checked." I think it is selected by default, but it is "sticky" for being deselected for some conditions.

When you click "Locate," you get to this screenshot:

Notice that the "highlighted" file from the previous step is at the top as the one currently being located. To make seeing it easier, make sure that "Display Only Exact Name Matches" is checked.

 

If this is all good, yes, all files are found and the dialogue window closes. If "Relink others" is not checked, you will be in the previous screen with the one file found (checked) and the next file highlighted.

 

Stan

[melbendi · Accepted solution]

Thank you, Stan, this helped solve the mystery. The file name that it's looking for is not the clip name. The files I have in the directory do have the same name as the clips in the project, but when I select "Link Media", the list in the box with the Locate button shows the first row "Clip Name" and the second row "File Name". The file names are autogenerated alphanumeric strings that are stored on my client's storage drive at a remote location.  OK, I get it now. The editor must have worked with all the media stored remotely. When I tried to download the project, their server only offered me an option to Open the file, not to download directly, so I tried opening and saving to my computer, then tried to link to the project's footage that I had previously downloaded to my local folder, and I didn't notice that it wasn't looking for the clip name. So I would have to open the file with live links over the internet, I guess. I've already worked around the problem as far as getting the project done on time, so I won't be trying to link remotely, but it appears that's what I would have to do. Thank you for your additional help, Stan! That was very thoughtful of you and helped me understand what was going on. 🙂

[Stan Jones]

@melbendi.

omg. I would never have dreamed that could be the issue! Glad you got it sorted.

Stan