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Zooropa75
Zooropa75
Known Participant
November 15, 2013
Answered

How to copy sequences from another project and NOT end up with duplicate entries for source clips?

  • November 15, 2013
  • 1 reply
  • 71405 views

If, like me, you used to work in Final Cut Pro, you know one major difference in Premiere Pro workflow is that two projects cannot be open at the same time. Also, any referenced clips have to be part of the project first. On one hand, this forces me to be more organized with the projects/clips, and avoids the situation of "unlisted" source clips. On the other hand, I am running into a challenge around copying/reusing sequences from another project.

We have a large group of footage that serves a couple of different purposes. In order to keep things clear, I created two project files that contain the same source clips, and different sequences. (I cloned the project after importing all the source clips, and then worked from there.) Now I need to "copy" a few sequences from Project A into Project B, so that I can re-use the editing work done on those sequences without needing to replicate them. In FCP, I would just have both projects open, and copy-paste the sequences from Project A to Project B. In Premiere Pro, I was glad to see that copy-and-paste can work across projects - i.e., I can "copy" in Project A, close Project A and open Project B, then "paste". HOWEVER, this brings in all the source clips referenced by those sequences in Project A... Even though the same source clips are already in Project B.

OK, I understand why that happens, because Premiere Pro doesn't know (or check) that the same clips already exist in Project B. But I don't want to keep two entries of the same source clips in the project (in different bins too), because that gets confusing down the road. Is there a way for me to de-link the new sequences from those "new" source clip entries, and connect them with the existing entries? If I just go and delete the "new" source clip entries, the references in those sequences don't just go offline, they get deleted. So the new sequences become empty.

I'm struggling to see what the best approach is in this case. Any suggestions or tricks?

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer Shane_P

      I do this very similar work flow. I will have project "A" where I edit my sequences, etc, then down the road if I want to use some of those sequenses from project "A" in a new project "B".

      PP can do what you are seeking and not create duplicate clips of the same source footage.

      Do not use copy/paste. Instead use import to import the sequence(s) from the other project.

      Open your project you want to reuse the sequences in. Then go to File>Import and navigate out to the project you want to import the sequences from. Click on the project file and PP will ask you which sequences you wish to import. Select the the sequences (or entire project) and PP will import the sequences for you.

      Now...the duplicate media...

      If you have source clip "00001.MTS" for example already in the project you have open and one of the sequences you are importing also references the same source "00001.MTS" clip, PP will not import a duplicate as it will use the clip you already have imported.

      If however PP is importing a duplicate copy it is most likely because in each project you have different I/O points set for the same source clip. If this is the case PP will import the duplicate copy of the clip so it preserves the I/O points of each version of the clip.

      If you do a test import and make sure there are no I/O points or they are the same I/O points, PP will import the dup clip.

      1 reply

      S
      Shane_PCorrect answer
      Inspiring
      November 15, 2013

      I do this very similar work flow. I will have project "A" where I edit my sequences, etc, then down the road if I want to use some of those sequenses from project "A" in a new project "B".

      PP can do what you are seeking and not create duplicate clips of the same source footage.

      Do not use copy/paste. Instead use import to import the sequence(s) from the other project.

      Open your project you want to reuse the sequences in. Then go to File>Import and navigate out to the project you want to import the sequences from. Click on the project file and PP will ask you which sequences you wish to import. Select the the sequences (or entire project) and PP will import the sequences for you.

      Now...the duplicate media...

      If you have source clip "00001.MTS" for example already in the project you have open and one of the sequences you are importing also references the same source "00001.MTS" clip, PP will not import a duplicate as it will use the clip you already have imported.

      If however PP is importing a duplicate copy it is most likely because in each project you have different I/O points set for the same source clip. If this is the case PP will import the duplicate copy of the clip so it preserves the I/O points of each version of the clip.

      If you do a test import and make sure there are no I/O points or they are the same I/O points, PP will import the dup clip.

        shooternz
        shooternz
        Legend
        November 15, 2013

        The reality  is that it doesnt make any difference apart from a project tidiness POV and that is easily sorted.

        The clips are not duplicated media becuase they are only references to the source clips. (eg like a database).

        S
        Shane_P
        Inspiring
        November 15, 2013

        @shooterz...In this instance think he is referring to not having his project having many duplicate references to the same source clip, not actually duplicating the original file.

        @Zooropa75, I also forgot to mention that if you are using PP 7.1 you can use the Media Browser to navigate out to another PP project and drill down inside the project file to select which sequence(s) you wish to import.

        Going to File>Import or using the Media Browser will accomplish the same thing.

        Best of luck.

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