Premier suddenly only locating one file at a time, no auto locating after first clip located

[NefariousDeeds]

Hi all, this seems like a stupid issue but its driving me crazy. I work such that I fairly frequently need to relink files due to file path changes and it used to be I simply located the first clip for Premiere and it would then automatically link all the files in that same folder that matched. The files are always in one folder so this made relinking a non-issue. All of a sudden now, Premiere won't link more than one file at a time no matter what I do. I've tried removing and reinstalling Premiere and updating everything on my Mac to the lastest version of everything but its still linking one at a time. 

I hope this is just a dumb issue that I did something but whatever the solution, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey NefariousDeeds,

Kind of a puzzler. Maybe you could tell us more about your setup and workflow. Do you use an attached drive for media? What kind of drive? Any other details we might not be aware of? Let us know. I've been there and it's no fun. Sorry about the situation.

Thanks,
Kevin

[NefariousDeeds]

Thank you for the question. The setup is Adobe CC, latest version of everything running on a MBP, lastest OS and updates.  The workflow doesn't make any difference, meaning that if I get a file from my editor and relink local clips from what he was working on locally, or if I simply move a local project from one folder to another (accidentally saved in Documents, for example, and move to correct project folder), the results are the same: one clip at a time, no automated matching once the correct folder is shown to Premiere. No removable drives are used, always the Mac's main hard drive. Please let me know if I missed anything. 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Thanks for the info. That helps a lot. The only culprit could be the media itself. Can you share details about the media, like the camera it was shot on? If it is not camera-based media, give us more details about how the media was acquired. That may help. Hope we can help you solve this problem soon.

Thanks,
Kevin

[NefariousDeeds]

Thank you for continuing on this. All footage was shot on a GoPro Hero 11 Black. But this is the same camera that has shot all the footage we use and it was fine up until recently. We did start using Frame.io about the same time. Could that be related somehow? Thanks!

[Kevin-Monahan]

Yes, that could be. Nice sleuthing. Let me ask my colleagues in Frame.io to see if they have a known issue on that.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi, 

I checked with the Frame.io folks and they have not seen anything resembling this problem. As I know how annoying the problem can be, I'll continue to keep my eye on the situation. Sorry for the frustration on this.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Andy Adkins]

I've been seeing this more lately too. I point it to the first file, with "re-link others" checked and it only finds that first one I pointed to. The rest are sitting right there in the same folder but premiere is oblivious.

A related problem... I just created a large number of external proxies (reslove) for a premiere project and 90% will attach in big chunks, but I have to go one file at a time for a few subfolders (still many dozens of files), which is obviously a massive waste of time (attach, find, ok, attach, find, ok x1000)

I've seen this with various types of media - haven't noticed any pattern in the file types that result in this problem. Currently dealing with some gopro footage where this is coming up. In the past I recall unchecking "tape name" can help but not in this case here. I am not using frame.io.

Other than making this just work better, what we could really use is some in-depth explanation of how the searching and linking process works so we can anticipate how to work with it, not just have it fail us inexplicably. It has always seemed very opaque - sometimes it magically works and sometimes it completely bombs without telling you why.  This is a killer on complex long term projects, which will always depend on some media and proxy linking and re-linking. It's a big piece of some workflows but there is almost zero documentation of how it actually functions.

The only official documentation I found for this just says: "Premiere Pro automatically finds and links offline media where possible"

Ok, well devil is in the detail of that last part, "where possible." So let's have some details. Kevin, in lieu of this being functionally bulletproof (which it's far from, and I'm not holding my breath), is there any chance you or someone could just shed some light on how it works?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @Andy Adkins,

I just updated an older Production and found I had the same relinking issue. Then, I noticed that the drive was not available in my Media Browser. I'm on Mac. You? Once I fixed the Security issue and gave permissions to my external drive, the disk mounted in Media Browser and everything linked as expected. Can you check that out?

Thanks,
Kevin

[Andy Adkins]

Oh hey thanks Kevin. I was writing that other post when you responded. I am on a PC. Windows 11 and latest version of PPro. I have had similar issues on Macs too though.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Andy,

Definitely check out the permissions for the disk and make sure that it has R/W permissions set correctly, if you haven't already. Same with your Macs and see if it helps.

Kevin

[Andy Adkins]

Quick update. So this is bonkers...

TLDR: check the case of the extensions of the files you are trying to link or attach.

I had a folder of DJI files that I had made proxies for, and they would only connect one at a time. So I looked at the files in question to make sure # of audio channels were the same and nothing else looked off about them. To be clear, I can search to find the first, but it won't find the others in the same folder and I have to pick them one at a time.

But I noticed the proxies had a lowercase .mov extension, while originals were uppercase .MOV. (btw having the match based on file extension box checked or unchecked had not mattered up to this point - as in I tried it both ways).

I capitolized the extension on a couple of the proxies in that folder, to see if it would auto locate them if the extensions were exactly the same.

It did, but without any further prompting it also found THE REST of the non capitolized .mov proxies that it wasn't finding before. Attached them and dialog closed up - just like it should.

Even stranger, the proxy media file reported in premiere metadata has the proxy extension capitalized on files that are not. In other words it's wrong.

File name reported in Proxy Media File Path: DJI_0712.MOV

File in windows: DJI_0712.mov

I've done this three times now to make sure I'm not crazy or making it up. Same result each time. Once you point it to the first file with the right case, it will find the rest automatically even if they have the wrong case. And all those subsequent files show the wrong case extension in premiere metadata.

While I'm glad I found this little trick, this is complete madness. Clearly there is some flaw in how Premiere is handling extensions and upper/lower case. Again, media linking is foundational. This stuff really needs to work better.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Sorry about that, Andy. You can file a bug here. After searching around, it appears that other NLEs are having similar issues. I wonder if it is a flaw from the manufacturer. I'm not familiar with files that have an upper case .MOV extension. They are usually lower case, as most file extensions are, in my experience. As a workaround, you might try changing the extension of the source files to ".mov" in Bridge before importing them into Premiere Pro until the devs can address your issue.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Andy Adkins]

Thanks @Kevin-Monahan for your attention to this. I've checked and all r/w permissions are fine.

I'll for sure file a bug. If I had to guess at what's going on under the hood, it seems like there is some logic that is trying to ignore extension case in paths (which makes sense), but just doing it wrong.

This particular DJI drone writes uppercase extension (.MOV), and the proxies created by Resolve are lowercase (.mov). I have not seen this issue when the proxy extensions are wholly different - ie .MP4 original and .mov proxy.

As to your workaround, I would be nervous about batch renaming originals, and in any case it may be too late for folks who are having this issue, having already imported everything. But when having this problem attaching to proxies (which is what I'm dealing with) I think that batch re-naming proxies to have uppercase extensions should work - at least in my specific case.

To re-iterate... I fix for this specific bug would be great, but knowing more detail about how this is supposed to work would be very helpful for us editors dealing with big projects and sprawling media. It's very much a mystery currently. So what are the chances of getting some more detailed documentation on the finding/relinking/attaching algorithms?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @Andy Adkins,

I read that you created the proxies in Resolve. Correct? If so, try creating a test with proxies created in Premiere Pro. Do things work as expected now?

Thank you for filing the bug. Let us know the URL in this thread so we can go over there and upvote it. I'm sure there is some sort of logic to it, but there is nothing I can find in the User Guide to call out the issue. I will let the devs know about this issue.

I apologize for this frustrating problem.

Thanks,
Kevin

[jof93454657]

Thank you!  This solved the exact problem I was having too.  Unticking the File Extension box under Match File Properties let it find all of the other clips too - honestly thought I was about to sit for half an hour matching each one! 

Premiere had the extensions as  .mp4  and the files were .MP4  - on raw footage clips. 

[Straylight Films]

First comment ever on these forums just to say thank you for the solution. This bug is still happening in Pr2024, and was solved by changing just one extention in the folder to no caps .mp4, re-link the re-cased extension, then boom everything in that folder re-linked. Thank you!

[HassanZahid]

Thank you so much for this knowlegde !

[MJedit]

Just had the same issue, thanks for the fix. Deselecting 'file extension' found all the clips at once. Time saver!

[Ryan2475837977vl]

I'm having this issue now as well.  Started last week and now happens on every project regardless of media type, or where the media is stored. I've tried using both the "link media" prompt that pops up when you open the project as well as selecting all offline clips (all saved within the same folder) and trying to reconnect that way.  Premiere will only connect each individual clip and when I move on to the next clip, it's right there in the correct folder, with the correct name, and Premiere sees it, it just will not connect more than one clip at a time.  Another day, another obnoxious bug in CC 2023, gotta love it.

[Kevin-Monahan]

@Ryan2475837977vl,

This sounds like a problem you can have with new versions of applications on macOS. See if these steps help your situation: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/premiere-pro-hangs-on-launch-on-macos.html

If not, you can also try the following: https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/multi/preferences-folder-read-only-error.html. 

Let us know if either of these troubleshooting docs helped, or if you need more assistance. I sure hope we can help.

Thanks,
Kevin

[scotty42]

I'm hitting this same issue all of a sudden too.  It's a M2 Max laptop running macOS 13.5, and Premiere Pro 23.6.0.  Sometimes when I locate one file, it'll link as many as 15 other files, sometimes one other, and sometimes none.  All the files are in the same bin and filesystem folder, and filenames match exactly.  This is in a production, in case that matters.  I tried all the suggestions in https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-discussions/premier-suddenly-only-locating-one-file-at-a... except for a full reinstall, with no luck.

[scotty42]

The footage I'm trying to link is on a Synology NAS, btw, connected via a SMB network share over 10gig ethernet.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey there, @scotty42,

Sorry for the frustration. There is always an added layer of complexity with network drives. Does the Synology have an internal clock? Is it aligned with the clock in your Mac or PC? Small thing, but besides the permissions and security settings I mentioned earlier, it is the only other thing I can think of. I hope we can help you solve this problem. Let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[FrankTheOne]

Hi. I have the exact same issues on a brand new Mac Studio, M2 Max, and Premiere 2024. I'm relinking files from a QNAP NAS connected via SMB and it's madness... I have to go one file at a time, the "search" function doesn't find anything but when I manually point to the correct folder, the file is there. Never had such a problem on Windows, even on Premiere 2024. Please fix this ASAP, it's an incredible waste of time for people like me who often move projects from desktops to laptops.