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]

HI @FrankTheOne,

Have you tried the other potential solutions on the thread? Have you ensured that any clocks are in sync between your computer and the network device? Have you tried adjusting options in System Preferences > Privacy & Security? Does the NAS have correct R/W permissions? Let us know.

Thanks.

Kevin

[Drew Read]

I'm going through this right now with Premiere Pro 2025. It wont automatically find the everything else in the same folders... huge time waster...

[Orf]

Did you ever find a fix? I'm having the same issue.

[FrankTheOne]

I don't think there is a fix. Every single "adjusting options" in System Preferences does exaclty zero. I gave up, there must be some OS-level way to manage file names and folders structure that is so different from MacOS to Windows (and vice-versa) which is preventing Premiere to automatically find some files. In my case, this happens the most when accented letters are inside filenames. But nobody will fix or find some solutions to this

[lehestro]

I'm using Premiere 24.5.0 on macOS 14.5. I just encountered this problem, moving files from the cloud (I use the Lucid platform) to local, because Lucid was lagging, and had this issue. Another editor is using files he downloaded from Lucid, but isn't having this problem when he switched over to a relinking to local files because he had downloaded the files from Lucid, that I had uploaded from a local drive. (the pipeline went like this: My local hard drive ––> I upload to Lucid --> Lucid changes file extension to upper case -–> Editor 2 downloads files.

It seems Lucid (and other cloud platforms – someone mentioned frame.io) like to write file extensions in all caps. Going from lower case, to cloud, and back to local changed my file extensions' cases. 

I solved my issue by changing the file extension back to lower case, and now things reconnect as they should. I'm fortunate in that I use an app called Path Finder that allows me to easily batch alter filenames and extensions. I don't know if you can do that with the system Finder. 

I hope this helps. I'm sorry if it's convoluted. I've been up way too late staring at screens way too long. 

[defaultq7qnhzzpgk9f]

I am having the same issue, it's extremely frustrating. Just using one single connected Thunderbolt drive, nothing more. I feel like I need to go to another NLE to avoid the bugs, since there isn't a solution.

[lehestro]

Did you check your file extensions? Does the case (upper or lower) of the files on disk match the case of how Premiere lists the files? 

[defaultq7qnhzzpgk9f]

It all looks the same to me.  Why would PP change the case anyhow?  My issue is that sometimes it works--it connects all the clips, but lately as soon as it doesn't find a clip, it forces me to singularly connect all the rest of them one by one. 

[lehestro]

I don't know why premiere would, and the fact that you're on one drive makes it more confusing (was anyone else handling these files before you?) but maybe worth double checking in the reconnect dialogue box if the files listed have a different capitalization than the files you're reconnecting to.

[defaultq7qnhzzpgk9f]

I appreciate the suggestion, I will definitely look at that. If there is an issue with capitalization, what's the best way to change it to solve the issue?

[lehestro]

Select all your media files in Finder (you might have to do this folder by folder), go to File>Rename and then seclect "replace text" from the drop down menu and replace the upper case file extension with lower case (or vice versa, as the case may be). 

[defaultq7qnhzzpgk9f]

Thanks for this very specific suggestion.  The issue for me was that the proxies were made upper case, and this is an easy way (except the needing to go folder by folder part) to make the adjustment.  

[MikeNuvia]

This also helped me, but it wasn't with the extension, but the entire file name itself.

We use Riverside to record remote podcasts and upload them to google drive for the editors to grab. Riverside would generate files with apostrophes like "riverside_mike's stu_60p.wav," but Google would remove the apostrophe's with an underscore, "riverside_mike_s stu_60p.wav." 

So I highlighted all the files, did the rename feature: "Find: mike_s | Replace with: mike's

Boom, problem solved.

The only downside to this is figuring out what part of the file name is different to replace with, which is basically like the most boring Where's Waldo game.

[Mihai Tica]

Thank you, that was the fix in my case, I had trouble relinking alot of GoPro footage, the extension capitalization sonehow changed when copying the footage across disks using both Win and Macos. Long story short, the filename was the same so unticking "Match File Properties" -> "File Extension" in the "Link media for these clips" window fixed the issue and re-linked all files at once.

[defaultq7qnhzzpgk9f]

Curious, why would it change when only copying?  

[Mihai Tica]

One thing that might have affected this is I tried formatting one drive in multiple file system formats, from APFS to Windows NTFS to the case sensitive MacOS ones, perhaps the extension capitalization got changed when copying from one filesystem to another. I fumbled quite alot trying different ones so no idea what caused the extension changing.

[defaultfaeplbb7964z]

Heya! 

I just had this exact issue and managed to solve it.
SOME files managed to relink without any trouble, but over 100 files wouldn't for whatever reason - I had to do them manually one by one.

Someone else here realized that the extensions had been altered. (.MOV instead of .mov.)
For me it was MP4 - mp4. Strange that it should stop syncing becuase of it, but it was pretty straight forward.

The solution for me was to uncheck file extension under match file properties when relinking media.
So when the upper/lower case letters in the file extension had been altered it simply just searched for the file name instead.
Premiere simply wanted everything to match, which it didn't with an "incorrect" file extension.

This happened to us when we changed the location of our files from an external harddrive to a NAS.

Hope this helps anyone else who stumbles upon this issue.

[LIDBKLYN]

Brilliant! Bump this answer up so people can see it. To recap: UNCHECK  'file extension' option before locating the first file.

[KevinQualls]

Not sure if anyone ever answered this. Had the same issue, deselected "File Extension" and it now links all files.