Something's changed and I can't find my files to import into projects -- can you help?

What changed is that several major versions ago, they redesigned the New Project step to be more simplified, kind of like how the mobile apps are. However, the problem is the redesign looks different than a standard Mac or Windows file system screen, and many standard file system shortcuts don’t work on this screen so how to proceed can be puzzling…it’s not just you, this confusion has come up before. You do have a couple of ways to go here.

One way is that you might be able to get to your Dropbox folder through this Import screen. Notice that on my Mac pictured below, the Cloud category on the left includes Dropbox, so does it also list Dropbox on your computer? If it does, click that, and the folders inside the Dropbox folder will be listed in the middle panel so you can find your files in Dropbox.

Another option is to skip that whole thing and just do it the old way. That’s what I do. To use this method, forget everything you see on this black screen, ignore the big blue message that says you have to select media here (you really don’t have to yet) and instead go straight to the bottom right corner and click the big blue Create button. That will create the empty unsaved project and it switches to the standard Premiere Pro workspace, which should look more familiar to you. Once that appears, you can do whatever you are used to, such as use the File > Import command, or drag files from the desktop and drop them in the Project window, or use File > Import from Media Browser or Window > Media Browser. Notice that the Media Browser, like the Import screen, lists Dropbox in the Cloud Sync category.