This project could not be loaded, it may be damaged or contain outdated elements

[dominics65875959]

Hi - I'm having a problem with premiere cc 2017 on Windows 10.

Saved and backed up my project as usual last night. As I shut down the computer, windows stared an update. Everything seemed to run without a problem.

...but trying to open the project this morning and I get:

"The project could not be loaded, it may be damaged or contain outdated elements"

What!!?

Back up version has the same problem. Latest auto-save works, but that was made over 24 hours before my latest save, so I lost a LOT of work.

I tried to import the project file / sequences back into another premiere project; and into After Effects. Nothing.

I manually cleared all media cache files. Still nothing.

Restarted computer; logged in / out of Premiere; tried to open project as another user and on another computer. NOTHING.

After trawling the web I have found no other solutions.

Looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and redo all my work.

Would be happy to hear further ideas to try if anyone has any. Or even an explanation of why this happened.

The really worrying thing is I can't see anything I did wrong. I am using the latest version of Premiere, I saved regularly and made a backup on another hard drive at the end of the day.

What more can I do except pray that this bug won't happen again? Not the sign of a professional software package...

[Jim_Simon]

When you import into another project, try one sequence at a time.  Open that sequence in the new project before you try importing another.

This could help pinpoint a problem sequence.

[dominics65875959]

Tried importing. Doesn't work importing whole project or sequence by sequence or into after effects.

[Jim_Simon]

OK.

What exactly happens when you try importing a single sequence into a new PP project?  Have you restarted PP and tried each sequence?

[dominics65875959]

Hi Jim, thanks for taking an interest in this.

So, I go to file, import, select import individual sequences, the window tries to connect to dynamic server, then "The project could not be opened"

So frustrating - and actually nerve wracking to think that despite frequently saving a project and backing up on a different computer I may not be able to access my work in the morning...

It would be such a shame to leave Adobe as I like using CC (WHEN IT WORKS) but if there's no solution or at least explanation for this problem I may find myself brushing up on my final cut skills...

[Jim_Simon]

I go to file, import

Aha!  Don't do that.  Use the Media Browser for Import duties.

[dominics65875959]

Thanks for the suggestion. Just tried that...

I located the problem project file in media browser, right clicked, and tried to import individual sequences, and then the whole project. Exactly the same problem both times: "The project could not be opened"

[Jim_Simon]

So, you're able to see into the project in Media Browser?  You can dig down into the bins and find the individual sequences?

If so, what exactly happens when you select one sequence, right click and Import that?  Don't go past this one step.  Choose one sequence, test it, observe the results and report back.

[dominics65875959]

Oh, never knew you could do that!

But it doesn't work...

I click the little triangle but no folders / sequences appear underneath, (as they do with my other project files that aren't corrupt)

[Jim_Simon]

Don't click the triangle in the left pane.  Double click on the project file in the right pane.

[PRB-FEC]

Starting up a new project (I named this one just 'recovery') and import selected sequences (the only box I checked, by the way) did help me to recover the damaged file. It saved me a lot of work!!
Leaves the question: how come the file as well as the backup file in the cloud (as well as all the previous auto saved files) can't be opened in PP CC 2017.1.2. v11.0. An ever better question, how to prevent files to get damaged in the first place? Or are we facing a yet unresolved bug here?

[Jim_Simon]

This doesn't seem to be commonly reported, so likely it's a one-off glitch with your project.

[dominics65875959]

The only think I could think that may have caused the file to corrupt was the Windows update that happened when I shut the computer down the evening before. But if this was the reason, surely it would have affected others, too. If you say no one else is reporting similar problems, maybe you're right and it was just a one-off glitch. But that doesn't leave me with the greatest confidence of working with Adobe CC in the future...

[daapap]

You are not alone with this - i had this happen too. In my case inoticed it switching back and forth between projects, so only 3 hours of work were lost. But three automatic backup files had been corrupted as well.

I did not know about all the possibilities Jim mentions, but importing in after effects, importing into new projects, even only selected sequences, did not work here also.

No Windows updates took place at that time, btw.

[Jim_Simon]

I do remember that update, and none of my own projects were so affected.

[Dean_Utian]

I have experienced the same thing. I did manage to open the file and get it to work.

My experience (Windows):
Saved the project all seemed OK. Opened the project by double clicking the file. Got the error that the file may be damaged. Closed Premiere, then opened the file by browsing to it. The file opened fine.

So, for me, it was not that the project was actually corrupt but something in the way Premiere was trying to load it.

What is your OS and how are you opening the file?

[DW_DAT]

I'm having a similar problem... I opened a video I worked on last year and converted it since Premiere had changed since last year.  I saved the file to a new folder and then noticed that I was having Typekit issues and I had been logged out of Typekit.  I logged into Typekit and saw that my fonts were over the sync limit and dumped a few to get down to under 100.  I closed out Premiere and then went to go open it back up and open my new file.  I got the dreaded error where it just can't open the file.  so I go back to open my ORIGINAL project files from the project last year and Premiere is throwing the same error with those as well even though they had not been updated in literally a year.  I can't open any of my auto-save files for this project or any of my backups.  I tried to create a new file and import the project via import or the media browser and it didn't work either way, even though the media browser can see the sequences in the original file.  My hunch is that this problem has something to do with the new Creative Cloud app which got updated this week and something to do with how the Typekit syncing has changed.  I just find it infuriating that I have a deadline coming up quickly and I can't open up files which haven't been modified.

[westmeetseast]

Had the exact same problem as the OP.....

Tried downgrading versions, on PC and Mac and nothing helped.

Eventually redid 5 hours of work.

[Didier_Lenglaert]

Same happened today, The mediabrowser solution did it for me ! THX Windows 10, no update