How do you move a Premiere Pro project to another editor?
If the other person also uses Premiere Pro, use its Project Manager to collect the project and every file it uses into one folder, then send them that folder. If they use different editing software, you will need either a format both programs can read, such as XML or AAF, or software that can open the Premiere Pro project directly. Either way, send the footage along with the project, because the project only points at media.
A Premiere Pro project file holds your bins and your sequences. It does not hold the footage. Send someone the project alone and they will open a timeline full of offline clips. Moving a project well is mostly about making sure the media goes with it and can be found at the other end.
If they also cut in Premiere Pro
- Tidy first. Delete sequences nobody needs and clear out test clips. Everything left will be copied.
- Use Project Manager. In Premiere Pro, Project Manager can collect the project and the media it uses into one new folder. You can choose to copy only the media used in selected sequences, which keeps the folder small.
- Check the folder before you send it. Open the copied project on your own machine, with the original drive unplugged if you can. Make sure nothing is offline.
- Note anything that lives outside the project. Fonts and third-party effects are installed on your computer, not stored in the project. List them for the next editor.
- Send it whole. A shared drive or a large file transfer both work. Keep the folder structure as it is.
When the other editor opens it and something is offline, they can relink to the copied media from inside Premiere Pro.
If they cut in different software
Each editor has its own project format, so you need a bridge.
- XML or AAF carry the timeline in a form other software can read. They bring across cuts and basic audio reliably. Effects and titles often need rebuilding.
- EDL is the simplest list of edits. It is useful for a conform, but it leaves out most of what makes a timeline a working edit.
- Opening the project directly is the most complete route, where the other software supports it.
Whatever route you take, send a reference video of the cut. The next editor can play it side by side with their timeline to check every shot is in the right place.
How B/side handles it
B/side opens Premiere Pro projects directly. You drop the project in and the cut opens. A Premiere reframe arrives as the move it is, with its keyframes. Anything that does not come across is named on the frame, so the next editor knows exactly what to check, rather than finding out in a screening.
The footage stays where it is. Ingest it the same way as any other footage, by dropping the folder into B/side.
When something else is better
If the next editor is staying in Premiere Pro, Project Manager is the right tool and you do not need anything else. Opening the project in another editor makes sense when the person taking over prefers a different way of cutting, or when the team is moving to a shared project.
Last reviewed