Fixing media offline and growing files in Video by Zaweba
Video by Zaweba re-reads recordings still being written with Refresh growing files, and File > Relink finds moved media by searching a folder by name.
Sooner or later a project opens with clips marked Media offline. Files have moved, a drive has a new letter, or a folder has been renamed. Video by Zaweba makes that a short repair, and it also handles the opposite case, files that are still growing because a recording is in progress.
Why media goes offline
A project does not contain your footage. It points to files on your drives. When a file is no longer where the project expects, the clip shows Media offline instead of the picture. Nothing in your edit is lost; the cuts, effects and positions are all still there, waiting for the media to be found.
The usual causes are ordinary housekeeping: moving a project folder, plugging an external drive into a different port so it gets a different letter, or opening a project on another computer.
Relinking
Choose File > Relink and point it at a folder. The app searches that folder by file name and reconnects the offline clips to the files it finds. If you moved a whole project folder, pointing Relink at its new home usually brings everything back at once.
Because the search is by name, it helps to keep file names stable. Renaming footage after it is in a project makes relinking harder. If you need tidy names, set them before importing.
When a timeline comes in from another editor, its clips may also arrive offline. Relinking them works the same way.
Growing files
A growing file is a recording that is still being written, for example a long event being captured to disk while you start editing the first part. Normally an editor sees the file as it was when imported and knows nothing of what has been added since. Refresh growing files re-reads those recordings so the clip includes the new material.
This suits live and near-live work: cutting highlights from a talk while it is still going, or starting on a long recording without waiting for it to finish. Refresh whenever you need the latest part.
Habits that prevent trouble
Keep each project's media inside one project folder where you can, so moving the folder moves everything together and a single relink fixes it. Give external drives a fixed letter in Windows if you swap them about. And do not delete or rename files in a media folder while a project is open.
When a job ends, run the Project manager to collect what the project uses into one place. A self-contained folder is the best defence against offline media later.
When files are truly gone
If Relink cannot find a file, it may have been deleted or may be on a drive that is not connected. Check your backups and other drives before rebuilding anything. Clips that stay offline keep their place on the timeline, so you can replace them with other material when you are ready.
Relinking and growing files are small tools in Video by Zaweba's set of file tools, but they turn a frightening moment, a project full of missing media, into a minute's work.
