iLife 05: The Missing Manual
13.6. Converting Older Projects
When you open a project created by an older version of the program, iMovie asks permission to update its file format into the iMovie HD format. If you want to edit the project in iMovie HD, you have no choice; you must click OK. Doing so creates a new project file, and preserves a copy of the original with the filename suffix ".iMovie2Project" (see Figure 13-6, bottom). Now, even if you click OK, your old iMovie project folder doesn't get turned into the new-style, single-icon project file as described earlier. Instead, iMovie HD leaves you with the original project folder, with a few new files and folders deposited there for safety. (See Figure 13-6 for an illustration.) When the conversion is finished, you still have a document inside called Cruise. That's your new iMovie HD project file, the one you should double-click the next time you want to open it (identified in Figure 13-6 at bottom). Your converted project folder also contains a copy of the old, untouched original, now called Vacation.iMovie2Project. That's a backup copy of your original, which iMovie HD thoughtfully deposits there just in case. Note: Be careful, in the future, not to open the Vacation.iMovie2Project document by mistake. If you try, iMovie will offer to convert it to iMovie HD format again, you'll spin out a second backup copy, and you'll wonder why the editing you did in iMovie HD yesterday isn't showing up. Don't open the version with the ~ symbol, either (Vacation.~iMovieProj); that's your "Revert to Saved" copy, an older draft that iMovie maintains for its own backtracking purposes. So what if you do want iMovie to convert the old project folder into the new-style, single-icon document? After you've opened it up, choose File |