Pinnacle Studio 12 renaming project

[Peter Stedman]

Occasionally try to help a lady with editing her video in Pinnacle Studio 12+. Having progressed well and always saving the project with a ‘name’. She then thought the name wasn't appropriate for the main subject matter, so we did the obvious thing of re-naming the project in Explorer. She (we) now can’t open the project all. I tried to rename it back to the original name but no luck at the moment. Any ideas on this please?

Being wise after the event is easy of course, we should just have done a ‘save as’ whilst the project was open. However, too late now. Pete

[Mike Shaw]

It is a very long time since I used any version of Pinnacle Studio - but isn't it possible to click on 'Open', and then browse to the renamed project and open it? I can understand it not being open-able from the project list in Studio. What may happen is the project will have 'lost contact' with the name-unchanged edl list and assets. In which case it could be possible to do a thorough PC search on the original name to find the components that also need to have a name change. Then, if and when the project can be opened, it should be possible to find the missing assets (lost through the name changes) by using Studio's re-linking capabilities.

Unfortunately I cannot put any of this to the test, and it is all from memory. But I am pretty sure it should be possible to open a true Studio project one way or another, whatever its name.

[Peter Stedman]

Thank you Mike for taking the trouble to reply, especially as you no longer use Pinnacle. When I visit the lady again shortly, I will follow your tips and see how we get on. Clearly nothing has actually been deleted, it's just a case of finding it again. Cheers. Pete.

[Mike Shaw]

I had another thought: Studio project files (I can't remember the file extension now - but let's say it is stx) should be recognised in Windows as being opened by the Studio programme.

So, before opening Studio go to the renamed project file in Explorer ... and simply double click on it. That should say to Windows - 'This extension means it is a Studio project file - so open it with Studio'.

That should work - if it doesn't, the only reason is the extension has been changed as well - or even removed. In which case, make sure the extension is correct and back in place - 'mynewproject.stx' (whatever the extension should be, of course).

My money is on that method. If that doesn't work ... and it still doesn't open, then the last thing to do on this train of thought is to right click on the renamed project file, and select the 'Open with' option. Then from the Explorer selection window, choose the Studio Programme (Studio.exe probably). If that doesn't work then I think the project file may well be corrupt somehow. And I would be out of answers...

Once you have the file open in Studio - first thing to do is 'Save As' ! Hopefully, all assets will be found.

Good luck. (Let me know how you get on!)

[Peter Stedman]

Thanks again. It might be several days before I visit the lady again. Pete