Easiest way to fix iMovie crashes (non-technical)

iMovie freezing and crashing on Mac?
In this video a non-technical user runs through the easiest way to restart iMovie when it crashes.
Bri is using Big Sur in a 2019 iMac version 11.2.3. If that means something to you, you're much more technically savvy than I am!
In other words, I won't be able to provide any technical answers for why things are happening.
Hope it helps!
More about Bri: www.briwilliams.com
Music sourced via Epidemic Sound.

[@NYVoice]

Whew! That was close. I just completed a video montages for my mother in law's wake...and along comes the dreaded beach ball. I did just what you said and the terminal test ran for about 15 seconds. I was able to get back in the project and save all the data. Thank you for your non technical genius. My late great mother in law thanks you.

[@BriWilliams]

Wow, I’m so pleased it worked for you for such an important occasion.

[@artisticfinance]

That makes me so happy that it works for such an important event. I realizing I'm commenting a year later but it makes me so happy to read that. I got my work back and saved but not for such a serious event.

[@PurpleTree]

Woman, May God be with you ! 💖 thank you so much !!

[@ragioli5975]

Your little video just allowed 140 at my summer camp to see their pictures and videos. Thank you SO much!! - Gary's Camp.

[@BriWilliams]

I'm so pleased you found the video and it helped - your comment warmed my heart. Thank you.

[@ArryTheStag]

Thanks Bri - I think I fixed it, plus deleted a whole load of old videos clugging the system up - wasted a whole day faffing around with this! ..What joy! . All the best and thanks again

[@BriWilliams]

Frustrating, isn't it! Glad the video helped Arry.

[@mcortez69]

Thank you so so so much!!! I was making a video for my dad's birthday and was horribly worried it was all lost to the beach ball. Probably time to get a new computer though hahaha. Appreciate it so much!

[@BriWilliams]

So glad to hear it worked for you! Yes, I finally had to get a new Mac and it's definitely worth it if you do lots of videos. Before that, I moved some files on to a hard drive to free up space and that helped a bit.

[@Garymo2u]

Bri, you did a fantastic job on this video! Absolutely fantastic!!! Don’t know if it’s going to work as iMovie is loading on my iMac, but you did an outstanding job nonetheless!!!❤

[@BriWilliams]

Thanks so much @Garymo2u. Hope it worked for you!

[@KazzaGullet]

Thank god I found this video! iMovie annoys the crap out of me when it does this!!

[@BriWilliams]

It's a pain, isn't it!

[@TRAEDONYATOURSTATION]

Wow!!!! It worked!!! Thank you much!!!!! Cheers, Happy New Year to you and yours ❤😂

[@BriWilliams]

So happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know.

[@TuplinTuplin]

I have a short film about a hamster murder mystery due tomorrow and this saved it THANK YOU!

[@BriWilliams]

That must have been so stressful! Glad it helped.

[@MAGICJACKATX]

Thank you so much for that terminal hack!! It fixed it right away! I will subscribe for you.

[@BriWilliams]

I’m so pleased it worked for you 👏

[@PowNyTales]

I want to be your first subscriber :) Super explanation👍 Understood super well also as a foreign guy 🙏🍀

[@Pumpkin-Friend]

In my case, this didn't work. I also tried multiple other solutions from various online articles including reinstalling the app, deleting the preferences, launching it in guest mode, and launching it in safe mode. No matter what I did, the app would open and the color wheel would spin indefinitely. In the end, I found my own guesswork solution...moving the library file out of the Home>Movies folder. Once I did that, the app opened and auto-generated a fresh empty library. Now that I could access the menu, I could select the old library and now it opened fine. It wasted most of my day though. Hope this helps someone else in cases when your fix doesn't do the trick.

[@BriWilliams]

Shame it didn't work for you, but glad you found another solution and it's really kind of you to share it here. Thanks!

[@Pumpkin-Friend]

@@BriWilliams 😊

[@killahnoez]

Thanks it did help for me. Question, I moved the Library to the desktop, did you keep yours in a specific place, or did you put it back?

[@Pumpkin-Friend]

@@killahnoez It's been awhile, but it looks like my current iMovie library is in the Mac "Movies" folder while I placed the old libraries in a separate folder on my external drive. Hope this answers your question.

[@killahnoez]

@@Pumpkin-Friend understood. Thanks again for putting up your solution. Glad I stumbled upon it, because none of the other methods were working for me, yours did. Now we are back up and running, and back to editing silly baseball videos and what not, cheers!

[@nfprojectshop]

Had to watch for the third time now!!

[@BriWilliams]

I've had to rewatch it myself when iMovie stalls! I've actually started using VEED as an editing alternative bc iMovie was so temperamental. Good luck!

[@nfprojectshop]

@@BriWilliams thanks I'll look into that one.

[@antoniogarrett1176]

So, So, HELPFUL!!! TY!!! So MUCH!!! Have a GREAT Day!

[@nynakb]

Thank you for this ! You saved my video !

[@BriWilliams]

I'm so pleased. Thank you for thanking me 😃

[@AbeerSharaf]

Let’s try this method again.

[@itsjesshart]

Wow, THANK YOU!! This helped me I was so scared lol

[@elliejo9910]

Are you my fairy Godmother ? Thank you, this worked ! xx

[@poppybeesurfaces8674]

Hallelujah!! Thank you SO MUCH!!

[@lifewithlaniDUH]

THANKS BRI!

[@DJEDIYENUWZ]

It worked like a charm. EyE See and Appreciate You

[@BriWilliams]

That’s great. Thanks for letting me know.

[@vickyzesu]

Omg you're amazing! It worked. thank you for this video!!

[@BriWilliams]

So glad it worked for you 😊

[@selinachenyy]

OMG I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[@BriWilliams]

Sounds like it worked then?!🤣 Great news!

[@nfprojectshop]

Watching for a 4 the time now! I’m starting to hate I movie!

[@BriWilliams]

I totally understand! I tend to use VEED instead now. It's a paid service and has its own issues but it's good to have an alternative for those days iMovie is not playing nice.

[@hiddenapproach]

Wow I’m surprised that works, thank you!

[@BriWilliams]

So pleased it worked for you

[@aaronheinzen]

Thank you Bri!!!!!

[@TanayaChabukswar24]

Thank you sooo much😍it worked for me😁my files are safe💗

[@BriWilliams]

I'm so pleased. Thanks for letting me know.

[@Witzomania]

Thank you, that fixed it

[@BriWilliams]

That’s great. Thanks for letting me know 😊

[@indradandelions]

Thank you soo much! You saved my life!💖

[@BriWilliams]

Glad it helped Indra!

[@Tsephel]

Thankyou the video helped !!

[@kenleybeer3]

Thanks This Helped A Lot

[@BriWilliams]

Glad it helped

[@mariemueller8888]

OMG thank you, I hope this will work for me!

[@linkdandyparanormalnetwork]

Thank you,

[@fashionethics7599]

It works, thanks a lot🥰

[@BriWilliams]

excellent!

[@PrettyPlugged]

Omgeee thank you it worked!!!!🎉

[@TheLifeandSadEnding]

How long does this take? I tried for about an hour, no luck.

[@BriWilliams]

It depends on how much stuff the system has to work through, I suppose. In the video I mention 5-10 mins because that's been my typical experience, but it may take longer. Good luck!

[@ForeverYoungfitness92]

I think this worked.. thank you!

[@BriWilliams]

excellent

[@Barretsboxers]

Thank you so much xx

[@FancyDancyVlogs]

Thank you so much

[@BriWilliams]

Glad it helped 😁

[@herp25]

Thank You!

[@ziggymilla001]

how long do you leave it to RUN

[@BriWilliams]

As I mention in the video, maybe 5-10 minutes. Not really sure.

[@Aseabasplace]

Thanks! Saving to favorites!!

[@timothyjwalking]

Thank you.

[@nfprojectshop]

I think its going to work for me, thank you for your help, Now i can get back to editing my videos for my you tube build Optimus Prime! "NF Project Shop"

[@BriWilliams]

Did you give a try and did it work for you? Let me know!

[@VikramGFitness]

Yes it did thank you so much mam!😁🙏🏽❤️

[@jumpydoggo0423]

I’m having a different issue, I think anyways. It will work for about 2-3 seconds, bam! It freezes. I don’t know how to fix it either

[@BriWilliams]

@@jumpydoggo0423 Not sure I can help besides what I've said in the video.

[@jumpydoggo0423]

@@BriWilliams its been resolved, turns out I had atleast 2 hours of stuff crashing it, solution, delete it

[@gregred1376]

Thanks heaps trying it now 🤞

[@BriWilliams]

Did it work for you Greg?

[@gregred1376]

@@BriWilliams it didn't work but the solution was pretty simple iMovie's library was full but the app kept crashing before I could even open it The way I fixed it was clicking on the apple icon in the top corner then about this Mac, click on storage, then manage... Then clicking documents I could delete my iMovie library and it worked again 😃

[@BriWilliams]

Glad you were able to resolve it in the end! Surprised that the Terminal script didn’t fix it though.

[@-Artist_Unknown-]

I actually crashed my iMovie by putting to many texts into a video and I’m on an ipad and It won’t let me click on any of my videos what do I do 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@BriWilliams]

Hope you were able to sort it out. As I say in my video, I'm not into the technical aspects so sorry I can't help.

[@boxritemastermind7939]

thanks

[@daskaminc.9628]

That worked

[@swami1]

I just tried your method. “Terminal” opened up, filled in a few lines, then immediately stopped. I know you mentioned that it’s not stuck, but does it close itself when finished or do I have to manually close it after a while? It’s now been about 5 minutes and it’s still not moving.

[@BriWilliams]

Leave it to run and it will do what it needs to do

[@swami1]

@@BriWilliams Okay. I probably closed it too soon because I still get the spinning beach ball while trying to edit on iMovie.

[@BriWilliams]

Yes it’s best to be patient. Sometimes it takes over 10 mins.

[@swami1]

@@BriWilliams Thanks for being responsive. That’s unusual on YT.

[@pulkitpandey2416]

it is a real ppain

[@BriWilliams]

Yes, I wish Apple would stabilise iMovie some how

[@miamiwax5504]

no luck

[@BriWilliams]

That's a shame. Sometimes it can take an absurdly long time, so be patient! I've never not had it work for me.

[@josualnew1512]

THANK YOU