How to find and replace missing media files

• Live Versions: All
• Operating System: All

1. Automatic Search and replacement

In order to find and replace missing media files using the Automatic search:

1. Open File Manager by clicking the orange status Bar notification. Alternatively you can open File Manager at any time from the View menu.
2. Unfold the arrow to the left of Automatic Search.
3. If you know the folder where the missing files are located, you can click Set Folder to choose that folder and then set the Search Folder option to Yes. Alternatively you can drop the folder from Live's browser or from Finder/Explorer onto the File manager window where indicated:
   
4. Press Go. Live will search and replace the missing files once the correct candidates have been found.
5. In case there are multiple candidates found for the missing files, you can review these by clicking the question mark icon to the left of the filename. This displays those files in Live's Browser where you can audition them.
6. Once you find the correct one, drag and drop it over its location in Live's File Manager. The file reference is updated.
7. Once all files have been found, save the Live set to store the new file references.

Please see the Live manual for more details: Locating Missing Files.

2. Manual Search and replacement

In case automatic search and replace is unable to find any candidates, or if you don't know the original location of the sample take the following steps:

1. Right-click on the header bar and select "Path" from the context menu. You will then be shown the original path of the file. This should help to locate the file(s) on your hard drive.
   
2. Find the missing file in Live's Browser or in Finder/Explorer then drag it over to the File Manager and drop it on the respective line in the list of missing files. It doesn't actually matter if it's not the exact missing file.
3. If there are more than one missing files, a dialog pops up and asks if you want to search in the same location for the other missing files. Click "Yes" if they are located in the same folder or nearby folders. Otherwise proceed manually to find the rest of them.

Tip: Use the search function on Finder (Mac)/Explorer (Windows) to search for the file name.

3. Missing files error when opening Note Sets

If you receive the error "Media files are missing" when opening a Note Set opened via Cloud, see the article Troubleshooting Problems with Note Files.