> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://premiereproclub.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to package a Premiere Pro project for another editor - URL: https://premiereproclub.com/package-premiere-pro-project/ - Published: 2026-11-06T16:38:38.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-06T16:57:42.000Z - Description: Collect the sequences and their media with Project Manager, send the folder intact, agree on trimmed media and handles, then check fonts, effects and Object Masks before the other editor plays the copy. - Author: Jack Sullivan - Tags: Export, render & media To package a project in Adobe Premiere (formerly Premiere Pro), open **File > Project Manager**, check the sequences to send and choose **Collect Files and Copy to New Location**. Premiere copies the project and the media those sequences use into a new folder. Send that folder with its structure intact, then have the other editor open the copy on their own computer. Fonts, third-party effects and Object Masks need their own check: the copy doesn't carry font licenses or installed plugins, and mask data lives in a separate folder. I'd use the copy workflow for an editor who still needs to change the cut. Trimming and transcoding throw away spare footage and switch codecs, and the recipient should agree to both first. Keep your original project and source media intact until the received package has been checked. ## Agree on the sequences, spare footage and version first Package after the current edit settles. If timing changes after you collect the files, the other editor needs a new package or a clearly agreed update, not two different cuts with the same name. Ask which sequences the recipient needs and whether they'll recut from alternate takes. A finishing-only handoff and a fresh editorial pass need different amounts of material. **Exclude Unused Clips** leaves out media the original project doesn't use; turn it off when the recipient needs those alternates, and check that they reach the package. Then compare Premiere versions. Within one major version, the number before the dot, [project files open forward and backward](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere/desktop/organize-media/create-projects/backward-compatibility-of-projects.html?ref=premiereproclub.com), so a project saved in 24.6 opens in 24.0\. A newer major version keeps your original and converts the project into a new file when it opens it, and the way back is an XML export that carries only part of the edit. One known exception: projects saved in 25.6.0 wouldn't open in other 25.x versions, and Adobe released a conversion app for them. If the two of you are a major version apart, I'd have the person on the older version [update Premiere](https://premiereproclub.com/update-premiere-pro/) before the transfer starts. Prepare the destination before you open Project Manager. Create an empty folder on the drive that's going to the recipient, not next to the original project, and make sure it has room for the collected media. Project Manager builds its own `Copied_[Project Name]` folder inside whatever location you choose. ## Collect the project and its media into a new folder The [Project Manager copy procedure](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere/desktop/organize-media/create-projects/copy-project.html?ref=premiereproclub.com) works from explicit sequence checkboxes. Having a sequence open in the timeline isn't a substitute for checking it in this dialog. You end up with one folder for the recipient: - `Copied_[Project Name]/` - A new project file, the one the recipient opens. - Footage copied for the selected sequences. - Any audio conform and preview files you chose to include. ![Project Manager dialog with two sequences checked, Collect Files and Copy to New Location selected, three copy options checked and the destination path set to an external drive](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/55/77555393-c1bd-4bdb-8b52-1f1199ed8675/content/images/2026/11/package-premiere-pro-project-dialog.webp) Collect Files and Copy to New Location with two sequences checked. Rename Media Files to Match Clip Names stays off, and the Consolidate fields are greyed out until you pick that option. [Open the full-size dialog](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/55/77555393-c1bd-4bdb-8b52-1f1199ed8675/content/images/2026/11/package-premiere-pro-project-dialog.webp?ref=premiereproclub.com). 1. Save the project, then choose **File > Project Manager**. 2. Under **Sequence**, check each sequence to include. Shift-click any checkbox to select all of them. 3. Select **Collect Files and Copy to New Location**. Premiere creates a new project file linked to the copied media. 4. Set **Exclude Unused Clips** for the handoff you agreed on. Excluding unused clips isn't the same as trimming the source files the cut does use. 5. Choose the optional files below, select **Browse** and pick the folder you prepared. **Calculate** updates the **Disk Space** estimate. 6. Select **OK** to start the copy, then open the resulting folder and look inside before you transfer it. Each of the remaining copy options is a trade: - **Include Audio Conform Files** keeps the audio Premiere has already conformed. Leaving it off makes the package smaller, but Premiere conforms the audio again when the copy opens. - **Include Preview Files** carries the rendered effects previews. Leaving it off means those effects aren't rendered in the new project. A rendered preview still won't install the effect on the other computer. - **Rename Media Files To Match Clip Names** renames the copied footage after the clip names in your Project panel. I'd leave it off unless the recipient asks for those names, because the original filenames make it easier to compare the copy with the source material. Keep the folder's contents together. The **Disk Space** figure is an estimate, and a finished copy still has to open on the other computer before you call the handoff done. ## Send the folder without breaking its structure Move the whole `Copied_[Project Name]` folder as one item. [Keeping the folder structure intact](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere/desktop/organize-media/create-projects/move-project-to-another-computer.html?ref=premiereproclub.com) is what lets the new project find its media on the recipient's computer. ![Copied_Interview Edit folder holding the project file, Footage, conformed audio and the Masks folder, moving to an ExFAT drive or cloud folder and on to the recipient](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/55/77555393-c1bd-4bdb-8b52-1f1199ed8675/content/images/2026/11/package-premiere-pro-project-folder.webp) The whole Copied\_ folder moves as one item, with the Masks folder kept next to the project file inside it. [Open the full-size diagram](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/55/77555393-c1bd-4bdb-8b52-1f1199ed8675/content/images/2026/11/package-premiere-pro-project-folder.webp?ref=premiereproclub.com). - **External drive:** for a handoff between a Mac and a Windows PC, [format the drive as ExFAT](https://premiereproclub.com/premiere-pro-different-drive/). Apple's Disk Utility guide lists [ExFAT as the Windows-compatible format for volumes over 32 GB](https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/file-system-formats-disk-utility-dsku19ed921c/mac?ref=premiereproclub.com). Reformatting erases the drive, so copy anything you need off it first. - **Cloud folder or archive:** upload or compress the folder itself rather than a selection of files from inside it, and have the recipient download or extract it to one location before opening the project. If the recipient already has identical source media on a shared drive, you can send a project copy without the media and let them relink it, following the same [Media Offline relinking steps](https://premiereproclub.com/media-offline-premiere-pro/) they'd use for any moved file. That only works when the files really match. When in doubt, send the full package, and send the Object Masks folder either way. ## Consolidate only when the recipient agrees to trimmed media [Consolidate and Transcode](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere/desktop/organize-media/create-projects/consolidate-and-archive-projects.html?ref=premiereproclub.com) copies only the portions of source footage your sequences use, creates a trimmed project and converts the media into an intermediate or mezzanine codec. Choose it when the recipient wants that working format or only the used ranges of the footage. The cost is material: anything outside the kept ranges and handles stays behind. In Project Manager, check the sequences, choose **Consolidate and Transcode**, then set **Source**, **Format** and **Preset** for the receiving workflow. Source matches the new media to the sequence, to each individual clip or to a preset. A clip that can't match the chosen settings is only copied, not transcoded, so open the result before you describe the package as one codec. [Include Handles keeps extra frames](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere/desktop/organize-media/transfer-files/copy-transcode-or-archive-project.html?ref=premiereproclub.com) before each transcoded clip's In point and after its Out point, from 0 to 999 frames. A value of 30 means 30 frames at each end, not 30 seconds. ![Two filmstrip bars: Collect Files and Copy keeps the whole source clip; Consolidate and Transcode keeps the In-to-Out range plus 30-frame handles and leaves the rest](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/55/77555393-c1bd-4bdb-8b52-1f1199ed8675/content/images/2026/11/package-premiere-pro-project-handles.webp) Collect Files copies the whole source clip; Consolidate and Transcode keeps the used range plus the handles you set. [Open the full-size diagram](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/55/77555393-c1bd-4bdb-8b52-1f1199ed8675/content/images/2026/11/package-premiere-pro-project-handles.webp?ref=premiereproclub.com). Set handles for the changes the next editor expects. A transition or a later trim needs source frames beyond the visible edit point, and a tightly trimmed package leaves less room for either. Pick the value per delivery rather than by habit. Set the destination with **Browse**, review the estimate and select **OK**, then play across the cuts in the copied project. ## Check what the media copy doesn't carry ### Fonts and third-party effects [Adobe Fonts can't be packaged or transferred as font files](https://helpx.adobe.com/fonts/using/font-licensing.html?ref=premiereproclub.com) to another user or computer. An editor who changes live text needs their own license, through a Creative Cloud subscription or a purchased desktop font license. Fonts installed in your computer's Fonts folder come under their own end-user agreements, so check those terms before you share any font file. Send a list of the fonts used in editable titles. A finished [reference video](https://premiereproclub.com/render-export-premiere-pro/) shows the recipient how the titles should look, but it gives them no license to edit with the font. List third-party effects by name and version too. Each plugin is a separate installation, from the vendor or through the [Plugins section of the Creative Cloud desktop app](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere/desktop/use-premiere-with-other-apps/install-plug-ins-and-extensions.html?ref=premiereproclub.com), and some require purchase, so the recipient installs and licenses each one on their side. Ask them to check the vendor's operating-system support as well: Audio Units effects, for example, run only on macOS. Then compare each effect in the received sequence against your original. ### After Effects compositions and Object Masks For Dynamic Link work, agree whether the recipient needs to edit the composition or only play its result. **Convert After Effects Compositions to Clips** flattens linked compositions into video clips that play on a computer without After Effects. That gives up live composition editing, so arrange a separate handoff of the After Effects project and its media when those changes are still needed. Projects that use Object Masks keep their mask data outside the project file, in a folder named ` Masks` next to it. That [mask folder has to travel with the project](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere/desktop/add-video-effects/work-with-masks/object-masking.html?ref=premiereproclub.com). Without it, the masks open offline and show as Missing mask data in the Effect Controls panel. Check that the folder sits next to the project file in the package before you send it. ## Open the received copy on the other computer Have the recipient open the project inside the delivered folder, on a computer where your original media paths don't exist. If the copy opens and plays there, it stands on its own. 1. Open each sequence you agreed to send. Play a picture clip and its sound, then look for missing-media warnings. If a clip is offline, relink it to the files inside the delivered folder rather than to anything outside it. 2. Inspect editable titles, third-party effects and any converted After Effects clips. Compare them with your original, including the frames where an effect first appears. 3. If the project uses Object Masks and Premiere reports them offline, select **Locate** and browse to the delivered Masks folder. 4. Park the playhead before each important edit point and play through it. Listen for sound staying on the lips, and watch for missing frames, gaps or a transition that runs out of picture. Keep your original material until the recipient has played every sequence through its cuts with the sound in sync and no offline clips.