Editing the MLT?

Help/How To
#1

My Video development is iterative, with later drafts excluding images and audios from earlier drafts. For example, I removed para08.mp3 and para09.mp3 from my Midwest.mlt timeline. But when I delete them from the folder, ShorCut still expects them upon re-opening Midwest.mlt. (Yes, after multiple times of replying cancel to the popup, I restored the obsolete files to the folder.) Rather aggravating.

Opening Midwest.mlt with MS Notepad reveals para08.mp3 as a “resource” property in what appears to be an XML element under a “chain” parent id’d “chain4”. The only reference I find to “chain4” is as a “producer” property within an “entry” element underneath a “playlist” parent id’d “main_bin”.

I know XML only in principle. Would I be corrupting ShotCut by removing the chain element “chain4” and the corresponding entry within “main_bin”?

Running ShotCut 22.03.30 under Windows 10 Home version on a Dell Inspiron laptop.

#2

I do not recommend editing the XML. You can experiment with it on a copy a file if you wish, of course, but I am not interested to guide you. Rather, click OK on the missing files dialog with whatever files you want to leave unresolved. Then, locate the items in your project probably in the playlist. Now you can remove them.

#3

But you didn’t remove them from your playlist, apparently. As long as the file is still in the playlist, it is still part of the project and Shotcut will look for it when you open the project file. If you aren’t using the playlist, delete all the clips from it.

#4

Thank you. I suspected there was a better way.

#5

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