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Archiving an iDVD project to back it up or transfer it to another computer

You can archive your iDVD project to back it up or transfer it to another computer. This is useful in an environment with several computers, such as a computer lab, where only certain computers contain a SuperDrive or have an external DVD burner for burning DVDs.

When you archive your project, iDVD keeps all the assets (movies, photos, audio files, themes, and the files in the DVD-ROM section of the project) together and linked so that the project can be moved and reopened without errors.

Archiving a project can take some time because all the data in the project must be copied and relinked. You can cancel the archiving process at any time.

Note: If your project uses a special font, make sure that font is installed on the computer where you transfer your project. Otherwise, you won’t see the font in your project.

To archive your iDVD project:

Step 1

Check the file permissions for the media assets (photos, movies, and so on) in the project and set them to Read & Write if you want others to be able to open or copy the assets in the archived project.

Step 2

Choose File > Archive Project, and then click Save.

Step 3

Type a name for your archived project.

Step 4

Locate the folder where you want to save the project.

The size of the current project is displayed in the Archive Project dialog.

Step 5

Click “Include themes” if you want to archive the theme or themes used in your project.

Select this option if you are using customized themes that might not exist on another computer.

Step 6

Click “Include encoded files” so that the project files won’t need to be reencoded after being moved to a different location.

If you want to save time and hard disk space, however, leave this option unchecked.

Step 7

Click Save.

A progress bar shows that your project is being archived. The larger the project, the longer it takes to archive.

Your project is saved with the word “Archived” in the file name.

You can open the archive and continue to edit the project if necessary.

Note: If you open a project archive and add media files to it, those files are not automatically added to the archive. So if you want to include those files in the archive, you must archive the project again.

Related Topics

Creating a disc image of a project

If your archived project can’t be used by others

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