How to Organize and Find Videos in iMovie Using Events and Libraries
If you’ve ever felt frustrated trying to organize videos in iMovie, you’re not alone — and you’re probably thinking about it the wrong way.
iMovie doesn’t use folders, file trees, or traditional organization methods. Instead, it relies on Libraries, Events, and clip ratings to keep everything manageable. Once you understand this system, finding clips and building projects becomes dramatically easier.
This guide walks through iMovie’s organizational mindset step by step and shows you how to work with the software instead of fighting it.
🎓 What You’ll Learn
• How iMovie Libraries and Events are structured
• Why traditional folder-based thinking doesn’t work in iMovie
• How to visually organize Events using cover frames
• Smart ways to sort, zoom, and skim through clips
• How Favorites, Rejected, and Unrated clips streamline editing
• Keyboard shortcuts that dramatically speed up workflow
• How to search for clips inside large iMovie Libraries
🧠 Understanding Libraries and Events in iMovie
When media is imported into iMovie, it is stored inside a Library, and within that Library, clips live inside Events.
A Library is the main container that holds everything, while Events act like flexible groupings — often organized by trip, project, or moment in time. You can create as many Libraries and Events as you want, but most users work best with a small number of clearly named Events.
Instead of folders, iMovie expects you to organize footage by date, context, and usefulness.
🗂️ Organizing Clips the Way iMovie Expects
Rather than sorting files into nested folders, iMovie encourages you to rate clips:
• Favorites for clips you know you’ll use
• Rejected for unusable footage
• Unrated for clips you’re unsure about
This system allows you to instantly filter clips and focus only on usable footage when building a project — saving enormous amounts of time later.
A few key shortcuts make this fast:
• F → Mark as Favorite
• Delete → Mark as Rejected
• U → Unrate a clip
• R → Select a range within a clip
🔍 Finding Clips Quickly
iMovie includes powerful filtering and search tools:
• Filter by Favorites or Rejected clips
• Sort clips by date, name, or duration
• Adjust clip zoom levels for precise skimming
• Search clips by filename or metadata
Once clips are rated and organized properly, searching becomes almost unnecessary — your best footage naturally rises to the top.
⚙️ Helpful Viewing & Skimming Tips
• Adjust clip zoom to better preview long footage
• Disable audio skimming if playback becomes distracting
• Use Event cover frames to visually identify content
• Close unused Libraries to reduce clutter and confusion
These small tweaks dramatically improve navigation when working with large video collections.