User Manual

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 353
Importing Catalog Items
You can import online and offline items from Cat-
alogs into the current session.
Importing Online Items from a Catalog
Dragging and dropping audio files to the Pro Tools
Clips List and Timeline is identical to dragging
and dropping from Workspace browsers.
Importing Offline Items from a Catalog
With Catalogs, it is possible to search and import
files that are offline. For example, if you have a
music cue that you know you want to use, but it re-
sides on a CD-ROM or other unmounted volume,
you can spot the file from a Catalog to the session
Timeline, and it is automatically imported into the
session when the volume is mounted.
The first step is to add files to a Catalog (files must
be online to be added to a Catalog). Once added to
a Catalog, if the items are taken offline they are
listed in italicized text.
Offline files can be dropped from a Catalog to the
Timeline just like online files. When you drop the
files, a dialog appears asking if you want to relink
the files or skip relinking. Click
Skip All to load all
the items as offline files (in the Timeline, their
clips appear in light blue).
Whenever the volume containing the offline items
is mounted, Pro Tools automatically starts to im-
port the files, in the background. This is true even
if you have saved the session, quit, and relaunched
Pro Tools.
Once the items are completely imported, they ap-
pear as online items in the Timeline, Clips List,
and in the Workspace browser.
If the offline items match the session sample rate,
bit depth, and file format, no conversion is neces-
sary. As long as the volume is playable, the items
become playable in the session as soon as the vol-
ume is mounted.
If the volume is unsuitable for playback, you are
informed that some items must be copied to suit-
able volumes first.
For more information, see “Importing Files
with Drag and Drop” on page 400.
For more information on Transfer files, miss-
ing files, and relinking, see “Relink Window”
on page 347.