File/Pack Project Materials will save the content to a specific folder of your choosing with a pds file to open the project.

Is this what you're after?

Hi Alisdair -

After you've modified a sequence using Express Project, packing the project materials, as Dafydd suggested, is really the only way to save it in a way that can be re-used or further modified.

BUT (and you may have already found this) once you've inserted your own clips then saved/packed your project & re-open it or insert it into another project, it loses its "express project" qualities. What I mean is, those placeholders that used to have 1, 2, 3 thumbnails become like normal media in a project. i.e. replacing or adding clips works as it normally does in PDR. If you've left placeholders "free", those sections will behave like an Express Project.



No - you cannot save your own Express Projects as new templates, but you can:

1. Open an Express Project sequence


2. Modify durations and keyframe attributes (fades, motion etc), without inserting media


3. Save or pack the project


4. When re-opening the project, it will behave like an Express Project with placeholders.

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

Thanks guys but I don't think I've quite got it. I've packed an opening sequence and I've now re-opened it, saved it as another project in a new directory but when I drop in new images to replace the old ones the transitions and movement are gone. I've just re-read the posts and was my mistake to pack the actual opening, complete with media? Should I instead have used an express project to mimic the opening but without adding media and saved that?

I'll have a go and find out.

OK, partial success. I've got the timing I wanted but not the correct attributes. When I pasted the ones I wanted the dialog box asked me if I wanted to overwrite the existing attributes, which I did. However, it kept attributes from the original express project. I can go back and manually remove these.

Incidentally I saved it as a project. Every time I tried to pack it I got the error message invalid folder name.

Success. Now I know how to make express projects. It did raise another question which I'll post separately. Thanks for the help.