Tutorials Video

Getting a Premiere Timeline to Land in Resolve

By Infinite Creation · Advanced · ~13 min

Overview

Moving a timeline between applications fails in two different ways and people conflate them. The first is that something did not translate, a transition replaced by a dissolve or a title that did not arrive. The second is that everything translated perfectly and the clips are offline, because Resolve could not find the media. The second is far more common, entirely preventable, and decided by two checkboxes most people click past. This page is about those two checkboxes and the search Resolve runs behind them.

Kit and Prerequisites

An XML or AAF exported from Premiere, and the media it refers to
Resolve, at the Load dialog rather than past it
To know whether you are conforming to media already in the Media Pool or importing it fresh

Working Through It

Know what Resolve is actually doing when you press import

It is not opening a file. It is reading a description of a timeline and then hunting for every piece of media that description refers to, in a fixed order, giving up only at the end. The manual sets that order out plainly. Resolve matches the file paths recorded in the XML or AAF against clips already in the Media Pool, then imports what it can from any storage volume visible to it using those same paths, then falls back to matching clip names, then to matching timecode along with reel name if that is enabled, and only then asks you to point at a folder. Every setting below changes where in that cascade you enter.

The default case: same media, same file extensions

Turn “Automatically import source clips into media pool” on and “Ignore file extensions when matching” off. This is the setting to use when the file refers to media you want added to the Media Pool, and it is the one that runs the full cascade described above. If your media is where the XML says it is, this works and you will never think about it again.

The case that matters: cutting on proxies, finishing on originals

Turn both checkboxes on. The manual gives this exact scenario: an edit cut against QuickTime proxies that needs to conform back to the original camera RAW for grading. With both on, Resolve imports and relinks the original files in one operation, matching on clip names and ignoring the extension difference that would otherwise defeat it. Getting this wrong is the single most common reason a conform ends up as a screen of red offline clips.

The case for dailies: relink only, import nothing

Turn “Automatically import” off when the camera media is already in the Media Pool and you are conforming an edit back to it, for example against dailies you created in Resolve earlier. Resolve then matches file paths against existing clips, falls back to clip names, and finally to timecode and reel name. Worth knowing: in this mode the manual states the file name is not used at the timecode stage.

For AAF from an Avid room, there is a fourth option

“Link to source camera files” appears only for AAF imports. It relinks to the original camera files using the Source Name metadata that Media Composer and Symphony record in the AAF. If the AAF came out of an Avid suite rather than Premiere, this is the setting that saves the conform.

When it asks for a folder, do not point it at the whole drive

The manual warns about this directly. Resolve always searches every subdirectory of whatever you select, so choosing an entire volume will find the media and can take a very long time, with shared storage called out specifically. Point it at the shoot folder, not at the top of the SAN.

For the clips that still will not conform, force them

If a clip stays unlinked even though the right media is sitting in the Media Pool, the Conform Lock with Media Pool Clip command forces that timeline clip to conform to a clip you choose. It suspends the usual matching, ignoring file names and reel names in favour of your selection, while still using timecode to align the clip in the timeline. This is the tool for the last three stubborn clips rather than for the first fifty.

Worth knowing:

Export the XML with the media in its final location if you can. Every problem on this page is Resolve failing to find a file that moved after the export was written.
Turn on “Use sizing information” if you want Premiere position, scale, rotation and crop values brought across. The manual says those transform values are applied, and keeps them separate from Resolve native transforms.
Check the timeline frame rate before you import. A fresh project at a different rate is easier to fix at the dialogue than afterwards.

Knowledge Base

Reference Notes

Two things this page does not tell you, and why.

What this page does not claim

The obvious companion question is what actually survives the trip: whether a speed ramp keeps its curve, whether eased keyframes stay eased, whether an Essential Graphics title arrives as anything at all. This page does not answer that, and the omission is deliberate rather than an oversight.

Answering it honestly needs one of two things. Either the behaviour is tested on real projects in named versions of both applications, or it is taken from the vendors' own documentation. We have neither. Adobe's documentation could not be reached: every attempt to fetch their published pages on interchange export returned a refusal at their content network on 11 September 2026. Rather than repeat a list assembled from neither testing nor a readable source, the question is left open.

The one thing that can be stated is narrow and sourced. Blackmagic documents that with the sizing option enabled, position, scale, rotation and crop values applied in the originating application are carried onto Resolve transform parameters. That is about values, and says nothing about whether the animation between them keeps its shape.

Why conforming matters more than translating

Translation problems announce themselves. A missing title is visible, a dissolve where a fancy transition used to be is visible, and both are fixed in minutes by someone who can see them. Conform problems are quieter and more expensive. A clip that relinked to the wrong take, or to a proxy when you meant the original, looks entirely correct on the timeline and is discovered at grade or at delivery.

That is why the two checkboxes deserve the attention this page gives them. They are not a convenience setting. They decide which of five different strategies Resolve uses to work out what your timeline is pointing at.

Where This Fits

A conform moves the edit between tools, one handoff in the arc Video Production Fundamentals follows.

FAQ

Q: Everything came in offline. What did I do wrong?
A: Most often the media has a different extension from what the XML records, which is the proxy to original case, and “Ignore file extensions when matching” was off. Re-import with both checkboxes on.

Q: Does this page tell me what survives the trip?
A: No, and deliberately. That is a separate question about what translates rather than what relinks, and it is covered only as far as the vendor documentation goes. See the note below on what is not claimed here.

Q: Is AAF better than XML for this?
A: For conforming, AAF carries one extra option, the link to source camera files using Avid Source Name metadata. Beyond that the cascade is the same.

Vocabulary

Conform Matching every clip that an imported timeline description refers to against real media, either already in the Media Pool or on a storage volume Resolve can see. It is a separate problem from translating the edit, and its failures are quieter and more expensive.

Matching cascade The fixed order Resolve works through to find media for an imported XML or AAF. It tries recorded file paths against the Media Pool, then imports by path, then matches clip names, then timecode with reel name, and only then asks you for a folder.

Conform Lock Short for the Conform Lock with Media Pool Clip command, which forces one timeline clip to conform to a Media Pool clip you choose. It ignores file names and reel names in favour of your selection while still using timecode to align the clip.

Use sizing information An option in the Load dialog that applies position, scale, rotation and crop values set in the originating application to Resolve transform parameters. It carries the values only, and says nothing about whether animation between them keeps its shape.

Sources

The import behaviour on this page is from the vendor manual, read directly. What is not sourced is not claimed. Checked 2026-09-11.

Blackmagic Design, DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual. Read 2026-09-11, version 21. Chapter 22, Importing and Conforming Timelines, pages 496 and 497, sets out how the “Automatically import source clips into media pool” and “Ignore file extensions when matching” settings interact, the order in which Resolve attempts to match media, the “Link to source camera files” option for AAF imports using Source Name metadata, and the warning that selecting an entire volume searches all subdirectories and can be slow on shared storage. Page 504 covers the Conform Lock with Media Pool Clip command. The description of the sizing option applying position, scale, rotation and crop values is from the Edit page Inspector section.
Adobe, Export a project as a Final Cut Pro XML file. NOT READ. Attempted 11 September 2026 and refused with an HTTP 403 at Adobe's content network, as were the other interchange pages. This is why no claim is made here about what Premiere does or does not translate on export. Recorded as an access finding rather than a settled one, per CONTENT_STYLE.md 5.2b.