# DaVinci Resolve Project Not Showing in Project Manager: Fixed

> **Quick answer:** A DaVinci Resolve project usually isn't gone, Project Manager is just looking at the wrong place. Check the Project Library sidebar (Local vs Cloud vs Shared with me), confirm your database is actually connected, and check you're logged in as the same user or member who created it. Reconnecting the database or switching users almost always brings it back.

*Published by [TryUncle](https://tryuncle.com) — the on-screen assistant that teaches DaVinci Resolve on your own screen.*
*Updated 2026-07-19 · DaVinci Resolve 21.0.2 (July 2026) · Canonical: https://tryuncle.com/learn/davinci-resolve/davinci-resolve-project-not-showing-in-project-manager*

You open DaVinci Resolve, the Project Manager loads, and the project you worked on yesterday just isn't there. Not greyed out. Not showing an error. Gone, like it never existed, while the rest of your projects sit in the grid exactly where you left them.

Your first thought is probably the worst one: deleted, corrupted, gone for good. It almost never is. I went through the Blackmagic Forum threads, the Creative COW archive, and Blackmagic's own manual on how Project Manager actually decides what to list, and the pattern holds up every time: a missing project is a project Resolve isn't currently looking for, not a project that stopped existing. Below is every place it can be hiding, in the order that actually finds it fastest, followed by the one scenario where it really is something worse and what to do about that too.

## Why does a DaVinci Resolve project vanish from Project Manager?

Project Manager doesn't scan your hard drive for projects the way Finder or File Explorer browses for documents. It shows you exactly one thing: whatever the currently connected database says exists, filtered to whichever Project Library and user you're currently viewing. Change any one of those three variables, the library, the connection, or the user, and the list changes with it, even though nothing about the project itself moved or broke.

**A DaVinci Resolve project that isn't in Project Manager is almost never a project that's gone. It's a project Resolve is currently looking for in the wrong place.** That distinction matters because it changes what you do next. Panicking and searching for a recovery tool wastes time on a problem you don't have. Checking three settings, in order, usually finds the project inside two minutes.

Here's the full list of causes, ranked by how often they actually show up in real reports, before we go through each one in depth:

| Cause | How common | What actually happened |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Wrong Project Library selected (Local vs Cloud vs Shared with me) | Very common | You're viewing a different list than the one holding the project |
| Database disconnected or its folder moved | Very common | Resolve fell back to a default or empty database |
| Wrong user or member logged in | Common | The project belongs to a different login on the same database |
| Version mismatch after an upgrade | Occasional | An older Resolve can't read a database a newer copy already upgraded |
| Drive holding the database is asleep or disconnected | Occasional | Same practical effect as a disconnected database, different cause |
| Windows admin account vs personal account | Occasional | You're logged into Windows as a different user than the one Resolve was configured under |
| Whole user profile vanished from the login screen | Rare, mostly older Resolve versions | The database's internal user record broke, not the project data |
| True database corruption | Rare | The project shows an error rather than simply missing, covered near the end |

**Every cause on that list traces back to the same root idea: Project Manager's project list is scoped to a specific database connection, a specific library, and a specific user, not to your Resolve installation as a whole.** Once you see it that way, "missing" stops looking like a mystery and starts looking like a settings mismatch you can check one item at a time.

## Is Project Manager pointed at the wrong Project Library?

This is the single most common cause, and it's worth checking first because it takes ten seconds and explains the majority of "it was here yesterday" reports.

DaVinci Resolve's Project Manager has a sidebar most editors never open unless they're specifically looking for it. Per Blackmagic's own manual, a Project Library "does not store the original media itself, only the instructions on how to use that media," and critically, "DaVinci Resolve can access multiple project libraries, but can only connect to one project library at a time" ([DaVinci Resolve Manual](https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia/__man/Resolve18-6/DaVinciResolve18_Manual_files/part4054.htm)). That single sentence explains most of this entire guide. You can have five project libraries set up. You're only ever looking at one of them at a time, and switching between them is exactly what makes a perfectly intact project disappear from view.

The sidebar splits into at least three sections you need to know about:

- **Local**, your Disk Database or a local PostgreSQL database, the default most solo editors use without ever changing it.
- **Cloud**, Blackmagic Cloud project libraries hosted on Blackmagic's own servers, which itself splits further into **"My Cloud,"** described in the manual as the section that "manages all the project libraries that you create," and **"Shared with me,"** which "shows project libraries that other users have created, but given you shared access to" ([DaVinci Resolve Manual](https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia/__man/Resolve18-6/DaVinciResolve18_Manual_files/part4020.htm)).
- **Network Libraries**, a PostgreSQL Project Server other machines on your network or facility can connect to.

**DaVinci Resolve can access multiple project libraries, but it can only connect to one at a time, and Local, Cloud, and Shared with me are three separate lists, not three views of the same one.** A project you started while Cloud happened to be selected won't show up when you're back on Local the next morning, even though nothing about the project changed. This is especially easy to trip over if you or a collaborator ever tried Blackmagic Cloud for a single project, then went back to local storage for everything else. The Cloud-created project is still there. It's just filed under a library you're not currently looking at.

1. **Click the Show/Hide Project Libraries icon** in the upper left of the Project Manager window to expose the sidebar if it's currently hidden.
2. **Check each section in turn**: Local, then Cloud (both My Cloud and Shared with me), then Network Libraries if your setup uses one.
3. **Click into any library you haven't checked recently.** The project you're missing is very often sitting exactly where you'd expect, just under a library tab you weren't currently viewing.

## Did your database actually disconnect without telling you?

If you've confirmed you're looking at the right Project Library and the project still isn't there, the next most likely cause is that the database itself silently lost its connection.

This happens more often than it should, and quietly. A Disk Database folder that got moved, renamed, or relocated to a different drive doesn't automatically drag Resolve's connection along with it. Resolve keeps a pointer to wherever that folder was the last time it connected successfully. Move the folder, and the next launch either shows an empty database or silently falls back to creating a brand new one at the default location, which looks, at a glance, exactly like your projects vanished, when what actually happened is that Resolve is now looking at an empty folder it created itself.

A Blackmagic Forum thread on this exact symptom, titled ["Can't find my previous projects,"](https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=143113) documents the fix directly: right-click on Local Database in the Project Manager sidebar and choose Reveal in Finder (or the equivalent Explorer option on Windows) to confirm where Resolve currently thinks your database lives, and check whether that path actually contains a Resolve Projects folder with a Users folder inside it. If the path is wrong or the folder is empty, the connection is broken, not the data.

The manual's page on [connecting to an existing local project library](https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia/__man/Resolve18-6/DaVinciResolve18_Manual_files/part4058.htm) confirms the mechanism: you click the Show/Hide Project Libraries icon to expose the sidebar, select Local, and from there Resolve gives you a way to browse to and reconnect an existing database rather than defaulting to a new empty one. That reconnect step is the actual fix, not a database repair tool, not a recovery utility, just pointing Resolve back at the folder that was already there the whole time.

1. **Right-click Local Database** in the Project Manager sidebar and choose Reveal in Finder or Show in Explorer.
2. **Check the path that opens.** You're looking for a Resolve Projects folder, with a Users folder inside it, and at least one named user folder (often "guest") inside that.
3. **If the path is empty or looks unfamiliar**, open Database Manager, use Add or Connect, and manually browse to the correct database folder, the parent folder, not the Projects subfolder itself.
4. **Quit Resolve completely and relaunch it.** Resolve rescans available databases on startup, so a folder it can now see correctly should populate the sidebar again without any further steps.

**A database that shows as empty in Project Manager is reporting exactly one fact accurately: nothing is connected right now. It says nothing at all about whether your project data still exists.** Those are two different claims, and confusing them is what sends people looking for recovery software when what they actually need is a reconnect dialog.

## Are you logged in as the wrong user or member?

This one catches editors who've never touched Resolve's multi-user features and don't know their database even has more than one user on it.

Blackmagic Design's Studio edition enables shared user features on top of the same underlying database. On a PostgreSQL Project Server specifically, the manual's page on [Member Management](https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia/__man/Resolve18-6/DaVinciResolve18_Manual_files/part4083.htm) describes exactly how this scoping works: members are created individually with their own username and password, and once created, "you can add them to specific project libraries," which "lets you have multiple teams of people, working on multiple projects off the same Project Server, without the off chance that they accidentally delete another teams projects, or have access to sensitive material." A member who isn't added to a given project library simply doesn't see what's inside it, by design, not by accident.

That same underlying idea, a project list scoped to whoever's logged in, shows up on local Disk Databases too, just less formally. Even the default local setup files projects under a specific username, "guest" by default, inside the folder structure Resolve Projects/Users/guest/Projects. If a database has ever had more than one local user profile created on it, whether from a past collaborator, a past you on a different account, or Resolve's own account-recovery flow, the project you're missing may simply belong to a different user than the one currently active.

A Creative COW thread titled ["Resolve database user went missing,"](https://creativecow.net/forums/thread/resolve-database-user-went-missingae/) documents this from the account side rather than the project side, and it's worth reading because the actual fix editors landed on there is almost too simple to trust the first time you try it. One user, Nick Hillyard, described how he recovered access by "copying the local disk database files to another Davinci machine where I was easily able to reconnect the database, find my user and project." Another user in the same thread, Brandon Vanderford, found something even more direct worked for him: he "clicked 'create new account' button from the start screen, typed in 'admin' as the new account name (same as old account name)... and it loaded with all of my old projects."

That second fix sounds almost too simple to work, but it makes sense once you understand what actually broke. **The user account and the project data underneath it are two separate records inside the database, and losing the account record doesn't delete the project folder sitting below it.** Recreating an account with the exact name the old one had reconnects Resolve's login screen to a folder structure that was there the entire time, waiting for a matching username to point at it again.

1. **Check whether your database has a user or member selector at all.** If Project Manager shows a login screen or a user dropdown next to the database name, more than one account exists on it.
2. **Try every user or member listed**, not just the one you normally log in as, and look for your project under each one.
3. **If your own account itself is missing from the list**, rather than just showing an empty project grid, try creating a new account using the exact same name your old one had. On a local Disk Database, this reconnects to an existing folder rather than starting fresh.
4. **On a Project Server**, ask whoever manages Member Management to confirm you're still added to the correct project library. A member removed from a library, even accidentally, loses visibility into everything inside it.

## Did a version upgrade leave your project behind?

If you recently updated DaVinci Resolve, or a collaborator did on a shared database, version mismatch is worth ruling out before anything else on this list.

Major version jumps, 15 to 16, 18 to 19, 20 to 21, upgrade the underlying database format the first time a newer Resolve connects to it. That upgrade is generally safe and generally silent. The trap is what happens next: once a database has been upgraded to a newer format, an older copy of Resolve genuinely can't read it anymore, and rather than showing an error explaining why, it typically just shows nothing, an empty project list, because from the older installation's point of view, there's nothing there it knows how to parse.

This is a real, documented pattern, not a hypothetical. A Creative COW thread on a ["Project database gone after update"](https://creativecow.net/forums/thread/project-database-gone-after-update/) captures both the panic this causes and the actual explanation. The original poster, Tim Neighbors, reported that his database appeared completely empty right after updating to a new point release, and feared the software had wiped his projects during the upgrade. Michael Gissing, a well-known contributor on the Blackmagic Forum, addressed the fear directly: **"No it never deletes. It sometimes updates the database. It might corrupt but that is far more likely going to a totally new version not a point update"** ([Creative COW](https://creativecow.net/forums/thread/project-database-gone-after-update/)). Another contributor to the same thread, Dwaine Maggart, narrowed the actual risk window further, noting that database concerns of this kind typically only arise during major version updates rather than small point releases.

In that specific case, the real cause turned out to be unrelated to the database format at all: a Windows update had logged Tim into an Administrator account rather than his usual personal profile, and Resolve, tied to his personal account's installation and database, simply had nothing to show under the wrong Windows login. Logging back into his own account restored everything instantly, with no database repair needed.

**A project that vanished right after an update is far more often an account or version-mismatch problem than an actual database problem.** Two questions settle which one you're facing: did you update Resolve itself, and did you also, even accidentally, log into a different operating system account than the one you normally use. Answer both before assuming the database broke.

1. **Check your current Resolve version** against whatever version last successfully opened the project, visible in Help > About or the splash screen.
2. **If a collaborator has a newer copy and you have an older one**, and you share a database, update your own installation to match rather than troubleshooting a "missing" project that's actually just unreadable from an outdated version.
3. **Confirm you're logged into the same operating system user account** you normally use, especially after a Windows or macOS update, since a forced account switch is a documented, real cause that has nothing to do with Resolve's database at all.
4. **Before letting any major version update touch a shared or valuable database**, back up the database folder first, so an older Resolve install still has something to fall back to if the newer format causes problems for anyone still on the old version.

## Is the drive holding your database actually connected right now?

If your database lives anywhere other than your main internal drive, an external SSD, a network share, a Blackmagic Cloud Project Library needing an internet connection, this is worth checking before anything more involved.

The practical effect of a disconnected drive looks identical to the disconnected-database scenario covered earlier, because functionally, it is the same problem with a different root cause. Resolve can't read a database folder that isn't reachable, whether that's because the folder moved or because the entire drive holding it is asleep, unmounted, or unplugged. On a laptop especially, an external drive that was connected yesterday and isn't today, because it's sitting on a different desk, is one of the most common and most overlooked reasons a "missing" project turns out to be perfectly intact once the drive gets reconnected.

Per Beginners Approach's breakdown of where Resolve actually stores its data, the default Disk Database on Windows lives at either `C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Resolve Disk Database` for a per-user install or `C:\ProgramData\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Resolve Disk Database` for an all-users install, while on Mac it's `/Users/<Username>/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Resolve Disk Database` ([Beginners Approach](https://beginnersapproach.com/davinci-resolve-save-projects/)). Those are the default locations. If you or someone before you ever redirected the database to an external or network drive during setup, none of those default paths will have anything useful in them, and checking the defaults will look like confirmation the project is gone when it's really just somewhere else entirely.

Envato Tuts+'s separate walkthrough of the same topic confirms the deeper folder structure inside whichever root location applies: navigating through Users, then a specific user folder like guest, then a Project folder, gets you to the actual per-project Project.db files, described there as sitting "neatly placed on a shelf" the way individual books sit inside a single larger database file ([Envato Tuts+](https://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/where-does-davinci-resolve-save-projects-location-quick-find--cms-108001)).

1. **If your database lives on an external drive**, check it's actually connected, mounted, and awake, not just plugged in but asleep after being idle.
2. **If it lives on a network share**, confirm you're on the right network and the share is actually reachable, by trying to browse to it in Finder or File Explorer independently of Resolve.
3. **If it's a Blackmagic Cloud Project Library**, confirm your internet connection is live. Cloud sync failures during a dropped connection can present as an empty or stalled project list rather than a clear network error.
4. **Once the drive or connection is confirmed live**, relaunch Resolve rather than expecting it to notice the drive reappearing mid-session. Database rescans happen on startup, not continuously in the background.

## What if the project.db file is right there on disk, but Resolve still won't list it?

This is the scenario that convinces people something is seriously broken, because you've done the detective work, found the actual file sitting exactly where the folder structure says it should be, and Resolve still shows nothing.

Here's the piece that resolves the apparent contradiction: **Resolve doesn't scan the file system for projects the way you'd browse for a document in Finder.** It reads an internal index maintained by whichever database is currently connected, and lists only what that index says exists. A project.db file sitting inside a folder that Resolve isn't currently connected to, or filed under a user account that isn't currently active, is completely invisible to Project Manager, no matter how plainly visible it is in Finder or File Explorer. The file being there proves the data survived. It doesn't prove Resolve currently knows to look for it.

A Blackmagic Forum thread titled ["Projects disappeared from Project Manager overnight"](https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=197332) documents a real case of exactly this gap. A Mac user reported the Project Manager going completely empty after a system issue, while every project still physically existed inside the hidden Resolve Disk Database folder under their Users directory. The path forward the thread lands on, when a straightforward reconnect through Database Manager doesn't resolve it, is a more manual rebuild: rename the existing guest folder (never delete it), let Resolve create a fresh one automatically by launching and creating a new throwaway project, then copy the original project folders from the renamed old guest folder back into the newly created structure.

That's a heavier fix than anything earlier in this guide, and it's worth trying only after the simpler reconnect and user-check steps above have genuinely failed. It works because it doesn't try to repair whatever broke in the database's internal index. It sidesteps the broken index entirely by giving Resolve a brand new, working folder structure and then manually placing the known-good project folders inside it, the same way Nick Hillyard's fix earlier in this guide worked by copying database files to a fresh installation rather than trying to repair the original.

1. **Locate your current guest (or named user) folder** inside the Resolve Disk Database path for your OS, and rename it to something like `guest.old`, never delete it.
2. **Launch DaVinci Resolve and create a new, empty project.** This forces Resolve to rebuild a fresh Users/guest/Projects folder structure from scratch.
3. **Quit Resolve, then copy each individual project folder** from `guest.old/Projects` into the newly created `guest/Projects` folder.
4. **Relaunch Resolve.** The copied project folders should now appear in Project Manager, since they're sitting inside a folder structure the current, working database index actually recognizes.
5. **Once you've confirmed everything copied over correctly and opens cleanly**, you can archive or delete the renamed old folder. Don't skip the verification step first.

## Could this be corruption wearing a "missing" disguise?

Everything covered so far assumes the project data itself is fine and Resolve just isn't looking at it correctly. That's true in the overwhelming majority of reports. It's worth being honest about the smaller number of cases where it isn't.

The practical distinction that separates the two: **a missing project doesn't appear in the list at all. A corrupted project usually does appear, and then fails with an error the moment you try to open it**, something like "database is incompatible" or "did not locate a compatible or upgradable database." If you can see the project sitting in the grid and it's the opening step that fails, you're dealing with corruption, not a missing project, and our full guide on [preventing DaVinci Resolve project corruption](https://tryuncle.com/learn/davinci-resolve/how-to-prevent-davinci-resolve-project-corruption) covers that failure mode, its causes, and recovery paths in depth.

There's a narrower edge case where the line blurs: a database whose own internal index becomes damaged enough that it stops listing entries correctly, without necessarily throwing a clean error. That's rarer than every cause covered above it, but it's the reason the guest-folder rebuild in the previous section exists as a fallback. If you've worked through the Project Library check, the connection check, the user check, the version check, and the drive check, and the project genuinely isn't appearing anywhere despite the .db file existing on disk, index damage of this kind is the remaining explanation, and Blackmagic support, working directly from your project.db file, is a more reliable path at that point than further self-guided troubleshooting.

**Treat "missing entirely" and "throws an error on open" as two different diagnoses from the very first minute, because chasing the wrong one wastes real time.** A missing project needs a reconnect, a library switch, or a user check. A project that opens and errors needs the corruption guide instead. Confusing the two is the single most common way people burn an hour before finding the actual fix.

## Does this happen on the free version of DaVinci Resolve too, or only Studio?

Yes, with one narrow exception worth knowing about.

The Project Library sidebar, Local versus Cloud versus Shared with me, the basic reconnect flow through Database Manager, and the default guest user folder structure are all part of the free version's core Project Manager, not gated behind Studio. Blackmagic's own [free versus Studio comparison page](https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/compare) confirms the free version includes the same collaboration and database fundamentals Studio does, with Studio's additions concentrated in specific effects, noise reduction tools, and certain collaboration features at scale rather than the basic database mechanics this guide covers.

The one place licensing genuinely matters: shared user Member Management on a PostgreSQL Project Server, the formal multiple-member system covered earlier in this guide, is a Studio-oriented collaboration feature, and Daniel Grindrod's own breakdown of Resolve's database system notes that PostgreSQL specifically is "the database option for those working in larger teams and needing to share databases across network storage" ([Daniel Grindrod](https://www.danielgrindrod.com/blog/databases)), a setup far more common in facilities running Studio licenses than solo free-version editors. If you're a solo editor on the free version, the user-mismatch cause is less likely to apply to you specifically, since you probably never set up a second local account, but every other cause on this list, wrong library, disconnected database, version mismatch, disconnected drive, applies identically regardless of which edition you're running.

**Whether you're on the free version or Studio, a project missing from Project Manager is a connection and scoping problem first, and a licensing question doesn't change that diagnosis.** Don't spend time wondering whether upgrading to Studio would fix a missing project. It wouldn't, because Studio doesn't change how Project Manager decides what to list.

## A worked example: finding a project that vanished after a laptop restart

Here's how the checklist above plays out on a real, ordinary scenario, so you can see how the branches connect in the order that actually matters.

An editor closes their laptop mid-project on a Friday, database living on an external SSD they usually keep connected. Monday morning, they open DaVinci Resolve and the project grid is empty except for a single default project Resolve created automatically, one they've never seen before.

Panic sets in for about thirty seconds, then they start with the checklist rather than assuming the worst. Project Library sidebar: Local is selected, same as it always is, so that's not it. Database connection: the database name shown in Project Manager doesn't match what they remember, it's showing a generic default name instead of their usual project library name. That's the tell. They check the external SSD sitting next to the laptop and find it's not actually connected, unplugged over the weekend when the desk got cleared for something else.

They plug the SSD back in, quit Resolve completely, and relaunch it. Resolve rescans available databases on startup, finds the SSD's database where it always was, and the full project list reappears exactly as it was left on Friday, database name and all. Total time from panic to resolved: about four minutes, almost all of it spent finding where the SSD had actually been moved to.

A second, smaller version of the same story: a different editor on the same team updates DaVinci Resolve to a new major version on their desktop, then opens their laptop, still running the previous major version, to check a note on the same shared project. The laptop shows an empty database where the shared project used to live. Nothing is wrong with the database. The desktop's update already upgraded it to a newer format the laptop's older Resolve installation can't read yet. Updating the laptop to match resolves it completely, with zero data ever at risk the entire time.

## Quick troubleshooting reference

Work through this top to bottom. The first three rows account for the overwhelming majority of "my project just disappeared" reports.

| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Project was there yesterday, gone today, other projects still show | Wrong Project Library selected in the sidebar | Check Local, Cloud (My Cloud and Shared with me), and Network Libraries in turn |
| Entire project list is empty, database name looks unfamiliar or generic | Database disconnected, or its folder moved | Reconnect through Database Manager, pointing at the actual current folder location |
| Some projects show, but one specific project you know exists doesn't | Wrong user or member currently active | Check other users or members on the same database |
| Project vanished right after updating Resolve or after a system update | Version mismatch, or a forced OS account switch | Confirm you're on the expected OS account; update Resolve to match a newer shared database |
| Database appears empty, but your usual drive letter or volume looks different | Drive holding the database is asleep, unplugged, or unreachable | Reconnect the drive, confirm it's mounted, then relaunch Resolve |
| project.db file is visible in Finder or Explorer, but Resolve still shows nothing | Resolve reads an internal index, not the file system directly | Reconnect the correct database folder, or rebuild via the guest-folder method |
| Your whole user account is missing from the login screen, not just a project | Damaged user record inside an older Disk Database | Recreate an account with the exact same name to reconnect to its existing folder |
| Project shows in the grid but throws an error when you open it | Actual database corruption, a different problem entirely | See our guide on preventing and recovering from project corruption |

## Can an AI tool help you catch this before it costs you a session?

Most of this guide is a diagnostic checklist you work through once something's already gone wrong. The more useful moment for an AI tool is earlier than that, catching a database or library mismatch while you're still setting up a session, before you're the one staring at an empty Project Manager grid with a deadline attached.

TryUncle is the on-screen assistant for DaVinci Resolve on macOS — ask in plain words and Uncle points at the exact control on your screen. If you're not sure whether you're currently connected to Local or Cloud, or which user is active on a shared database, that's exactly the kind of question Uncle answers live, inside your actual Project Manager window, rather than sending you off to compare this guide against a screenshot from last week.

This is a genuinely different category of tool than the AI assistants people usually reach for when troubleshooting DaVinci Resolve. Chat-based tools like ChatGPT and Claude can explain, in general terms, how Resolve's Project Library system works, the same way this guide does, but they have no view of your actual screen and can't tell you which library or user your specific installation is currently pointed at. Automation-focused tools built for Resolve, like Sottocut and cutagent.ai, exist to speed up editing tasks on a timeline you already have open, not to diagnose why a project isn't appearing in the first place. heyeddie.ai and PremiereCopilot answer typed questions about editing generally, PremiereCopilot for a different NLE entirely, without watching your actual project state. TryUncle's Uncle is built specifically to watch your DaVinci Resolve screen while you work and point at the real control, the real sidebar item, the real database name shown in your Project Manager, which makes it useful for exactly the kind of "wait, which one is currently selected" question this whole guide is built around.

**Guided practice inside Resolve beats watching a course about Resolve, and it also beats scrolling through eight troubleshooting sections alone at midnight trying to remember which folder you're supposed to check first.** That second case, confirming a setting in the moment rather than reconstructing it from memory, is exactly where an in-app tutor earns its keep over even a thorough written guide.

TryUncle is a paid subscription, currently in founder pricing at $29.99 a month with the first 100 seats locked at that rate and cancel-anytime billing, so check [TryUncle](https://tryuncle.com/?utm_source=tryuncle&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=davinci-resolve-project-not-showing-in-project-manager) directly for the current rate. It's macOS only. If you manage a shared database across a small team and want to cut down on "which library am I even looking at" questions during a session, that's a reasonable moment to lean on something built to watch what you're doing and confirm the setting live, rather than a written checklist you have to hold in your head. For a broader look at how it compares to chat-based and automation-based tools across more than just this one problem, our guide to [AI tools to learn DaVinci Resolve](https://tryuncle.com/learn/davinci-resolve/ai-tools-to-learn-davinci-resolve) goes deeper.

## The verdict

A DaVinci Resolve project that isn't showing up in Project Manager is, in the overwhelming majority of real reports, not lost. It's filed under a Project Library you're not currently viewing, connected to a database that silently disconnected, or scoped to a user or member you're not currently logged in as. **Treat a project database like any other file system: a project a piece of software can't currently see is not proof that the underlying data no longer exists.** Check the sidebar, check the connection, check the user, in that order, and you'll find the large majority of missing projects inside a couple of minutes.

The smaller number of genuine edge cases, a version mismatch after an upgrade, a disconnected drive, a damaged user record on an old Disk Database, all have documented fixes covered above, and none of them require anything more advanced than a reconnect dialog and a little patience. Reserve real concern for the one case that actually looks different: a project that shows up fine in the grid and then throws an error the moment you try to open it. That's corruption, not a missing project, and it's a different guide with a different fix. Everything else on this page is a scoping problem wearing a scarier costume than it deserves.

## FAQ

### Why did my DaVinci Resolve project disappear from Project Manager overnight?

The project file almost certainly still exists on disk. What changed is what Project Manager is currently pointed at: the wrong Project Library in the sidebar, a database that disconnected after a drive slept or a path changed, or a different user or member account than the one that created the project. Check those three before you assume anything was deleted.

### Is a missing project the same problem as a corrupted project?

No, and the fix is different for each. A corrupted project usually still shows up in Project Manager but throws an error when you try to open it, something like 'database is incompatible.' A missing project doesn't appear in the list at all, which almost always means Resolve is connected to a different database, library, or user than the one holding it, not that the data itself broke.

### Where does DaVinci Resolve actually store my projects?

On Windows, the default Disk Database lives at C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Resolve Disk Database, or C:\ProgramData\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Resolve Disk Database for the all-users install. On Mac, it's /Users/<Username>/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Resolve Disk Database. Inside either, projects sit under Resolve Projects/Users/guest/Projects, one Project.db file per project.

### I can see the project.db file in Finder or File Explorer, but Resolve still won't list it. Why?

Resolve doesn't scan the file system for projects the way you'd browse for a document. It reads whatever database is currently connected in Project Manager and lists what that specific database's index says exists. A project.db file sitting in an unconnected database folder, or filed under a different user than the one you're logged in as, is invisible to Resolve no matter how clearly you can see it in Finder.

### Does switching between Blackmagic Cloud and a local database explain a missing project?

Yes, and it's one of the most common versions of this problem. Local and Cloud are separate Project Library sections in the sidebar, and Cloud itself splits into 'My Cloud' and 'Shared with me.' A project created while Cloud was selected won't appear when you switch back to Local, and vice versa, because you're looking at two different lists, not two views of the same one.

### Can a DaVinci Resolve version upgrade make an older project stop showing up?

Indirectly, yes. Major version jumps, like 15 to 16 or 20 to 21, upgrade the database format, and once upgraded, an older Resolve version can't read it and won't list anything inside it. The more common trap is the reverse: upgrading Resolve on one machine while an older copy on another machine points at the same shared database, so the older copy simply can't see what the newer one wrote.

### Is there an app that helps you while using DaVinci Resolve avoid this kind of confusion?

Yes. TryUncle is a paid macOS app whose assistant, Uncle, watches your DaVinci Resolve screen and can point at your Project Manager, the Project Library sidebar, or your Database Manager settings live, so you can confirm which database and user you're actually connected to instead of guessing from memory or an old screenshot.

### What's the very first thing I should check if a project just vanished?

Open the Project Manager sidebar and confirm which Project Library is selected right now, Local, Cloud, or Shared with me, and which user or member is active if the database has more than one. Those two settings account for the large majority of 'my project disappeared' reports, and checking them costs less than a minute.

## Sources

- [Blackmagic Forum: DaVinci Resolve won't show a Project in Project Manager](https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=51355)
- [Blackmagic Forum: Projects disappeared from Project Manager overnight](https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=197332)
- [Blackmagic Forum: Can't find my previous projects](https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=143113)
- [Creative COW: Project Database gone after update](https://creativecow.net/forums/thread/project-database-gone-after-update/)
- [Creative COW: Resolve database user went missing](https://creativecow.net/forums/thread/resolve-database-user-went-missingae/)
- [Beginners Approach: Where Does DaVinci Resolve Save Projects (Windows, Mac)](https://beginnersapproach.com/davinci-resolve-save-projects/)
- [Envato Tuts+: Where Does DaVinci Resolve Save Projects? (Location Quick-Find)](https://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/where-does-davinci-resolve-save-projects-location-quick-find--cms-108001)
- [DaVinci Resolve Manual: What is a Project Library? (Blackmagic Design, mirrored)](https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia/__man/Resolve18-6/DaVinciResolve18_Manual_files/part4054.htm)
- [DaVinci Resolve Manual: Connecting to an Existing Local Project Library (Blackmagic Design, mirrored)](https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia/__man/Resolve18-6/DaVinciResolve18_Manual_files/part4058.htm)
- [DaVinci Resolve Manual: Accessing the Cloud Project Library (Blackmagic Design, mirrored)](https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia/__man/Resolve18-6/DaVinciResolve18_Manual_files/part4020.htm)
- [DaVinci Resolve Manual: Member Management in the DaVinci Resolve Project Server (Blackmagic Design, mirrored)](https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia/__man/Resolve18-6/DaVinciResolve18_Manual_files/part4083.htm)
- [DaVinci Resolve Manual: Project Backups (Blackmagic Design, mirrored)](https://www.steakunderwater.com/VFXPedia/__man/Resolve18-6/DaVinciResolve18_Manual_files/part112.htm)
- [Daniel Grindrod: Databases Explained - Getting started in DaVinci Resolve (Part 1)](https://www.danielgrindrod.com/blog/databases)
- [DaVinci Resolve free vs Studio comparison (Blackmagic Design)](https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/compare)