On a multi-day shoot the Resolve project outlives the first card. By day two the editor has already started, and the new footage has to arrive without disturbing the work. How well that goes mostly depends on decisions made before Resolve is involved.
The short version: keep one folder per shooting day inside one project folder, import that project folder as bins once, then resync to add new clips. Don't rename folders on disk afterwards.
Make the folder predictable first
Everything below assumes new footage lands in a place Resolve already knows. A layout
like Project / Day / Camera means each new card goes into a folder that
either already has a bin or is one new bin away. If the cards go wherever the person
copying them felt like that day, no Resolve feature will save you.
Case 1: new clips in a folder that is already a bin
This is what Resync Media Files is for. Right-click the bin and choose it, or turn on the automatic version if you want the bin to follow the folder. Existing clips stay as they are, so timelines that use them aren't touched.
Case 2: a brand new folder (a new day)
A new day's folder isn't a bin yet, so there is nothing to resync. Import it, using the option that keeps its subfolders as bins (see how to import folders as bins), and drop it next to the previous days. If your day folders sit inside one project folder that you imported as a bin tree, check whether resyncing the project bin picks up the new day; in our tests a bin holding only subfolders and no clips of its own didn't resync, so a new day folder needs importing explicitly.
Case 3: the files moved
Moved the project to a bigger drive, or renamed a folder to tidy it up? Resolve now has clips pointing at paths that don't exist, so they show as offline. That is a relink job: point Resolve at the new location and it matches clips by name and metadata. Resync can't help here, because it needs the old path to find the folder.
A habit that prevents most problems
- Copy and verify before Resolve sees the files; never import from a card.
- Pick the folder layout on day one and keep it.
- Never rename or move a folder that is already a bin. Create a new one instead.
- Resync on your schedule, not mid-cut, unless you know you want it automatic.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add new footage to an existing DaVinci Resolve project?
If the clips are in a folder that is already a bin, right-click the bin and use Resync Media Files. If it is a new folder, import it as a bin, keeping its subfolders.
Should I resync or re-import a folder?
Resync adds only what is missing to a bin that is already linked. Re-importing brings the whole folder in again, which can give you duplicate clips if you aren't careful.
Why are my clips offline after I renamed a folder?
Resolve stores the path to each file. Rename or move the folder and the path no longer exists, so the clips show as offline. Relink them to the new location.
Or skip all of it: ShotGrab does this by itself
Everything above is a manual step, or a script you have to write and keep working. If you'd rather not, ShotGrab (a Mac app that copies SD cards with SHA-256 verification) has an automation for exactly this. Switch on DaVinci Resolve in Settings › Automations, tick it for the project, and when a card has finished importing ShotGrab opens Resolve, finds or creates the Resolve project, and imports the footage folder as bins that mirror your subfolders. The first bin is the folder itself, so Resync Media Files has something to work with on the next card.
It needs Resolve Studio and External scripting using: Local in Resolve's preferences, the same requirements as any script. ShotGrab doesn't change another app's settings; it reads them and tells you what to fix.