Project Opens with Missing Images? Fixing Moved ScanTailor Projects

The Symptom

• A project that worked before now opens with missing/unlinked images after its folder was moved, renamed, or copied to another machine.
• Thumbnails or pages are absent even though the image files clearly still exist somewhere on the disk.
• The problem starts exactly when the folder structure changed — never while the project stayed in one place.

The Cause

A ScanTailor project file does not embed your scans; it references them by path. Older projects store absolute paths — the full address of every image, drive letter included. Move the images, rename a folder above them, or open the project on a machine with a different drive layout, and every absolute reference points at a place that no longer exists. The images are fine; the addresses are stale.

This is precisely the problem the project addressed in v1.1.1 with Relative Project Paths: project files can now keep paths relative to the project’s own location, so a project and its images can travel together across folders, drives, and machines.

The Fix, Step by Step

1. Reunite the project and its images in the original structure

Find the image files (search your disk for a filename you recognize from the project). Recreate the arrangement the project expects: the project file and its image folder side by side, with the same names as when the project last opened correctly. Reopen the project — with the structure restored, the references resolve again.

2. If you must reorganize, move the whole tree — not parts of it

Copy or move the entire project folder (project file, source images, and the out folder with processed results) in one operation. Moving only the images, or only the project file, is what breaks the references.

3. Keep the /out convention intact

ScanTailor writes processed pages to the project’s out folder. Keep that folder with the project when you move or back up: it holds your finished pages, and keeping the structure whole is what lets the project reopen exactly as you left it.

4. Update to v1.1.1 or later and re-save the project

Once the project opens cleanly, use a current build from the download page (v1.1.1 or later, which added Relative Project Paths) and save the project again, so its paths benefit from the relative-path behavior for the next move.

Prevention

• Give every book one self-contained folder: project file and source images inside it, nothing referenced from elsewhere on the disk.
• Never rename or move subfolders of an in-progress project on their own — rename the whole project folder, or nothing.
• When copying to another machine or a backup drive, copy the complete folder tree and open the project once to confirm everything resolves before deleting the original.
• Stay on v1.1.1 or later so Relative Project Paths do most of this for you.

More project and output fixes: the troubleshooting archive, and the tutorials hub for the underlying workflow.

FAQ

Are my processed pages lost when images show as missing?

Normally not. Missing references mean the project cannot find the files at the recorded paths — the scans themselves still exist wherever they were moved to. Restore the folder structure and the project resolves them again; nothing in this failure deletes images.

What exactly did v1.1.1 change about project paths?

v1.1.1 added Relative Project Paths: instead of only storing absolute addresses, projects can reference images relative to the project’s own location. A project folder that travels intact — to another drive or machine — keeps working, which absolute paths could not survive.

I renamed the image folder. Can I fix it without renaming back?

The reliable fix is restoring the expected structure: rename the folder back, or move the project file so it sits with the images in the arrangement the project expects, then reopen and re-save with a current version. Avoid mid-project renames in future — restructure between books, not during one.