My project says it does not exist.
I have just upgraded to MAC OS Sequoia 15.3.2.
I have tried upgrading Rapid Weaver to Classic 9.4.1 but it does not allow access to older version projects.
It is 2025 and all your answers are very old!!!
Hi @Katie
I see you have a RW 8 license, Iām not seeing a RapidWeaver Classic license. How are you trying to open your project file in RapidWeaver 8, and where is that project file located (on your Mac, on a cloud storage service, on an external drive, etc.)?
RapidWeaver Classic should open RapidWeaver 8 project files just fine, and RapidWeaver 7 project files usually without problem. It will just duplicate and convert those project files to RapidWeaver Classic format.
Show us where you are viewing these answers and we can get them updated for you! 
Access to the project in RW 8.9.4 changed when I upgraded by MAC OS to 15.3.2.
I only have one project (thank goodness) in RW and use it for a club website. I have always found RW very user friendly and easy to useā¦ and cheap!
Is it a MAC OS problem or something else? Do I need to have a new licence?
Are you trying to open the project file from the āProjectsā window tht opens when you start RapidWeaver, or through Finder on your mac?
It might be that the file has been moved, or offloaded to iCloud by macOS, so that RapidWeaver canāt find it.
To check this:
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Open Finder on your Mac
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Click your Mac in the sidebar:
Fig 1: your Mac in the Finder sidebar. Your Mac might be named something else if you have a different model or renamed it yourself -
Click the magnifying glass on Finderās toolbar:
Fig 2: Search button -
Type your project fileās name in the search bar and press
If the file is present on your computer, or has been offloaded to iCloud, your Mac will find it and display it as a search result.
If nothing is found, check your Trash.
If the file is nowhere to be found, consider if youāve deleted the file. Perhaps by accident. If you use Time Machine, you should be able to recover it.
Cheers,
Erwin
I can find the project file no problem but the message says it ca not be opened because it does not exist!
ā/Users/katiechallans/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox/2 customers-design/BruH3.rw8/Pages/4-Write-ups-2025/Contents.plistā file does not exist
It is, and always has been, in my Dropbox. I worked in the project last Friday and updated OS this morning.
Hi @Katie,
Dropbox is notorious when it comes to compatibility with macOS bundles (what RapidWeaver āfilesā in fact, are). Search for ādropboxā on this forum to read more about that. The short story is: donāt use dropbox to store RapidWeaver projects to prevent stuff suddenly breaking. Itās not RapidWeaverās fault, itās purely a Dropbox vs macOS thing.
Please try to download the file from Dropbox to your Mac, and open it from your Mac instead. Post any errors you get in a reply here.
Cheers,
Erwin
I have moved the project to my external hard drive but still get the message:
ā/Volumes/LaCie/2 customers-design/BruH3-25.rw8/Pages/4-Write-ups-2025/Contents.plistā file does not exist
Solutionā¦ I found a version of the RW project from 2023 on my external hard drive.
I have recreated the current website by copying the info from the published site, reformatting it and linking the photos (which are still in Dropbox).
Not ideal but it worksā¦
Hi @Katie,
Iām afraid that Dropbox has corrupted your project file.
This is a problem that Mac users can run into. Dropbox and some other cloud storage providers donāt āunderstandā the macOS ābundleā system, where a directory of files is presented as a single file to the user.
Because thatās what a RapidWeaver project file is (a bundle of files, shown to you as a single file).
Dropbox sometimes messes the bundle up, leading to the error that you see. You didnāt post the exact error message before, so I didnāt realise what was happening at first -sorry about that.
A fair warning before hand: itās quite possible that the file is damaged beyond repair. But there is something you can try to fix it first.
Step 1: locate your project file on tyour local Mac
Step 2: right click it (if on a MacBook: click it with two fingers at once)
Step 3: select Show Package Contents from the menu that appears
Step 4: a new Finder window will appear, showing the contents of your project file
Step 5: see if thereās a file called Contents.plist there
If this file is there, but it has a dot and an underscore in front of the word āContentsā, (so ._Contents.plist) then make a copy of the file and rename the copy to Contents.plist
Now close the Finder window, and try to load the file into RapidWeaver again.
If the file is there, but macOS/RapidWeaver keeps saying it isnāt, or if the file is actually missing, then iām afraid thereās no fix for this. In that case, Dropbox has damaged your project file beyond repair.
Do you have a backup? Then revert to that backup (and itās probably a good idea not to use Dropbox again for your RapidWeaver projects).
Cheers,
Erwin
Thank you ā¦ I tried all of these ideas and then recreated an old backup which was saved on my external drive. I have copied that to my desktop ā¦ where it will stay!
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