I deleted iMovie by accident, how can I get it back? [duplicate]

I accidentally deleted iMove from my MacBook Air. How can I get it back?


If you've registered your iLife with the Mac App Store, you can find it in the Purchased tab.

MAS → Purchased → iMovie

Alternatively, if you have a Time Machine backup or other backup of /Applications, you can restore the file through that.


If you have Time Machine running you can retrieve it from a back up.

  1. Click on the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and select Enter Time Machine from the menu

    Enter Time Machine
  2. Once Time Machine loads press Cmd-Shift-G to open the Go to the folder: dialog box and enter /Applications in the dialog and press the Go button

    Browse to Applications
  3. While viewing the contents of the /Applications folder in Time Machine, Scroll backwards in time until a point before you deleted iMovie. You'll see it appear in the Finder window.
  4. Right click on iMovie and select Restore "iMovie.app" to....

    Restore iMovie.app
  5. You'll be exited from Time Machine and OS X will ask you where you want to restore iMovie at on your machine. Select the /Applications folder and you'll have iMovie back.

If you don't have Time Machine running you can purchase iMove from the App Store for $15.00. The App Store may recognize that your account and machine already had iMovie and let you download it again without paying for it if you've registered your Mac and iLife suite of apps with the App Store. Check the Purchased tab in the App Store to see if it's available for re-installation.