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The edit changed after grading

Grading has started in DaVinci Resolve, and the client asks for changes to the Premiere Pro edit. How to bring in the new version without regrading clip by clip.

Guide updated on 3 November 2026. By Théo Vervier, filmmaker and author of GRADEFLOW.

The idea

You don't edit the graded timeline by hand to follow the new cut: it takes long and changes get missed. You export a new XML from Premiere, import it into Resolve as a new timeline, then copy the grade from the old one onto it. All the methods below do that, more or less automatically.

Before you start: duplicate the graded timeline, keep the same project frame rate, and export the new XML the same way as the first one (see the XML or AAF guide). If the media has moved in the meantime, see offline media.

Method 1: ColorTrace

ColorTrace is the Resolve tool made for this. It copies the grade from a source timeline to a target timeline, finding each clip by its media and source timecode.

  1. Import the new XML as a new timeline, with Automatically import source clips into media pool unticked so it links to the media already there.
  2. In the Media Pool, right-click the new timeline, then the ColorTrace command (in the Timelines submenu, depending on the version), and pick the old timeline as the source.
  3. Resolve shows the clips it matched, the ones with several matches and the ones with none. Settle the doubtful ones by hand, then confirm with Copy Grades & Exit.
  4. Go through the new timeline clip by clip: a lengthened clip can reveal part of the media the grade didn't plan for, with a tracker or a window that no longer lines up.

ColorTrace copies the active grade version of each clip. Clips split in two, heavily shortened or replaced by another take cause the most trouble: on a heavily reworked edit, some clips still need redoing.

Method 2: remote grades

Resolve can store a clip's grade with the source media (a remote grade) rather than with the timeline clip (a local grade). A remote grade follows the media into every timeline in the project: a timeline imported later picks it up with no extra step.

The limit is the flip side of the benefit: two clips cut from the same source share the same grade, which doesn't suit a long take shot in changing light. This method is decided at the start of the project. If the grade is already local, ColorTrace remains simpler.

Method 3: replace only what changed

When the change is contained (a shortened scene, a replaced shot), you can import the new XML, then copy only the changed passage into a copy of the graded timeline. Resolve can also compare two timelines to spot the differences, from a right-click on a timeline in the Media Pool.

For small fixes, asking the editor for the list of changes, with sequence timecode, saves a lot of time. On a heavily reworked version, prefer ColorTrace.

What GRADEFLOW does

GRADEFLOW has a feature for this case: resending that keeps the grade. When the edit has moved after grading, you resend the sequence from the panel in Premiere. GRADEFLOW creates a new timeline in the same Resolve project and copies onto it the grade of the previous timeline, nodes and versions included, even for a clip that was moved, shortened or split in two.

New clips arrive in blue, so you know which ones to grade. The old timeline stays intact. The “Garder l'étalonnage” (Keep the grade) box, in the panel, shows the last send. Resending also works when the Premiere project has been copied, and a changed After Effects composition updates without touching the grade.

The send goes one way: you grade and export in Resolve, nothing goes back to Premiere. GRADEFLOW needs an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 15 or later, Premiere Pro 2025 or 2026 and DaVinci Resolve Studio 21. The details are on the Features page. Sales are not open yet; a free 3-day trial starts from the panel, see Installation.

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