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Deleting and Renaming Files
I have 2 questions about the FCP browser for which I can’t seem to find answers in the manuals.
First, how do you delete a clip from a bin and also delete the corresponding media file from the hard drive?
Second, how do you stop the browser from sorting the files? In my case, I import a lot of files from my Firestore FS4. The filenames are basically the date and time stamps, so I’d like to give them more meaningful names. But as soon as I rename a file, it is resorted alphabetically. This makes it harder to rename sequential clips (ie different takes or b-roll clips) because I have to remember the last number I use.
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7 Replies
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To Delete a clip and the corresponding media:
Right click on the clip in the browser.
Choose make off line.
Click the third radio button (Delete from disk.)
Hit OK.
Clip will be marked with red slash.
Select it and hit delete.
Browser sorting:
I don’t think there is a way to stop the browser from sorting.
I work with the sort by placing the most important criteria early in the clip name.
Example:
S001_T002
Would be scene one take two.
When this fails or starts to get unwieldly, I create bins and use the same idea for naming the bins.
Best,
Tom Meegan
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[sumfun] “First, how do you delete a clip from a bin and also delete the corresponding media file from the hard drive?”
Control-click (Right-click) on the clip in the Browser >
Choose “Make Offline…” > “Delete Them from the Disk”[sumfun] “so I’d like to give them more meaningful names. But as soon as I rename a file, it is resorted alphabetically. This makes it harder to rename sequential clips (ie different takes or b-roll clips) because I have to remember the last number I use.”
Well, if you rename any part of a captured clip, it will lose its confection to the corresponding clip on the Capture Scratch disk.
Its then a hassle to “Reconnect Media” to the proper clips,
so I don’t recommend you rename your clips.Otherwise, to change how the Browser “sorts” clips, just click on the Browser column heading names (Name, Media Start, Duration, etc.) and all the clips will be sorted according to that columns info.
If you click the same column heading again, it will toggle from earliest-to-latest, and back). -
Lose its “confection” should read lose its “connection”.
(“Edit Post” would be a useful feature here on the COW.)
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Thanks for the quick replies!
Matte – I found that renaming the clips in the browser has no effect on the original media files on disk. When you rename (or move) the original files is when you lose the connection.
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Just for reference…
You will not lose the connection when you change the name in the browser, however…
FCP uses the file path to connect browser clips to media.
When this file path is changed by moving the media file to another location, the clip in the browser will go off-line.
When you try to reconnect you will be prompted to Locate or Search for the file.
Locate is done manually. Great, if you know where the file is.
Search tries to locate the file by matching the clip name and media file name.
This last is the rub. By changing the browser name, the media file name no longer matches. You will have to locate the files manually. Hopefully you know the original name of the media file. If not you will be forced to try to match something else manually, like the duration of the file.
This is not fun.
My habit now, if I must change a browser name is:
Change the browser clip name.
Copy the text of the clip name.
Right click on the clip and choose Reveal in Finder.
Change the name of the media file by pasting the text.
Return to FCP.
The file will be offline.
Right click on the file and choose Reconnect Media.
Click Search of Locate to reconnect.
Once you done that your have re-established the matched name as a way to re-connect media.
Best,
Tom
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Wow, that’s a lot of work to keep the names synchronized. Wouldn’t it be easier, at the end of the project, to use the Media Manager to move all the used media files to one folder and rename them automatically to match the names in the browser?
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I’ve had some less than positive experiences with Media Manager in the past.
I do use Media Manager when I haven’t created nests and slow motion in the project. When I use MM, I test the project it creates, before I put it on the shelf. This has paid off, both in catching my errors as well as MM’s errors.
Since much of my work utilizes multiple nests and slow motion, I’ve found my own ways to stay organized.
Renaming the files is habit now, but I do wish I could build an apple script that would do it for me.
Best,
Tom
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