Consolidating Media Files to One Folder
If you save a project with a new name partway through the capture process, media files
captured after the project is renamed are stored in a new folder. For example, suppose
you originally captured some clips in a project called Hard to Trace, but at some point
you renamed your project Hard to Trace Version 2 and then resumed capturing clips. In
this case, clips captured before the project name change are stored here:
/Volumes/Media/Capture Scratch/Hard to Trace/
and clips captured after the name change are stored here:
/Volumes/Media/Capture Scratch/Hard to Trace Version 2/
This can make it difficult to manage your project, especially if you want to copy the
project file and all of its corresponding media files to another system. To avoid these
problems, it’s important to pay attention to where your media is stored during capture.
If you want all of your media files to reside in one folder, you need to avoid changing
the name of your project. However, it’s common for editors to change project names as
they save versions of their work. At some point, it’s likely that you are going to capture
a media file to a folder where you don’t want it.
To consolidate media files into a single folder immediately after capture:
1
In the Browser, select a clip that corresponds to one of the media files you just captured.
2
Do one of the following:
 Choose View > Reveal in Finder.
 Control-click the clip, then choose Reveal in Finder from the shortcut menu.
A Finder window opens with the media file selected.
3
Click the Final Cut Pro icon in the Dock to switch back to Final Cut Pro.
4
In the Browser, if it isn’t selected already, select the clip that corresponds to the media
file you just highlighted in the Finder.
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Part I
Media and Project Management
5
Press Delete.
This removes the clip from your project, but the media file is still on the disk.
Important:
Because you deleted the clip, any comments or notes applied to the clip
are now gone.
6
Switch back to the Finder and move the media file to the folder where you want to
keep all the media files associated with your project.
7
Drag the media file from its new folder in the Finder to the Browser in Final Cut Pro.
You now have the same clip as before, but it points to its media file in the proper location.
If your clip has comments and notes that you don’t want to lose by deleting the clip,
you can ignore the step where you delete the clip from the Browser. In this case,
Final Cut Pro warns you that the clip’s media file has gone “offline” when you return to
the application. You can choose to reconnect the clip’s media file, which is now in the
proper location, using the Reconnect window.