Copying or not copying media into the Final Cut library

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Level 2

154 points

Copying or not copying media into the Final Cut library

I'm editing a movie which has a 15GB video file. It resides on my hard drive, so I don't need another copy of it within the project, so I import it without copying to library, but after that, I want all media I put in, like stills and plugins, to be stored in the library so that they are always there. Is it possible to tell Final Cut not to import the giant file, but to import everything else?

That is, if I turn that feature on and off in Settings, does it work as intended depending on the setting? Or can I leave it set to store all media in the library, but then import an individual file without copying it, but without having to go into Settings to change the Import setting?

Mac Studio

Posted on Dec 28, 2022 3:50 PM

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Answer 1

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Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,008 points

Dec 28, 2022 3:57 PM in response to Cartoonguy

When you use the import window you can set the option to either copy into library or leave in place. If you drag and drop to import you can hold the ⌥ key to change from the preferences setting, to either add to the library or leave in place. Plugins are different. They can either be in the standard place outside of the library or using library properties be added into the library.

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Answer 2

Cartoonguy Author

Level 2

154 points

Dec 28, 2022 4:20 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Ah, thank you Tom. The Option key does what I was looking for, so that's great. I can leave the setting as "copy to library" and hold Option to not do it for the specific file I drag in and that saves me going back and forth in settings. Perfect!

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Copying or not copying media into the Final Cut library

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