Final Cut Pro + Dropbox

I have used FCPX + Dropbox for many many years with no issues, and now apple breaks everything again. I found a workaround that allows me to continue to sync FCPX libraries through Dropbox after the LATEST UPDATE using Sparse Disk Images in Disk Utility. It just adds just one quick extra step mounting and unmounting the image. You first create your sparse disk image in disk utility and save it to any Dropbox folder wherever you want. (Make sure to set your image size to something large enough. Default is 100 MB, I always choose 1 TB. This doesn't make the image that size right away, it just tells the image the size limit). I then mount the image and save my FCPX library inside the image. It appears as if it was an external HD on the left. After that, everything works like normal. You do your edit, add media just like normal, the only added step from here on out is you just have to mount the drive before opening the FCPX library, and unmount the drive when you are done. Working for us.

This is essentially the same issue discussed here: How to Edit Final Cut Project on Two Macs… - Apple Community

While it's understandable that users would want to use cloud services to replicate an active FCP library, the root problem is MacOS does not have "mandatory" file locking. It's not like Windows whereby a file opened for writing automatically blocks readers. That is why on MacOS you almost never see an error like "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

You can use Finder to copy an entire library even though it's open and in use by FCP. But you aren't guaranteed to get a consistent version of the library. It could easily be damaged if it's copied during FCP data writes.

Likewise the Dropbox sync program can easily read files from an FCP library that are being actively updated. Those updates will be transmitted to other users who have access to that library. When the library is read, it could easily be halfway through a transaction involving multiple SQL tables. Those SQL tables must be updated as a single "atomic" operation, else the data will become inconsistent.

On both people's machines, it's a local on-disk library -- but one in which Dropbox is constantly monitoring it, reading any changes and propagating that to the other user's version of that library.

This is inherently risky but (depending on the circumstances) you may get away with it for a long time before you encounter a damaged library and lost edits. If neither source machine never hangs or crashes, and if the recipient is not running FCP when the sync takes place, and if there's never a network glitch or error during the sync, it will probably work. But if any of those things happen, it can damage the library.

Imagine a bank database where debits and credits between different accounts are happening. If you just grabbed a snapshot of that, it would contain debits with no matching credits -- IOW money would be missing. Transactional integrity would be lost.

I believe that is likely why FCP will not open a library which is stored on Dropbox if using the updated Dropbox file provider interface. This closes a risk which should have never been allowed in the first place. It is very likely not a bug, it's by design.

It is possible to transfer FCP libraries using Dropbox but those should be offline and ideally ZIP'd or compressed using CRC checksum protection.

I'm curious how the users here are working with FCP and cloud storage. Dropbox and others should only be used with FCP for sharing zipped files. Media and especially library bundles should never be used with Dropbox or iCloud or any other cloud storage. This particularly important for libraries that are complex folder/database structures which should only be stored on Apple formatted or network formatted drives. Other formats don't handle this content correctly, and the unzipped material can be corrupted.

Not sure how you managed to use Dropbox for three years. FCP doesn't support cloud based content of any kind. You might park libraries in a Dropbox folder, but if FCP needs to access it from the cloud it's going to fail. The application I'm sure doesn't have a dialog specifically for Dropbox so it's just putting up the generic cloud warning assuming it's iCloud.

I had a similar situation and sent the following support request to Dropbox. I have a hunch this may be due to SymLinks (i.e. a symbolic link used to point to a file or directory) since I saw that Dropbox now uses "/Users/myUserAccount/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox" and after the upgrade you cannot change the location, even if you wanted to, to a local, SAN, or supported SMB location. I'm not about to start messing with the pList or other metadata.

I'm a long-time Dropbox user, and pay for Plus Plan. I've never had any issue with anything until today when I upgraded the app on my MacBook Air M1, 2020 model, running macOS Ventura Version 13.0.1. Strangely, the version remained at v167.4.4719 after the upgrade, but things went downhill quickly. 

After the upgrade, I attempted to open a Final Cut Pro file that I had never had any problems with and was given the message "This document cannot be opened from iCloud Drive. Copy the document to a local, SAN, or supported SMB location, then try again”. 

I looked into this more and discovered that Dropbox now maps to “/Users/myUserAccount/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox”. I cannot change the location via the dropbox app anymore. I'm basically stuck and will have to restore my Mac image from a backup. Better yet, I’ll just rebuild my machine to ensure Dropbox doesn’t leave any metadata behind. 

This "upgrade" really broke things, and if I can't get it fixed, I'm afraid I'll need to cancel my business. I hope it doesn't come to that. 

Thanks so much for your help in advance.

”Changing the location of your Dropbox folder is no longer supported by macOS.

• Your Dropbox folder will be moved to ~/Library/CloudStorage.
• Due to the change of the Dropbox folder location, files that were previously linked in some third-party applications will need to be linked again.
• Storing your Dropbox folder on an external drive is no longer supported by macOS.
• Your Dropbox folder in Finder will now be found under Locationsinstead of Favorites.
• Individual folders can be moved from your Dropbox folder to Favorites for quick access.”

Dropbox is not good anymore. You can downgrade here: https://dropbox.en.uptodown.com/mac/download/87515470

In the long run I believe it’s better lo look into alternatives. Like sync.com who still lets you choose where to have the folder located. But sync.com do ignore som files, like .fcpcache which is annoying: https://www.sync.com/help/why-arent-certain-files-on-my-computer-syncing/

Yes, the library and media have to be stored locally for use with FCP. You can use Dropbox with FCP for storing and moving files, but not while you're working on them. There are other collaborative solutions like PostLab.

I've got a work around. Rather than storing the fcp.bundle on Dropbox, just store the footage there, Create a new Library on your computer using the footage on Dropbox. When the edit is completed, export the Final Cut Pro Library as an XML back to Dropbox. When another user opens a new library on their computer using the XML it accesses all the Dropbox footage. If changes are made to the Library re-export an XML to replace the one on Dropbox. (example: a full sized library on Dropbox at 39 GB is 2mb as an XML.) You will need some traffic light system to warn users when the XML is being modified.

Hi Tom,

as I said, I've been working like this for 3 years seamlessly and with no issues whatsoever. First, I make sure the library bundle file (.fcpbundle) is set to available offline and it is completely synced.. Then you can open the library file and it opens in FCPX with no issues.. I work on the file and as I make changes and edits, it gets synced in realtime to dropbox's servers. When I finish working, I close FCPX and allow dropbox to finish syncing the last changes. Then I inform the other team member working in another country that they can open the library once it has finished syncing at their end. Of course, it also has to be set to "available offline" at their end too.. This is how I've worked for 3 years and it seems I'm not the only one.

Yes, I wouldn't expect FCPX to work with Dropbox if the files were set to online-only. But this is not how I've been working. Always, set to available offline. Unfortunately, the latest dropbox update has forced the dropbox folder to be kept in users/username/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox and it shows up under locations in finder. Now for some reason, MacOS isn't able to ascertain that the library bundle file has completely downloaded. When I try to open it in FCPX, it gives me the same message as the original poster. So FCPX seems to thing that this file is "online only" and isn't actually downloaded to the mac. Additionally, when I try to copy the library bundle file to a local folder, I get this error message: "The operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8062)". I looked this up and this error seems to imply that I'm trying to copy something that hasn't been fully synced from some cloud location. It's a disaster for me. I've managed to figure out a workaround for now but I'm so frustrated and disappointed with this.

My workaround is to right click on the library bundle in the dropbox folder and click show package contents. Then I select all the contents and COPY them. Then with final cut, I create a new empty library on a local drive. I make sure to give it the same name as the one that I have on dropbox. I close final cut. I find the new library file, show package contents and PASTE the contents and choose replace all. Then when I open this new library file, it opens fine in final cut and has all the contents as expected.

My next adventure is to find out how I'm going to copy the library back to dropbox so that I can sync it and have my team member work on it.. this is such a disaster honestly. Really regret updating yesterday and dropbox support said that I actually can't install an older version anymore.. I hope.. somebody somewhere at Apple and/or dropbox is working on this. It's a huge blow to our productivity and workflow. Can anybody suggest any alternatives?

P.S. additionally I noticed that previously I could always show package contents on the fcpbundle file even while it was syncing.. So i could see which contents were already synced and which were still downloading. Now I can't show package contents until syncing is complete.. so weird.

Another workaround would be to use sparse disk images. A sparse disk image acts like a disk image, it mounts and unmounts, and can sit right in a dropbox subfolder. The FCPX library syncs as it is bundled in the disk image. The only added step is creating the disk image, mounting and unmounting as you open and close libraries for dropbox sync. Just thought I would share this since I know this is affecting a lot of people.

I've avoided updating to the new version of DropBox and that has kept this problem at bay. As a result I also have been unable to update my company computers - I've bought 3 used Macs on eBay with old operating systems so that I can work around this insane issue. And at the moment I plan to move to sync.com the instant I am *forced* to upgrade to the new dropbox. MY understanding is they do not have this issue - in that you can still place the sync folder where you want it, which of course this is a huge issue if you need to transport multiple tb for photos and videos.

Uninstall dropbox app and install the previous version. You can download it here: https://dropbox.en.uptodown.com/mac/download/87515470

Do not upgrade and continue being happy for 3 + more years :)

I had the same issue using One Drive. Worked for years and one day it stopped. Posted about it back in October: When I try to open Library from OneDrive … - Apple Community. There doesn't seem to be a fix. Every response is always "move it to your local folder". My team and I stopped using Final Cut because it is impossible to collaborate on projects and not being able to easily collaborate is a deal breaker. We have moved over to other software. Good Luck!

It was always a bad idea to use FCP with cloud based content, and now it is failing.

The right course of action is to always use local files with FCP.