FInal Cut Pro drop zone not loading file

This is a completely different issue, but one that should be easy to fix.

Go to System Settings->Privacy & Security and add Final Cut Pro to the apps allowed “Full Disk Access”.

The SSD should be formatted as APFS. If it is using ExFAT then you should copy its contents to another drive, reformat as APFS and copy them back.

Stop!!!!!!!

You have the hideous “cleanmymac”.

Follow their instructions to completely remove it from your mac. Never ever fall for any program that claims to clean, optimize or speed up your mac. They’re scams. In the case of cleanmymac it has been hurting users for so long and continues to fool people into parting with their money… ouch!

Nowadays, with the system being in a sealed read only volume, the amount of damage it can do is diminished, but it is still a bad actor, aggressively peddled.

You don’t see a button on the viewer saying “Apply Clip”?

Can you post a screenshot showing the viewer and the inspector?

Is the clip that you want to use being selected from the browser or the timeline? I find that sometimes I see a problem with a browser clip. If that is the case, drag the clip to the timeline first, select it to use with the drop zone; then it is ok to disable it or even delete from the timeline.

Please post the whole folder hierarchy in Column View from Motion Templates down to the individual effect.

It should be similar to this (note that there is a level between the Transitions, or other template types, and the actual templates - this is the "Category" in which they will appear inside FCP - for example, "Asym Dissolve" is a transition, and "Lichinho" is the category in which this transition appears)

Also, these five folders (and ONLY these): Motion Templates, Effects, Transitions, Titles, Generators need to be "localized".

Select each one in turn, press Command-I and add the .localized extension to the name, like this:

Then by all means try the process described in the video.

You have to make sure to do the Terminal bit exactly, to guarantee that FCP can find Motion Templates in its new location - that is what the "ln -s ..." part is about.

If in doubt, copy the following line in its entirety, paste in Terminal, press enter and post the result here.

ls -ld ~/Movies/Motion*

This will tells if there is a Motion Templates folder or link and what it is pointing to, to make sure it is correct.

As Tom very well pointed out, this external drive seems to be also used as a Time Machine backup.

This is likely to cause trouble, and you do not want to ruin your backup.

I suggest you get yourself a cheaper HD (they are so inexpensive nowadays) for use with Time Machine, and use the external SSD for video work.

Also: there could be other issues.

Please run Etrecheck, giving it full disk access as well, and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

It may well show some third party "bad actors" that may be hurting the work of FCP.

How was the generator installed? Did you come with an installer, or did you place in manually?

When you moved stuff, did you also move the Motion Templates folder? You should that folder and its subfolders in the original location inside your Movies folder.

Sergio Longhi wrote:

I found this to move the Motion folder : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNiYJ2dY7BY

Oh, wait, forget my previous post. I now realize that the templates were working but ceased when you moved them. The process described in the video should work, but I have to ask why you'd want to move them.

Templates should take very little space, and it is simpler and safer to keep them in the default location.

I did try the process shown, some time ago, to see if it worked, and I remember that, although it was supposed to, there were issues. I quickly put everything back, and did not explore further.

Note: just because you moved your media and libraries to an external does not mean you have to move the templates also.

Time Machine puts restrictions on what you can do with a drive. It would be best not to use that hardware for FCP.