It is not possible to reorder open Libraries in the Libraries Sidebar within FCP?

I often need to have multiple libraries open at the same time within the Libraries Sidebar. When this happens, it would help me out a lot to be able to reorder these open libraries in a way that makes the most sense for me and my use case. However... it seems like it is not possible to change the order of open Libraries. Is this the case, or am I missing something? I do see a "Sort Events by..." option, but that seems to only affect Events within each library... not the overall sidebar.


Is there really no way to move around open libraries within the sidebar?

Posted on May 16, 2023 7:06 PM

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Posted on May 17, 2023 1:32 AM

Just a little addition to what Ian said.


If double clicking one after another is a bit of a nuisance, there is a possible alternative.

Now this is no big help if you need to it just once, but if you do it often it can save a lot of time.


You can open libraries, just like any other files, using the "open" command in Terminal.

How can this help viz double clicking them in the Finder, you may ask.


Say you have to open the same four libraries in order, so that they appear in the browser as

A

B

C

D


You can do it in Terminal using


open D C B A


So here is way to do it quickly:


1a) Open Terminal and type

open

(no return at the end, but a space)

1b) Drag each of the libraries D, C, B, A in that order and drop them in the Terminal window

1c) Press return


Now the good thing is you need to do this just ONCE for this set of libraries.

Just copy the final command, which may look like


open /Users/me/Movies/D.fcpbundle /Users/me/Movies/C.fcpbundle /Users/me/Movies/A.fcpbundle /Users/me/Movies/A.fcpbundle


and you can keep it as a Shortcut, a snippet you can expand, or even just as a text saved somewhere than you can copy and paste back to Terminal when needed.


Again, it seems to much work if you only do this once or twice, but if you need it often, you can easily make this a Shortcut or Automator Quick Action and execute with one keyboard shortcut.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 17, 2023 1:32 AM in response to Dolmetscher

Just a little addition to what Ian said.


If double clicking one after another is a bit of a nuisance, there is a possible alternative.

Now this is no big help if you need to it just once, but if you do it often it can save a lot of time.


You can open libraries, just like any other files, using the "open" command in Terminal.

How can this help viz double clicking them in the Finder, you may ask.


Say you have to open the same four libraries in order, so that they appear in the browser as

A

B

C

D


You can do it in Terminal using


open D C B A


So here is way to do it quickly:


1a) Open Terminal and type

open

(no return at the end, but a space)

1b) Drag each of the libraries D, C, B, A in that order and drop them in the Terminal window

1c) Press return


Now the good thing is you need to do this just ONCE for this set of libraries.

Just copy the final command, which may look like


open /Users/me/Movies/D.fcpbundle /Users/me/Movies/C.fcpbundle /Users/me/Movies/A.fcpbundle /Users/me/Movies/A.fcpbundle


and you can keep it as a Shortcut, a snippet you can expand, or even just as a text saved somewhere than you can copy and paste back to Terminal when needed.


Again, it seems to much work if you only do this once or twice, but if you need it often, you can easily make this a Shortcut or Automator Quick Action and execute with one keyboard shortcut.

May 17, 2023 7:55 AM in response to Dolmetscher

Your Mac already has a pretty good MAM. It is called "Finder".


For large amounts of media, you can of course choose to use some third party MAM, and they may or may not be more adequate, but here is what I do:


Media is imported to specified locations in the Finder, and optionally tagged.

When importing, media is always left in place.

This allows for easy reusing and for keeping libraries fairly small.


Just saying...

May 17, 2023 2:29 AM in response to Dolmetscher

I am a little curious as to why you need the Libraries in a particular order?


I usually have several open simultaneously and have never given their order a second thought as it has been easy enough to jump from one to another but I probably don't have more than 5 or 6 open.


I suppose if you have 20 or more open it could get a bit fiddly trying to find a particular one quickly.


Ideally only one Library should be open.

May 17, 2023 5:27 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Well... the software calls them, Libraries, Events, and Projects. But... I think that pretty much every user ends up thinking of each of these things in a different way depending on their use-case.


For me... I edit a YouTube channel with 200k subs that publishes a daily (5x/week) 20+ min. episode. Each episode might easily pull in 25 different video clips from all the major news orgs (Reuters, AP, etc.) plus tons of photos. Plus I've become the absolute Ken Burns whisperer when it comes to adding website slow-zoom screen shots. On top of that... I have 10-15 different titles, generators, effects, and finally on top of that... I have at least 10 different "often used compound clips" that I drop in throughout each episode. I have a new library every week now. I used to do one per month, but they just become so huge. And I create a new Event for each day. And within each Day (event) I create four projects. One project = the main episode, + 3 smaller <60 second projects that become social media "shorts."


I am, by no means, an organizational wizard. I probably handle my assets in a way that would make most of you guys laugh. But... I really would like to be able to arrange the simple things, like... the order of opened libraries... because... when you have this many things open and are clicking around looking for things... sometimes I might have multiple "weeks" Libraries... open so I can easily pull from recent episodes... and within each "week" (Library) there are all these events... etc. With all that stuff expanded... it becomes a total mess. And I've like to be able to organize it, at least on a macro-level, in a way that makes sense to me.

May 17, 2023 6:07 AM in response to Dolmetscher

It sounds as though you really need a team of assistants!


However, as that's not a practical proposition you may find this short (9 minute) video helpful as it deals with keywords and organising your media.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1V22hp-Zmo&list=PLp5SAgbM8S87n1qvv34-PAU2zMHLlXyfb&index=4


It is one lesson from the IzzyVideo course of 21 lessons covering all the basic aspects of FCP X.

May 17, 2023 6:29 AM in response to Dolmetscher

FCP is not a very good media asset manager (MAM), beyond a point. And, what you really need is a good workflow that includes a MAM. Using a MAM would definitely make things much easier to do what you've described (revisiting media from previous episodes, etc.). And, as Ian suggested (though somewhat lightheartedly, perhaps), you might benefit from having an assistant in the future as media management becomes a larger and larger task... ;-)

May 17, 2023 7:57 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

This link has a number of videos about MAM but the first 2 are for KYNO which will cost you many spondulicks . . . the remainder are free.


https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=media+asset+management+with++with+fcpx


This chap is describing a similar dilemma to yours . . .


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q5tqvxtUW0&t=12s


I once got caught on the horns of a dilemma so have since been very careful when feeding them.

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It is not possible to reorder open Libraries in the Libraries Sidebar within FCP?

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