Can't Save FCP Title Template in Motion, New User

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Can't Save FCP Title Template in Motion, New User

On a new M4 Mac Mini, I'm using Motion for the first time. When I try to save a FCP Title, all the Categories are greyed out with a lock icon beside them and I can't create a New Category.

When I try to save an error says it's trying to save to /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.apple.motionapp/Data/Movies/Motion Templates.localized/Titles.localized/Adjustment/New Tempate/Media.

In Terminal, trying to navigate there it asks for permission starting at ./Data/Movies

From my searching it seems like it should be saving Titles into /Users/<username>/Movies/Motion

Templates.localized/Titles.localized ... how can I change this save destination in Motion? What am I doing wrong??

Mac mini, macOS 26.2

Posted on Feb 19, 2026 2:49 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

filmmakerYTn00b Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 20, 2026 7:50 AM in response to fox_m

@fox_m Using terminal I can confirm that this directory exists with these permissions

/Users/<username>/Movies/Motion Templates.localized

drwxr-xr-x@ 9 username staff 288 Dec 27 21:39 Motion Templates.localized

It has full read-write-execute (rwx) permissions for my user, as well as rx for group and other.

!! ISSUE RESOLVED !!

For anyone experiencing a similar problem, the solution was the following:

Temporarily rename the Motion Templates.localized folder to Motion Templates.localized.old
Open Motion and Final Cut Title, Save As, create a new category and save. This failed before but worked this time
In a Finder confirm that Motion created the /User/<username>/Movies/Motion Templates.localized and the "New Category" folder was present under Titles.localized, as well as Compositions, Effects, Generators, and Transitions
Move all the aftermarket assets from the Motion Templates.localized.old folder to the respective new folders in Motion Templates.localized

Although the name and folder permissions seemed fine, I think the original Motion Templates.localized folder was created incorrectly or corrupted. Allowing Motion to create the folder by itself has reset the permissions correctly and resolved the issue.

Thanks @fox_m and @Luis Sequeira1 for your help diagnosing this! Appreciate you both!

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Answer 2

Feb 20, 2026 7:29 AM in response to filmmakerYTn00b

If it does not have it already, try granting "Full Disk Access" to Motion, in

System Settings->Privacy & Security->Full Disk Access

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Answer 3

Feb 20, 2026 7:32 AM in response to filmmakerYTn00b

Sorry, I forgot to add the usual early troubleshooting step: deleting preferences. Start Motion while holding Command and Option keys down, and when asked click "Delete Custom Settings". Corrupted preferences can cause all sorts of weird behavior, maybe this is one such case. Anyway, if it does not fix things, it does not hurt.

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Answer 4

fox_m

Level 6

13,594 points

Feb 19, 2026 7:23 PM in response to filmmakerYTn00b

I have no idea what's going on with your installation of Motion...

1) Motion is supposed to be in <"Macintosh HD">/Applications

2) Motion is supposed to automatically save templates into:

<"Macintosh HD">/Users/<Your currently active user folder>/Movies/Motion Templates/

I put "Macintosh HD" in quotes because you may have changed the name of your internal hard drive (but that was the original name — it should be okay to leave it changed... just trying to be clear).

3) It should not be necessary to have to set the Permissions for saving templates.

Template folder structure inside Motion Templates is:

Compositions

Effects

Generators

Titles

Transitions

//there may be an accessory "exec" file called templateThemes — ignore it

Inside each of the above folders, there will be folders with Category Names [These are also the names of "sections" shown in FCP in the various template inspectors]

Inside each of the Category Named folders will be your individual Templates

This is where Final Cut Pro expects to find YOUR templates made with Motion.

If this file structure is NOT what you have, then there is definitely something wrong with your Motion installation.

From Motion:

1) you cannot save files with '/' in their either their names or for the Category designation (this designates a folder division or path — it cannot be done)

I've tried to be as clear as possible, so if you have ANY questions... please do not hesitate to ask.

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Answer 5

Feb 19, 2026 11:18 PM in response to filmmakerYTn00b

What happens if you choose "New Category"?

It seems that many of the existing categories are related to "Pixel Film Studios", so they may have been created in a less than ideal manner, or perhaps you are trying to modify a title that is "protected" from copy?

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Answer 6

Feb 20, 2026 7:18 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

@Luis Sequeira1 When I select New Category it won't let me create one. I use FCP quite extensively and those Pixel Film Studio titles are ones are aftermarket titles that I use in my videos. Those appear to be folders under /User/<username/Movies/Motion Templates.localized/Titles.localized

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Can't Save FCP Title Template in Motion, New User

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