Where does FCPX store my Libraries?

Those were very helpful responses Luis.

I think I will choose somewhat larger libraries, and then make more specific projects within a library that will focus on a specific region or activity, sometimes with overlapping media.

I do tag the images and sound as they live in the Photos - iTunes collections but haven't yet thought about collecting the tagged content in a specific event. It may be something I would do if I want to see organizational alternatives, but for the present, I will continue with organizing projects within the library.

The "bunch of things" in the movies folder are listed in the insert. The Final Cut Backups are clearly FCPX files - the untitled folder and two of the duplicates in the Vancouver Studies appear to be unnecessary. The other folders - Final Cut Original Media contains sound and images - all of which I have original material in my Photos - iTunes applications. Not sure where the Motion folders arise; haven't got into developing content in Motion yet.

I don't wish to dominate your helpful time as you are obviously a big help to many on these discussion boards, but ....

I have all this content in other locations - original media on Photos and iTunes and the rest on my External drive. Can this content be deleted from the iMac?

Do you ever delete the libraries you create (as in after you have done on the projects you want in the library)?

David

I think after this I can go away and try to get a response from Apple why my Photos on the iMac will not accept People (Faces) names properly nor search for them - an issue I have had with them for over half a year now.

I'm confused about libraries and events. You give a list of libraries but then say they're events. Can you post screenshots? Did you update from an older version? These sound like remnants of older application versions.

I have never been able to manage the hierarchy of Libraries - Events - Projects and consequently have libraries within libraries, events with no projects and so on - but I can live with that as I can find them within FCPX when I need them.

My problem is with the storage location of the Final Cut Pro X (Build version 301179 Version 10.3.3). My iMac disk is pretty much packed and 281.63 GB of this is from libraries of iMovie and Final Cut Pro. The FCPX libraries are the big deal, they are large and are not located with the rest of my FCPX libraries which are all on a 750 GB External Drive.

I have been having major issues with the function of Sierra 10.12.4 as it relates to file locations and particularly with Photos - but shouldn't all my FCPX stuff be on the External HD where I want it? If this is so, how do I get them onto the external so I can delete those on the iMac to give me the space I need?

Thanks

Select the library in FCP and press Shift-Cmd-R to reveal in Finder. There's where the library is, but it may not be where the media is. You can set that to any location you want in the library properties. Move the library to the external drive if you want.

BTW, you can't have a library inside another library.

Thanks Tom - I will do that and delete the FCPX libraries on the iMac. I have several libraries that contain different versions of the same subject - with slightly different content. Because they are all lined up in the folder I can see that several video projects I am working on have slightly different names. I read through the manual but I guess the message did not penetrate.

The way I tried to organize was to take all the media from a single travel destination, and then create several projects using the media collection. I don't think I created any events, but several projects that should be together in the library collection are outside the "Projects" folder. If I put them all together in the external drive and have them consolidated, would this resolve that issue?

Any tutorial or additional reading I could do to get this right would be very helpful.

David

Got it - wonder why then if a library automatically creates an event, why that even enters the user world. I did a double check on the file names between the iMac and the external drive, and moved the needed files into where I wanted them, then opened FCPX to locate them and put them in the FCPX memory in their present location.

Thank you.

Thanks Luis - my basic content resides in Photos - so I checked each library before I moved them - or deleted them as I discovered no projects within them that I regarded as important.

So my FCPX Libraries with (whatever the events are within them and) the projects I have developed have been moved completely to where I want them - the external drive.

But seeing as how you know this stuff and I mostly don't - a couple of questions if you would indulge me:

1. Is it better to create a rather huge library that will cover a number of component projects relating to that library (that shares a common element such as being located in New York)?

2. Do I need to consult further on creating events when really what I am doing is working with the content of a specific year in a specific geography (i.e. New York 2013). Does that mean if I am back in New York after 2019 I would create another event in the New York Library and add that media there?

3. In my FCPX movies file in the iMac I still have a bunch of things related to my projects and I have not deleted them until I know what they do. Do you have some resource to point to?

Thanks again for your kindnesses

David

And so far I have finished several dozen projects whose final forms are now at home in my iTunes to be shared as I choose - so I am thinking that if I want to recreate any of those projects (videos) after I delete the content from the FCPX file, I would start again from scratch using the media sources I have created in Photos and iTunes. Correct?

There is no single answer to these questions. Different people prefer different workflows.

Here are a few thoughts, though

1. You can have as many or as few libraries as you like.

I am partial to small libraries and tend to follow the "one library per production" motto.

There can still be, and there are, several projects per library.

One of the things I do is reports on my son's football games ('football' as in the "beautiful game" that is actually played with the feet, not the other 'football' :-)).

I have one library per game instead of one per season, say.

For me, I would rather have a "New York 2013" library and a "New York 2019" library, but having a "New York" library with "2013" and "2019" events would work fine, if you prefer it that way.

2. Events are an organizational feature inside libraries. In the situation you describe, I think it would make sense, if you have a New York library, to organize the material in events as you describe, especially since we got library-wide smart collections, which allow us to easily find stuff even if we don't know in which event they are. This leads to a point about metadata (keywords, notes, dates, etc), which is one the key strengths of FCP X. If you take the time to organize and tag your content, you'll be rewarded later on (even in 2019, if you have to search for a specific shot you did in 2013).

On the other hand, it is also acceptable to have only one event per library, as some prefer; again, keyword and smart collections allow you view your content in any way you like, so you might as well not bother with events at all.

My heart is a bit divided on this one. For the football games, I have only one event, but in other cases I tend to keep using events as a way to organize content.

3. I don't know what "a bunch of things" actually are, so I can only offer this advice: don't delete something if you are unsure what is. If you like, tell us what you are talking about so we can perhaps see if it is necessary, or relevant, or what. That said, I fail to imagine what these things are. FCP X does not litter your drive with 'stuff'.

The folder Final Cut Backups contains your library backups. There's a separate folder for each library you've opened in FCP. There is an Untitled library when you first launch the application. If you work in that library without renaming it, backups are created in a folder called Untitled.

It looks like at some point, for some library you assigned the media storage location to be your Movies folder. FCP created a folder in Movies called Final Cut Original Media to store that footage external to the library bundle.

Motion Projects and Motion Templates are created to store titles, effects, and other content created by you or third parties for use in the applications.

Very helpful Tom

I shall keep my Final Cut backups on the iMac, and will eliminate libraries and backups (i e. Untitled)created without necessary project work within.

I don't know how the change of FCPX libraries storage got changed - I remember when installing FCPX I designated the external drive for library storage, and don't remember changing - the external drive had lots of capacity.

Original media accumulated in its own folder will be discarded when the projects pertaining to them has been tagged and published. Sensible?

Libraries of published projects might also be removed from the external drive after some years of not being used - sensible?

Thank you again.

David

( I click the "helpfu" box but my action does not register)

What version are you using? Have you updated from an older version recently? What version? You can store libraries on any drive. You assign the location when you create them.

FCPX on my iMac shows the libraries but is showing the events within those libraries from two different drives.

That's not possible. Can you post a screenshot of what you're seeing on the iMac?

Possibly looking at backup library copies.

Russ