Cannot import .fcpxml from 10.4.2 into 10.3.4

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Level 1

8 points

Cannot import .fcpxml from 10.4.2 into 10.3.4

I work on latest FCPX 10.4.2, my colleague still uses FCPX 10.3.4 on his older mac.

I can import his .FCPXMLs, but he cannot import mine. The reason is that FCPX 10.4.2 only exports .fcpxml v 1.7 & 1.8. FCPX 10.3.4 only works with .fcpxml up to version 1.6.

Is there a way to transfer a project from 10.4.2 into 10.3.4 ?

Any thoughts?

The only workaround I have found so far was the following:

Export .fcpxml

Convert it into .xml using XtoCC app

Convert back .xml into FCPX using SendToX app that creates a new event from an old .xml.

As one could tell this is far from being optimal.

Please help!

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, macOS High Sierra (10.13.4)

Posted on May 5, 2018 1:45 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

fox_m

Level 6

13,348 points

May 5, 2018 2:35 PM in response to AlexNed

This is exactly the same way Motion templates work in FCPX. If the version of Motion that created a template is older or contemporary with the currently used version of FCPX, Final Cut will load it and use it. If, however, the template is made on a newer version of Motion that is contemporary with a newer version of FCPX, the older FCPX will not be able to open it. This is mostly due to two things: the possibility that newer features may be used that the older FCPX will not "understand" and the XML file that goes with it.

All FCPXML files since version 10.0.3 have a version number (line 4).

IF your project does not use any of the new features added since 10.3.4 (captioning for one), then you might try this:

Open the 10.4.2 version of the FCPXML file in a plain text editor (TextWrangler, BBEdit, or even just TextEdit set to plain text) and change the version number in line 4 from

<fcpxml version="1.8"> to

<fcpxml version="1.6"> [1.7 must have been 10.4.0]

Then try to have your colleague open it up in 10.3.4. The worst that can happen is that FCPX will reject the import.

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