Trash and clip deletion

The trash has changed in 10.1.1 with deleted items now going to the system trash rather than the hidden trash in your library as in previous versions. However, things are not always as they appear in Final Cut Pro X and the relationship between the browser and your material is "fluid" instead of direct as you might be used to in the old Final Cut Suite.

When you delete a clip, or "move to trash", from the browser it will disappear from the browser and may, or may not, appear in the trash. This can be very disconcerting if you delete something from the browser and then realise later that you didn't want to delete it. If you go to the trash you may not find the deleted item - it will not appear in the trash if it is used anywhere else in the project. You can retrieve the deleted item in the browser if you can find and select the deleted clip in some other part of the project where it is used - Shift F will the reveal the "deleted" clip in the browser.

What this means is that your browser is no longer reflective of the material in your project: items may be used in the project but not appear in the browser.

I don't like this approach - it reduces your connection with, and understanding of, the material. Its a bit scary too - things get deleted unexpectedly and its not always clear how items can be retrieved. I am not sure why the developers have taken this approach - in a big project you need a good understanding of your material, and anything which distorts your view of your material can be problematic.

Use feedback. The approach is to prevent media used elsewhere from being trashed. It prevents you from accidentally trash a file used in a project or in another library or referenced somewhere else. The file goes to the trash when the last instance of the media is deleted.

Hi. Yes, I understand the rationale, but I don't like it. I would prefer that the browser retained an accurate picture of every media item in the library/project. I would also like to be able to click an item in the browser and see where it has been used. Deletion of items from the browser should be prevented where it is in use, though you may want to be able to override this, or replace every instance of this item.

What is lost in the current regime is a clear view of your assets - the browser no longer reflects reality, and there is no way to see exactly what assets are contained in a project or library. Less is not more in this situation, at least not in my opinion.

Use feedback. What this system covers is the same media files used in multiple libraries by multiple users. The legacy software couldn't do that. You trashed a file you didn't need and you hosed someone else's project.

Ah, I see. But if you are using managed media, and you are working with a discrete copy of that media in your library, then you gain nothing here and still lose visibility of your assets. A better option would be to "hide" a media item which you are not using and where you are sharing that media with other projects and users. A toggle to view/conceal hidden items would then give you back the visibility and control that has been removed in this version of FCP.

You have that by default. Hide Rejected. Reject a clip or a portion of a clip and it's hidden.

Just a point on using Feedback - the text box is quite small and if you want to explain something in detail it is quite difficult to do so using the Apple feedback form. I wonder whether it would be more useful to have a feedback section in this forum so that issues like this can be discussed and then, when there is some sort of consensus, create a concise post in the feedback area and then use the feedback form to direct Apple to the post on here?

Then there is no need to delete a clip? Does deletion have a bearing on the size of your project files or library?

If you're using managed media it will have an effect on the size of the library. Though FCP often uses hard links so it may not have an effect on the drive space used.