Project in Library but Not in Database

Hey again all.

In case you didn't know (or, as in my case, have a moment of impulsiveness and don't think about it), you can't just copy events from one library to another in the Finder and have them show up in the new library. For some reason, FCP (10.1.3) was failing to move an event from one library to another, so without thinking much about it, I quit FCP, went into the Finder, selected Show Package Contents on each library, and copied the event folder over. My problem is, now that I've done this, FCP doesn't know the event is there, and you apparently can't just drag a .fcpevent file into the program to open it—it claims it can't open that type of file. Thankfully, I was just moving things around for completed projects, so I'm not out much if they're somehow lost to the ether now. That said, I would still like to break things down further into smaller libraries for my current blu-ray backup method, so it would be nice if I could get the program to recognize these events again. Does anyone have any idea how I can do that, if it's at all possible? Thanks in advance.

Hi Andrew,

There is a good reason why Apple has put the files and folders of a Library in a closed container. There is is no reason to ever open a Library container and start moving things in or out of it, that's a recipe for disaster. Anything you wish to do with Events, Projects and clips can be done right within FCP X.

You should be able to move any Event to any Library by using the File > Move to Library command. If this option is greyed out you should use File > Copy to Library and delete the original Event in the FCP X Library Browser after it has been copied into the new Library. I have never seen this not work.

The only thing you can try to restore the Event is to put everything where it was, hoping that the connections to the Library database will get restored. If this does not work I'm afraid you will have to take this as a lesson learned.


- Ronny

Thanks Ronny. That's what I figured. Glad those weren't projects I still crucially needed then. Still, I have had problems before where File > Move to Library was not grayed out, but didn't work—FCP would seemingly go through the process, but upon completion, the project would remain in its original library, with no indication of any media or data moved to the new library. I guess if it happens again, I'll try to pay closer attention to what's going on and/or see if I can't just copy it over and then delete the original.

Like Ronny said, you should not mess with the contents of the library in the Finder.
However, since you already have, you may be able to make FCP X aware of these changes by making yet another one. Inside the package is a file called CurrentVersion.flexolibrary. Quit FCP X, do a Show Package Contents on d the library and drag the flexolibrary file out of the package. Start FCP X again, and it will try to reconstruct this database from the contents of the package.