Stop Losing Great Clips in Final Cut Pro

Ever sit there going "wait, was it this clip I liked? Or was it that one? Or maybe just part of it?" If so, you're not taking full advantage of what Final Cut has to offer, champ. Let me show you how to stay organized so you always know which clips you like, which you don't, and which you've already used.

Favorite the clips (and sections) you like

In your library, when you like a clip, select it and press F to favorite it, Final Cut drops a green line over it. Only like part of a clip? Drag a selection and press F, or set your in and out points with I and O and then press F. Now click the Favorites view (or press Control F) and you'll see just your favorited clips, and if you favorited only a section, it shows just that segment, not the whole clip.

See what you've already used

Drag part of a clip to your timeline and you'll notice an orange bar appear on that section in the browser, that's telling you it's already been used, so you know to skip it while hunting for other shots. Even better, switch the view to Unused (or press Control U) and you'll see only the parts you haven't used yet, so a clip you half-used shows split, with just the unused pieces. If you don't see the orange bars, turn them on under View → Browser → Used Media Ranges.

Reject the clips you'll never use

See a clip or section you know you'll never touch? Press Delete and a red bar shows up, you're not actually deleting it from the library, just marking it as a no-go. Hide those rejects with Control H. And if you favorited or rejected something and changed your mind, select it and press U to unrate.

The trick I use most: favorited + unused

Here's the one that's helped me the most. Click on your Favorites smart collection, double-click the gear icon, hit add to bring in another parameter, choose Used Media, and switch it to Unused. Now you're looking at every clip you favorited that you haven't used yet, basically all the good stuff you've still got left to work with. Save that as a new smart collection and you've got instant access to exactly the clips you need, even when your library's a sea of footage.