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126Final Cut Pro User Guide
Save and back up projects in Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro automatically saves all the changes you make as you work on a project, which
means you never have to save changes manually. Also, you can undo all of your changes up
to the last time you quit and reopened Final Cut Pro by choosing Edit > Undo (or pressing
Command-Z).
You can create multiple versions of a project by duplicating it. See Duplicate projects and
clips in Final Cut Pro.
Changes you make to a clip in a project do not affect the clip’s source file. Thus, if you’ve
made a lot of changes to a clip but want to start fresh, you can easily restore the clip to its
original state by adding a new copy of the clip (located in an event in the library) to your
project.
In addition, Final Cut Pro makes automatic backups of your library at regular intervals.
Backups include the database portion of libraries only, not the media files. Backups are
saved with the time and date in the filename. See
Restore a Final Cut Pro library.
Copy a Final Cut Pro project to another Mac
You can copy or move a project to another Mac to continue editing the project or to make a
backup.
To copy a project to another Mac, you must copy the library that contains the project.
Final Cut Pro libraries combine your editing projects, video clips, and associated metadata
into a single package that’s easy to transfer to another Mac.
If your library contains multiple projects, you can isolate the project and its media files
before copying. If you already have copies of the project’s media on the other Mac, you can
copy just the library file containing the project, without the media files.
Tip: If the project you want to copy is the only project in the library, you can simply copy
the library. See
Transfer a Final Cut Pro library to another Mac.
Isolate a project and its media files, then copy them to another Mac
If the Final Cut Pro project you want to copy is in a library with multiple projects and
events, you can separate the project and its media files (or the entire event that contains
it) from the rest of the library. This simplifies and speeds up copying the project to another
Mac.
1. Connect an external storage device to your Mac.
2. In the Libraries sidebar in Final Cut Pro, select the event that contains the project you
want to copy.
3. Do one of the following;
• Copy just the project and its media: Select the project.
• Copy the project and any other projects or media in the same event: Select the
event.
4. Choose File > Copy [item] to Library > New Library.
5. Enter a name for the new library, choose a location for it, and click Save.