How to Use the Command-Delete Shortcut in Final Cut Pro for Efficient Editing

Keyboard shortcut: CommandDelete

In Final Cut Pro, Command-Delete runs the Move to Trash command. Final Cut Pro describes it simply: it moves the selection to the Finder Trash. It's the shortcut you use to get rid of clips and projects you no longer want in your library, not a way to remove clips from your edit.

Where It Works

Move to Trash works on items selected in the Browser, such as event clips or projects. To take a clip out of your timeline, select it there and press Delete instead. Removing a clip from a project does not delete it from your library, and Command-Delete is not the tool for that job.

How to Use It

  1. In the Browser, select the clip or clips (or a project) you want to remove.
  2. Press Command-Delete.
  3. The selection disappears from the event and is moved to the Finder Trash.

Be Careful

This is a real delete for your library. If the media for a clip was copied into your library, removing the clip can send that media file to the Finder Trash too. If a clip you trash is used in a project, you can end up with missing media in that project. Before you press Command-Delete, make sure the clip isn't used anywhere you still need it.

If you change your mind right away, press Command-Z to undo. That is the quickest and safest way to bring something back. Don't count on dragging files out of the Finder Trash to restore them to your library.

Tips

  • Instead of deleting, consider rating unwanted footage as Rejected and hiding rejected clips. That keeps your Browser clean without throwing anything away.
  • Clean up at the end of a project, once you are sure which clips you no longer need.
  • Keep a backup of your library before doing any large cleanup.

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