I've been editing from the SD card and now I cant export my project

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Level 1

8 points

I've been editing from the SD card and now I cant export my project

I made the mistake of editing a video from the clips on my SD card instead of the copies I made to my SSD. Although not ideal I didn’t realise this was a problem until I had finished the project and came to export it, where a pop-up informed me “This item cannot be shared while it is still referencing media on the camera”.

I have tried to relink the clips to the copies on the SSD but the re-link window shows no files and the Locate and link buttons are greyed out. This is the case whether the SD card is plugged in or not. Is there a way to point FCP to the SSD versions so I dont have to start again with this project from scratch?

[Edited by Moderator]

MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

Posted on Sep 24, 2025 6:00 AM

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Answer 1

BenB

Level 6

13,088 points

Sep 24, 2025 6:34 AM in response to nma64

In the Browser, those clips should have an icon on them, indicating they are still on a camera card and not imported. You should be able to select them and"re-import" them, which will move them to where you want them. I think you go to the File menu, Import, there's an option to "Reimport from Camera/Archive."

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Answer 2

Sep 24, 2025 11:37 AM in response to nma64

To complement my previous post:

Importing from an SD card can take some time, because an SD card is much slower than an SSD.

FCP lets you immediately start editing even if the files have not yet been fully copied.

Sometimes, either because of some glitch or because the user quit FCP, or removed the card, or something, that long copy that ought to have happened in the background, did not complete, and that is usually only noticed... when trying to export, as you were in this case.

(Note: FCP does put the camera "badge" on the clips, but that often goes unnoticed)

What the "Reimport from Camera/Archive" tries to do is that copy that failed the first time around.

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Answer 3

nma64 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 24, 2025 11:12 AM in response to BenB

Thanks for responding. I found the Reimport from Camera/Archive option in the Import menu, but once again it appears to be unable to "see" the files on the SSD and only wants to re-link to the SD card. I even tried coping them into the Movie folder on my laptop but that didn't work either.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 4

Sep 24, 2025 11:33 AM in response to nma64

What is in question is not to relink, but to actually COPY the files from the SD card.

Go ahead and click Continue, then see what happens.

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