Accessing Multiple Projects Inside Final Cut Pro

While Final Cut does not support displaying more than one project in the timeline at the same time, it does make switching between projects easy; along with other tools to manage RAM and other projects.

Here, multiple projects are displayed in the Browser. To open a project, simply double-click its name. Nothing new there.

Projects don’t use RAM until they are opened. However, once opened, they retain space in RAM until they are closed; which is not the same as switching to display a different timeline.

Once you’ve opened a timeline, the Timeline History arrows become relevant (red arrows). The name of the current project is displayed in the middle-top of the Timeline. (Timeline 1 in my example above.)

As you open other projects, the project that was displayed in the timeline disappears, but it is not removed from RAM. To quickly access it, use one of the two timeline history buttons.

• Left button: Goes back to previously opened project (shortcut: Cmd + [ )
• Right chevron: Goes forward to previously opened project (shortcut: Cmd + ] )

A shortcut to close all other open-but-not-visible timelines exists in the Command Editor (search for: “Timeline”) but it is not assigned to any key.

Click and hold one of the timeline history buttons to switch to a specific project.

The chevron to the right of the project name provides additional options:

• Duplicate a project (remember Snapshots are a better choice if you are using multicam or compound clips).
• Revealing a project in the Browser
• Displaying project properties, allowing you to change any setting except frame rate
• Closing the active, open project.
• Closing and removing from RAM all other projects. This is a good option if your timelines are really big or the RAM on your system is limited.

These are some very handy tricks to use when you are jumping between projects during your edit.