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SendToX (also called 7toX for Final Cut Pro) translates your Final Cut Pro 7 or 6 or Premiere Pro Project (bins, clips and sequences) into a new Event in Final Cut Pro. The XML translation retains important metadata from your Project XML and creates clear, detailed reporting after every transfer.

IMPORTANT: SendToX creates different results based on the version of Final Cut Pro you have installed. This is why it is important to install SendToX on the Mac that is running Final Cut Pro. SendToX will generate the appropriate version of Final Cut Pro XML based on the version of Final Cut Pro installed.

The most important difference in the results will be how the translated Sequences are created in Final Cut Pro. 

For help with activating 7toX for Final Cut Pro or moving it to another computer, see this help page.

Quick-start Guide

  1. Open the project into Final Cut Pro 7. Click in the browser window, choose the File menu and from the Export submenu, select XML… (The dialog lists how many clips and sequences will be included in the XML file.) Choose Apple XML Interchange Format, version 5, then name and save the XML file. If you have Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Pro 7 installed on different Macs or partitions, save the XML file to the external storage device with your media.
  2. Run Final Cut Pro. (For 10.0.9 and earlier, select the external storage device in the Event Library where you want the new Event to be created.)
  3. Install SendToX on the same Mac as Final Cut Pro. To translate the project either:

SendToX displays a progress bar during XML translation and, when completed, adds the new Event to the selected Library. The more items that are included in the XML, the larger the exported file will be and the longer it will take to translate. 

The contents of the new Event will vary depending on which version of Final Cut Pro you are using:

Importing media using XML obeys the preference setting. If you don’t want media files added to the Library bundle, set the Import panel’s Files preference to Leave in place (instead of Copy to library storage location).

For clips, keywords are added to the in point/out point range representing the bins the clip or subclip was inside. Label, Reel, Scene and Shot/Take are added to the clip’s Location, Reel, Scene and Take fields, while other log notes and comments are added to the clip’s Notes field. If the clip or subclip was marked Good then the clip or range is rated as Favorite (depending on your choice in Preferences).

If you are using Final Cut Pro 10.1.1 or earlier, each compound clip is added to the Keyword Collection called “Sequences” in the Event. Compound clips can be opened in a timeline or added to a Project’s timeline. To create a new Project from the Compound Clip, add it to the Project, select the Compound Clip and choose Clip > Break Apart Clip Items to “unnest” the compound clip.

In the Compound Clip (10.1.1 or earlier) or Project (10.1.2 or later) timeline, video clips are always connected above the Primary Storyline and audio clips are always below it. Each clip is assigned a Role representing its Premiere Pro track name or original track position. The easiest way to view roles is to open the Timeline Index (Window > Show Timeline Index) and click the Roles button. Then click on the role name to have those clips highlighted in the timeline.

So that you are fully aware of what may be different between your original sequence and your Final Cut Pro timeline, SendToX adds red to-do markers to items that draw your attention to what has changed or been substituted. The easiest way to view these markers is to open the Timeline Index and click the Tags button. As you review these substitutions you can change each marker to completed by clicking on the red checkbox in the Timeline Index.

If Final Cut Pro is running, SendToX tells it to import the translated XML file; if Final Cut Pro is not running, SendToX will give you the option to either Send to Final Cut Pro or Save XML file. When translated XML is automatically imported, the file is first saved to your user space’s /Library/Containers/com.AssistedEditing.7toX/Data/Library/Application Support/com.AssistedEditing.7toX/ folder and named after the original XML file. Translated XML in this folder can be manually imported into Final Cut Pro again if necessary.

IMPORTANT: SendToX translates Final Cut Pro XML from one version to another. It does not work with project files, so you will need access to an application that exports Final Cut Pro XML (such as Final Cut Pro 7 or 6, Premiere Pro CS6, etc.) to export the XML representation of your project. Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro can be installed on the same Mac running macOS 10.12 Sierra or earlier — see support.apple.com/kb/HT4722 for details. 

Tip: Final Cut Pro 7 can be modified to run on High Sierra or Mojave using the free Retroactive app, available at https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive.

Before exporting XML for SendToX translation

It is strongly recommended that the media files are online and have identical file paths (drive names, folder structures and file names) to avoid problems with relinking media in Final Cut Pro. If working between two Macs, you may need to consolidate media to an external drive and reconnect any unconnected media before exporting XML. To avoid this issue Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro may be installed on the same Mac — see support.apple.com/kb/HT4722 for details.

If you have multi-camera sequences in your Premiere Pro sequence, you will get a warning in the Premiere Pro Translation Report that they were “skipped because multicam sequences are not supported in FCP XML export”. Since Premiere Pro does not export multi-camera sequences, the work-around is to either turn off multicam for the clips (deselect Multi-Camera > Enable) or flatten them (Multi-Camera > Flatten).

If you have After Effects compositions or Motion projects (either from Motion Templates, or custom Motion Projects) in any sequences, render a video from After Effects or Motion and replace the composition or project with the rendered file. (See note under Enhancing the Translation for bringing an updated Motion Project into your new Final Cut Pro Project.)

If you have LiveType Projects (.ipr), render a video from LiveType (or Final Cut Pro 7) and replace the LiveType Project with the rendered file. LiveType projects cannot be updated or imported to Final Cut Pro.

Export Freeze Frames as still images and replace the Freeze Frame with the still by importing and replacing the Freeze Frame in a Sequence or Bin — the new still images will import into Final Cut Pro. Without this step, Freeze Frames will be converted to a placeholder clip with references to the original media under the playhead displayed in the To Do Marker notes.

Exporting XML from Final Cut Pro 6 or Premiere Pro

Open the project into Final Cut Pro 6. Choose the File menu and from the Export submenu, select XML… Choose Apple XML Interchange Format, version 4, then name and save the XML file. 

Open the project into Premiere Pro. Choose the File menu and from the Export submenu, select Final Cut Pro XML…, then name and save the XML file. (Premiere Pro exports XML Interchange Format version 4.)


Workflow Options

Translating a full Final Cut Pro 7 Project

To translate a full Final Cut Pro 7 project: 

When imported into Final Cut Pro after translation, the bins will be translated to keyword collections, based on the bin name. For Final Cut Pro 10.1.1 or earlier, there will be a keyword collection for “Sequences” where all sequences from the Final Cut Pro 7 project will have been translated to Compound Clips. (See note on converting Compound Clips to Projects under the Enhancing the Translation heading.)

For Final Cut Pro 10.1.2 and later the Sequences will be translated to Projects in the Event.

Translating a Sequence

If you only need a single sequence translated:

The sequence will be translated to a Compound Clip or Project and the Event will contain references to the media files used in the sequence. Clip names and metadata in the Browser are not translated into the Event. Export the full project to retain original clip names and metadata.

Translating Browser Clips and Bins

If you wish to translate clips without sequences:

When imported to Final Cut Pro after translation, the bins will be translated to keyword collections, based on the bin name.


What translates?

Essentially, all standard features translate perfectly. Here’s a list of what happens during translation.

Projects

Sequences

What loses something in translation?

The translation from Final Cut Pro 7 sequence to Final Cut Pro timeline isn’t perfect. Here’s a list of what gets “lost in translation.”

What doesn’t get translated?


Preferences

The default is to translate clips or subclips marked Good as having a Favorite applied, but you can change this to a “Good” keyword or “Circle Take” keyword in Preferences. Keywords, but not Favorites, are visible in the Timeline Index.

Some people use a Sequence as an organizational tool by deleting unusable material, and naming trimmed clips to describe the content. Turning on the Sequence clip names become favorites checkbox will translate those Sequence clip names into named Favorite ranges in the Final Cut Pro Event. The Favorite name will match the Clip name from the Sequence. Named favorites are not visible in the Timeline Index.

In many cases, cameras with newer MP4 formats can create files with timecode that can be read by Premiere Pro but not by Final Cut Pro, so after translation these appear as black clips in the Event and Timeline. To work-around this issue, turn the Ignore MP4 timecode checkbox “on” and re-run the translation. With this preference on, any MP4 timecode in the XML will be ignored by both SendToX and Final Cut Pro. Conversely, GoPro MP4 with timecode is supported by both Premiere Pro CC and Final Cut Pro, so turn the Ignore MP4 timecode checkbox “off” for these files.

Some cameras (such as Canon C300) record timecode that continues to 24:00:00:00 and beyond, but this is not shown in the timecode in the XML. Media from these cameras will show as black clips after translation because the timecode from the XML is wrong. If you turn on the Check for timecode >24hr checkbox, SendToX will check the media file for the clip’s timecode instead of using the incorrect timecode in the XML. 

For newer versions of Final Cut Pro, an abbreviated modern version of the XML will be created. If you get any XML import error messages, try turning on the Create full clip 1.5 XML checkbox to save out a larger version 1.5 XML file.


Enhancing the translation

Captions

Captions added to a sequence in Premiere Pro are saved to an SRT file (instead of being exported into the sequence’s XML file). Final Cut Pro 10.4.1 or higher can import an SRT file, so you can bring your Premier Pro captions into Final Cut Pro after XML translation: https://support.apple.com/guide/final-cut-pro/import-captions-ver4185ef95a/mac 

Updating Motion Projects

As mentioned above, before exporting XML from Final Cut Pro 7 for translation, you will have exported Motion Projects as self contained movies, and replaced those in Final Cut Pro 7 before the translation to Final Cut Pro. This creates flattened, uneditable versions of the originals. Motion 4 projects can be updated and incorporated into the new Final Cut Pro Project. To update: 

Using Compound Clips in Final Cut Pro 10.1.1 or earlier

If you are using Final Cut Pro 10.1.1 or earlier, SendToX converts every Final Cut Pro 7 Sequence to a Compound Clip within the Event. There are three ways you can use these Compound Clips within Final Cut Pro:

Changing the connection point

While reviewing the timeline you may want to change the Primary Storyline clip that a connected clip or Secondary Storyline is connected to. See “Adjust the connection point of a connected clip” at help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/#ver7a77ef9e.

Converting Multi-mono to Surround Sound

To convert the multiple mono imports that are translated from surround sound in Final Cut Pro 7 back to surround sound:


Known issues