It would be very helpful to have the possibility to delete clips directly from Shotcut.
Use case: I normally add the new clips to screen them there if they are of good quality. If not, I remove them, but I also have then to search for them in my folders (the clips are distributed to several ones on a NAS) and delete them there. It would speed up my workflow tremendously being able to delete them in Shotcut from the file system.
UI proposal: right click on a clip (in the playlist) “Remove & Delete (from file system)”
I understand this suggestion and might even use it myself. But I am terrified of the desperate support requests we will get from users on this forum who clicked it accidentally with no way to restore the deleted files. I think that, in general, this is not a best practice. My workflow is to keep absolutely all files on the filesystem until the project is completely finished with no possibility of needing to make another change. This helps me avoid future regret of deleting something that could have been useful in the future.
If you are very confident in deleting your files before your project is complete, you could use the “Show in Folder” action in the properties panel menu and then press delete when Windows explorer opens with your file selected.
I’d also like to vote for this suggestion, make it not very easy to get to (in that menu with the show in folder could be a good place) and it would be very useful especially as shotcut holds file locks until app close (is this still true? haven’t tested it recently as I just gave up on deleting on the fly) so it’s impossible to just preview it inside, decide it’s not good video and immediately delete it.
Very close to this I’d also like a way to rename the original file and live update/replace it in shotcut - but I guess this just speaks more of my organizational workflow and less of what a video editor should do.
Like @brian, this idea terrifies me for many reasons. For example, DaVinci Resolve lets users delete files, and notice all the anguish and wailing it created in the Blackmagic forum. All the professionals were unanimous that permanent deletion of files is a dangerous feature that should be removed from Resolve. This is compounded by the large number of users that don’t have reliable and tested backups in place before they delete files.
I think there’s another way to accomplish the OP’s goal. What does everyone think of the following alternative?
Shotcut has “project management features” on the roadmap. What if one of those features was the concept of an Unused Media folder? A user could ask Shotcut to scan the project’s .mlt file, scan the project folder, then compare them. Any unreferenced files in the project folder would get moved to the Unused Media folder. The advantage here is that Shotcut is not actually deleting any files, which makes media recovery possible. It also means that nobody can get on the forum and complain about Shotcut corrupting or deleting their files. Shotcut would continue to have no code that deletes files, thus ruling it out as a culprit. At that point, if the user wants to reclaim space, they can delete the Unused Media folder without fear of breaking their project.
I think some forum users created third-party programs of their own to do this task, so this is not an original idea by any means. But it has yet to be integrated into Shotcut. @Elusien, was it you that wrote a program that showed used and unused files in a project?
The DaVinci stories sound terrible. When I was thinking of deleting the files I was thinking of moving the files to the system trash/recycle bin, similar to your proposal to move files to the “Unused files” folder. I like your idea better though.
Shotcut is my only serious NLE so I don’t know how other video editors handle file management if at all. I only know Blender which embeds the source files into the project file which means the project file isn’t really dependent on the external source files anymore once they are imported.
Good idea for people working with the project folder. Unfortunately that won’t work for me, since I don’t use the project folder. Instead I get the clips from different folders of my NAS.
The “Show in Folder” does work, yes, but that takes much more steps.
You know what… I changed my mind. Apparently general public can’t… read… the warning is very clear about permanently deleting from drive yet there’s going to be people that just blindly click confirm…
I still think a deeply burrowed option would be fine (right? right?!) but for safety… I guess don’t add a solution in search for problems (and also if it’s so deeply hidden it’s just faster to manually delete it in a file explorer).
I’ve been one of those people a few times. And despite having more than 20 years of experience using computers, I’m sure it will happen again. So I’m also a bit frightened by the idea of having this delete feature in Shotcut.
Absolutely, having the ability to delete clips directly from Shotcut would indeed be a valuable feature, particularly for streamlining workflow efficiency. Your proposed UI enhancement of adding a “Remove & Delete (from file system)” option upon right-clicking a clip in the playlist seems intuitive and practical. This would save users the hassle of manually locating and deleting unwanted clips from their file systems, especially when dealing with multiple folders or networked storage setups like a NAS. Implementing such a feature would undoubtedly enhance the user experience and boost productivity for Shotcut users.
Yeah no thanks, without the horror stories I just wouldn’t want that risk myself. Plus storage is cheap enough that clean up can wait until after the project is done, done & done.
If this was ever implemented I’d want to be able to turn it off incase of tired eyed midnight editing mistakes!
In case anyone is wondering, yes Shotcut does lock the media files, so the user cannot delete them from the file system while the project is still open (Windows 11).
I absolutely want a way to truly delete my media files directly from the editor. If I botch the use of it, that’s on me.
My use case is simple. I’m assembling a tutorial video for using a software application. I just did a screen recording, but have realized I completely messed it up and need to simply redo it (it’s short so no biggie). But I want to call it exactly the same name. Now that it’s in my project, and utterly useless, I’m stuck with it and can’t re-record over it.
I suppose I could quit Shotcut, delete the existing media, do my recording, save it as the desired name, and re-launch shotcut, but I’m uncertain what will happen at that point. Will Shotcut automatically recognize the same filename even though it’s a different file, different length, etc.? Will Shotcut get confused and prompt me to point it to missing media? Wil Shotcut attempt to use the new media but have a problem because its internal references say it should be X length or have Y attribute and now it doesn’t? Lots of potential confusion here.
A simple “Permanently Delete From Computer” option, with of course a big scary “There is no coming back from this so you better F’ing Know What You Are Doing Here” prompt. Hit OK on that prompt, the media is GONE GONE. If I do that on the wrong clip, well then that’s on me and if I’m prone to that kind of mistake then I should probably be the sort who never deletes ANYTHING, EVER, until the entire project is gone.
Personally, I’m not that sort. I manage my projects. I know my media. And if I want to truly nuke a piece of it, I should be able to. I don’t like this hand-holding stuff at all. Give me the power to get myself in trouble. It’s up to me if I do it or not.
Yes. Shotcut uses whatever media is in the referenced filename. It does not care if the media length, resolution, codec, or any other attribute changed between sessions.
This loose coupling is how some users made their own proxy workflow years before Shotcut supported proxy workflow itself. Users would have one directory tree with original media, and another directory tree with proxy versions of the media. Users would exit Shotcut, swap the directory tree names, then restart Shotcut to switch between originals and proxies. Provided the filenames were properly mirrored between the two trees, Shotcut would work like everything was fine.
As for file locks held by Shotcut, some users have luck clicking File > Close two or more times to release all file handles.
Shotcut will not let you delete a file that is included in an opened project. I suspect that will never change considering there is an Undo history. So, if you remove every reference to it in the project, and we make some improvement to release the file lock; then, how will you instruct Shotcut to remove it? There is nothing available. You want a Delete item in the File menu, and you need to pick it? Why not simply use your file manager?
I just did a screen recording, but have realized I completely messed it up and need to simply redo it (it’s short so no biggie).
It is not a good idea to simply replace the file for this use case because recordings rarely have the same beginning. It is usually desirable to trim the beginning. Do you know the Replace command in the timeline? With Replace you can set the starting point from which to replace. Hint: the Source viewer is the source of the Replace operation.
I don’t like this hand-holding stuff at all. Give me the power to get myself in trouble.
It is not about hand-holding. It is about limitations–some intentional, some not–and a willingness to take responsibility as the software developer. Oh, another user expected it to go into the Recycle/Trash bin.; they thought “permanent” meant within the project. Another person expected to be able to undo it. Another wants it to handle multiple files. That might take a while; it needs a progress dialog. Next, run it in a separate thread and enqueue multiple batches of file removals. I have better and more interesting things to work on in a video editor.
Another person expected to be able to undo it. Another wants it to handle multiple files. That might take a while; it needs a progress dialog. Next, run it in a separate thread and enqueue multiple batches of file removals. I have better and more interesting things to work on in a video editor.