If you can't share an item in Final Cut Pro
Learn what to do if you can't share projects, clips, and other items in Final Cut Pro on Mac.
If the share operation has failed
“The share operation [share destination] has failed” might appear when sharing from a Final Cut Pro library located on an external storage device or when sharing to an external storage device. This can happen if the storage device isn't formatted properly. This can also occur when sharing to destinations other than the Export File destination.
To check the format of the storage device:
In the Finder, select the storage device.
Choose File > Get Info. The format of the drive appears in the General section of the Get Info window.
Local volumes, such as external storage devices, must be formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended. Final Cut Pro libraries can also be stored on Xsan volumes and shared storage that uses the SMB or NFS protocol.
External storage devices are sometimes sold pre-formatted with Windows formats such as FAT32 or ExFat. If your drive is in one of those formats, reformat it to APFS for best results. You also can't use drives used for Time Machine backups.
Before attempting to share again, do any of the following:
Move your library to a properly formatted volume.
Back up the data on the storage device, reformat the device, then move the data back to the storage device.
Make sure the drive has enough storage space for the estimated file size in the Share window.
If you see “Video rendering error: 10008” or “Error: RenderFrameAt returned: # for absolute frame: #####”
If you get one of these alerts when trying to share your project, it means that the clip shown in the alert is unusable. The clip name and its timecode location appear in the alert so you can locate the unusable clip in your project.
To correct this, import the source clip again into Final Cut Pro. Before importing media into Final Cut Pro, always back up source media by creating a camera archive. That way, you always have a fresh copy available to reimport if necessary.
If a backup or Final Cut Pro camera archive of the source media isn’t available, you may need to record the clip again. Before recording, check with the camera manufacturer for any firmware updates for your camera.
If you see “This item cannot be shared while it is still referencing media on the camera,” or Share menu options are dimmed
You might encounter the following when trying to share an item in Final Cut Pro:
“This item cannot be shared while it is still referencing media on the camera” alert.
Some clips have a
on the bottom-left corner of the clip.Share menu options are dimmed.
In your project, look for any clip with a
. This icon indicates that the clip never successfully imported into a Final Cut Pro library. Instead, the clip is located on a connected camera, on a memory card, or in a camera archive. This could have occurred because a camera or other device was disconnected before the clip finished importing.Use the browser search field to quickly find these clips.
In the Libraries sidebar, select any libraries, events, or folders you want to search.
Click the
at the top of the browser, and type missing in the search field. The browser shows all missing files. Any file located on a connected camera, on a memory card, or in a camera archive appears in the browser with a .
After you've located the affected clips, you'll need to reimport them from the original source to successfully share the item.
Reimport clips
To reimport clips, you must have the original media on a camera, on a memory card, or in a camera archive.
Make sure the drive set as the library storage location for media has enough storage space.
Do one of the following:
Connect the camera that contains the clip to your Mac, and power on the camera.
Insert the memory card that contains the clip into your Mac or a connected card reader.
Make sure the camera archive that contains the clip is located in one of the Final Cut Pro camera archives on your system.
In Final Cut Pro, a camera icon still appears on the clip, but it is now available to reimport:
Choose File > Import > Reimport from Camera/Archive.