[ This article was first published in the January, 2011, issue of
Larry’s Monthly Final Cut Studio Newsletter. Click here to subscribe. ]
Most of the time, plug-ins for Final Cut Pro 7 work great.
However, sometimes, the best of plans suddenly go awry and you need to remove plug-ins from your system.
First, if you have the option, use the deinstaller provided by the vendor that created the plug-in in the first place. Plug-ins today are more than one file and you want to be sure to remove everything.
However, in the event that no uninstaller is provided, these instructions can help.
First, reboot your system holding the Shift key down. This turns off all third-party software. You can’t delete a file if it is running in the background. Most plug-ins won’t require this, but doing so won’t hurt anything.
Next, plug-ins are stored in one of three places. If you can’t find the file you are looking for in one folder, check the others. A plug-in will only be in one folder, it will never be in all three.
Before starting, be sure to quit Final Cut Pro. Also, because FCP caches a list of your plug-ins as part of your FCP preferences, delete all four FCP preference files. Here’s an article that explains how.
Location #1
Library > Plug-Ins > FXPlug
Location #2
[ Home Directory ] > Library > Plug-Ins > FXPlug
Location #3
Library > Application Support > ProApps > SharedA > Plug-Ins
Find the name of the plug-in you want to remove and drag it to your desktop. Do NOT trash it … yet. Once it is out of the Plug-In folder, Final Cut won’t see it.
Restart your computer, this time without holding any keys down. This turns everything back on properly.
Next, start Final Cut Pro. If you want to be extra safe, start Final Cut Pro while holding down the Shift key. This restarts Final Cut, without opening any projects.
Make sure Final Cut opens OK.
Next open your project and make sure your project opens OK.
If you have problems, you probably dragged the wrong file to the Desktop. Quit Final Cut and put the file back where you found it. Then, contact the plug-in developer for help.
If everything checks out OK, quit Final Cut. Then, go to the Desktop and trash the plug-in you just deleted. Or, you can simply store it in a folder called “Plug-ins I no longer want” (or something similar).
The key is that once the file is out of the Plug-in folder, FCP no longer tries to install it. Once FCP no longer sees it, whether you decide to actually delete the file or just store it in a different place, is entirely up to you.
3 Responses to How To Remove Unwanted Plug-Ins From Final Cut Pro 7
Hi, thanks for the tips!
But if I want some plugins working just with audio apps and not with FCP, is it possible?
Thank you!
Regards.
I have just seem this solution in a forum that works but it would be very simple and nice if FCP has a tool (enable/disable plugins).
“Your problem is a bit of a pain to fix. You can remove them before launching FCP or you can create separate user accounts for when you want to use FCP and Logic, then put the Logic plugins in the User/Library folder instead of the one at root level.” (By John Pale)
Ya missed this location for plugins Movies / Motion Templates /