How to Remove Plugins from Final Cut Pro X

Plug-ins are those useful tools that allow us to customize our editing system for the work we need to get done. But, what happens if you need to delete a plug-in, either because you no longer need it or because it has become out of date?

In the past, this could be a painful experience because plug-ins could be stored in three different places:

Today, it is much simpler. In fact, we have three general options to remove plug-ins:

  1. If the plugin was installed into its own folder in the Application folder, look there to see if there’s an Uninstall option. Many stand-alone programs provide this.

  1. FXFactory, and other plugin integrators, often provide an Uninstall option. For example, to remove an FXFactory plugin from your NLE, but not from your hard disk, open FXFactory, click the Installed button at the top, select the plug-in and uncheck Load on this system from the menu on the left.

  1. Third, if neither of these first two options works, go to: [ User Home Directory ] > Movies > Motion Templates. Inside you’ll find different folders for different categories of effects, as illustrated above by this screen shot.

Inside each folder, you’ll find a folder containing any custom effects that you created in Motion, as well as folders from other FCP X vendors.

To remove an effect, make sure Final Cut is NOT running, then drag the effect out of the Templates folder. This uninstalls it without deleting it. I will often keep seldom-used templates in a separate folder to be dragged back into the Motion Templates folder when needed.

To permanently remove it, drag it to the Trash.


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10 Responses to How to Remove Plugins from Final Cut Pro X

  1. Gretta Wing Miller says:

    Great! what about Saved effects presets? I usually make them when I hit on a good setting for each of my interviewees, and EFX tab is littered with old presets!

    • Larry says:

      Gretta:

      Personally, I wouldn’t worry about the space these take. These are tiny XML files. In terms of where they are stored, I’ll figure that out and get back to you.

      Larry

    • vdoschool says:

      Remove the preset that we saved in Fcpx at the path
      press option when you click menu GO then you see Library,and then go to that folder path.

      Macintosh HD⁩ ▸ ⁨Users⁩ ▸ ⁨name⁩ ▸ ⁨Library⁩ ▸ ⁨Application Support⁩/ProApps/Effects Presets

  2. Are you reading my mind again?

    I am having weird issues after a FCP X update …. some message comes up about some plugins … I will attempt again ….

    • Larry says:

      Patrick:

      I think this is a Catalina issue – without actually seeing the message – I suspect it is telling you that some of your plug-ins are not compatible with macOS Catalina. Older plug-ins, that are only 32-0bit, won’t work in the latest version of the operating system.

      Larry

  3. Richert Goyette says:

    Hey Larry: I cannot find the location of the FxPlug-ins:

    Light Streaks 1.0: DynRegFxPlug

    Conduit 3.0: ConduitFxPlug

    I get the message (Very True) that they are out of date but have been unable to locate them anywhere on my HD.

    Thanks,

    Rich Goyette

  4. Robert says:

    Hi Larry! I have downloaded a Z Cam cooring plugin, but I don’t need it anymore. I tried to delete it, but it’s not visible in the effect folder… How can I delete it? Many thx

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