Blackmagic Forum

Currently, to delete unused clips:
1) Sort the bin by unused clips.
2) Right Click unused clip in bin
3) Select "Reveal in Media Storage"
4) Manually cross-reference clip names and select clips in Media Storage window
5) Right Click clips to be deleted
6) Select "Delete Permanently"

Desired Behavior:
1) Sort the bin by unused clips.
2) Select entire group of unused clips
3) Right Click and select "Delete Permanently" [new menu option]

Note: With storage getting cheaper the number of takes seems to keeps growing, so on just about every project I end up with a long list of unused clips.

Currently, it is extremely repetitive to go through all the steps above over and over. On multi-day shoots it takes even longer as the clips are spread out in different drives and folders.

Adding this feature would reduce the time required to seconds, and also be a lot safer. (The process is currently so tedious that errors are inevitable, requiring even more time to double-check all the timelines for "missing" clips and then manually restoring them from the recycle bin.)

Also note that moving the project with the "delete unused" option requires a lot of additional time and storage when all that is needed is an efficient, fast way to delete unused files.

I would argue that the ability to delete non-originated files from the hard drive should never exist in an NLE. Hard drive file management should always be done via a proper file manager like Windows Explorer or Finder.

Thanks for your post Jim, but sorry-- I have to disagree.

I would argue that there is actually far more danger of deleting "used" clips when having to do it elsewhere by file-name alone. The bottom line is how do you determine from hundreds of clips which are "used" and which are "unused" while in a file manager? It's possible but it takes a LONG time and it is very easy to make a mistake.

Also a "delete source files" function has been available in at least one popular NLE-- specifically Premiere Pro-- for a long time. When used with proper caution, it is a HUGE time saver, and far less prone to errors than a file manager.

It's been a while, but if you have Premiere Pro you can check it out. Select some unused clips, right click and select "make offline" or something similar. Then select "media files deleted" in the pop-up dialog.

I'm in agreement with Jim. The act of deleting media files should either not exist from within the NLE, or it should be intentionally very difficult to do so from the NLE UI. It's simply too dangerous to make this operation an easy thing to do.

I speak as someone who is forever scarred from a few years ago, when Premiere (if I recall correctly), allowed you to delete media files at the filesystem level when you selected clips in a bin and hit the Delete key. There was a checkbox in the confirmation dialog that allowed you to not only remove the clip from the bin, but also to delete the media from the hard disk. For some inexplicable reason, this checkbox was enabled by default, and there was one particular down-to-the-wire edit session where I was thinking and moving too fast, and didn't even see this option enabled. With one single keyboard shortcut, all the media got deleted, to my horror. Thankfully I had backups of all this media, but I immediately filed a feature-request to Adobe to insist that they make this sort of operation harder to do. In newer versions of Premiere this option is now relegated to the "Make Offline" command dialog instead, which is still dangerous, but at least the option is buried in a more logical dialog.

I may be biased, because I am a backup and redundancy nut-job, but that way I would do what you want is to simply use Resolve's Media Management tool, and use the "Copy" command with the "Preserve folder hierarchy after" option to copy only the used media in the project to a new location, with their source folder paths intact. Then after it does that (and you've verified that everything is copied), go back and delete the original pool of media on the filesystem.

While this admittedly does require additional disk space (and copying time) , as you correctly noted, disk space is cheap, and I'd rather err on the side of safety, since the vast majority of editors do not expect the actual media files to get deleted from the disk when clips are deleted in the bin.

If anything--If implemented--this feature should be named "Delete files permanently from disk", and an annoying secondary confirmation dialog should pop up that forces you to type to confirm a randomly generated string shown by the dialog before it actually deletes the media.

I totally understand your need for this, because it would be convenient. But I think it should not be a simple contextual menu option that can be accidentally invoked, if the feature exists at all.

Fred

Please do consider using Media Management for this purpose - it allows for multiple additional options including the ability to move, transcode, trim clips to edit extents (with optional handles), to auto-relink to the media pool and more.

It also allows you to consider different forms of usage - in a timeline, in multiple timelines, usage in whole project, or based off your media pool selection (which can be set up by nuanced filter criteria)

Once relinked and the media and timelines are confirmed to be working, you can then go to the original folder and organise, archive or delete as appropriate.

Having said that, if your media pool folder structure reflects the Media Storage, you can delete multiple folders and files quickly from the media storage with just one "Reveal in Media Storage" action needed

I speak as someone who is forever scarred

Mel, I feel your pain-- I've been there-- from a hard drive failure during a project with a tight deadline-- From that experience, I'm also committed to multiple backups. Regarding video-related trauma, I've recently had a similar, but opposite experience in Resolve, and have had to go to backup drives to restore clips that we mistakenly deleted. This is because deleting the unused clips took several mind-numbingly, boring hours, with multiple interruptions throughout. Too soon to tell, but I also may be scarred for life-- still feel in a semi-hypnotic, monotony-induced trance

I definitely agree that the feature should be clearly labeled, and difficult to implement, requiring multiple levels of confirmation-- but still think it should exist.

I'll have a look at the media manager. However, my guess is that when mid-stream in a 4K project with A LOT of clips, a copying operation would still take too much time for simply deleting unused clips-- especially on a tight deadline. Storage may be cheap but is still fairly slow, at least in my budget-oriented workflow.

Having said that, if your media pool folder structure reflects the Media Storage, you can delete multiple folders and files quickly from the media storage with just one "Reveal in Media Storage" action needed

Yes, but you still have to compare each and every file name with the bin to see if the clip is used or not-- this is time-consuming and mistake prone.

If you want to make the Media Storage window more user-friendly then add the Usage column right beside the file name. This would allow users to select files that are "unused" and delete them from the same panel-- this is the main thing that is currently lacking. The problem is that cross-referencing filenames of unused clips is slow and mistake-prone.

Please do consider using Media Management for this purpose

Does this mean that you aren't even going to consider this feature request?

It seems there is a lot of resistance to this feature. Is there anyone else out there that would find it useful?

I use Media Management with this. Exactly *when* I do this depends on the project and the client, but eventually I get around to using Media Management to archive all the media that I used and then delete all the rest.

It sounds like you are hoping for something a bit more immediate. I understand arguments on both sides. One of the first things I try to do is remove clips from the Media Pool in Resolve that have no value (obvious bad takes, 1-2 second test clips I shot just so the client can see a setup, etc.) and being able to wipe these from the disk from Resolve would be nice and, if I weren't using Media Management, would definitely save time.

I'm actually surprised at how quickly Resolve makes copies of project media. I shoot mostly in UHD, sometimes full 4.6k. VERY rarely in 2k or lower. Except for projects that are 1TB or above, the amount of time required to copy used media is pretty insignificant. This can depend on your hardware, though.

The Media Manager tab has function to move used media, ergo everything unmoved is unused. If you move the media to a new folder everything in the original folder is unused and can be deleted. There is no copying necessary unless you are trimming, or the folders are on different drives, you're simply changing the file structure. The option to delete the unused media from within Media Manager is there as well.

The current method is safer and easy. It is totally reasonable to manage media within the application and as stated by the OP makes more sense. A Delete Permanently in the right click menu is bonkers, be really careful when selecting ripple delete.

Good Luck

A Delete Permanently in the right click menu is bonkers

Howard, It doesn't really matter where it is at-- could be in another menu and burried deep-- that would be fine. However, if you are saying it is bonkers to have the feature then I have to respectfully disagree....

In addition to Premiere Pro here are two more, revealed by a quick Google search:

Manually deleting Avid Media

Open the bin containing the media you are going to delete.
Highlight the media you want to delete.
Hit the delete key on the keyboard.
Important: To delete media off the hard drives, check both the master clip check box and the associated media file(s) check box.

Grass Valley Edius

[Consolidate Project]>[Cleanup]
Select this item to delete unnecessary files in the project. Release clips that are registered to the bin but not used in the timeline and delete them from the hard disk

I'd be surprised if most of the other packages don't already have this in some form, as well-- just saying....

The Avid way & the Edius way are not the same as your suggestion. Avid creates it's own media files on import so does not delete original media. AMA files are handled differently. Edius changed the file delete feature to make it HARDER to delete files because of user requests!

Time to be surprised!

Mel Matsuoka wrote:The act of deleting media files should either not exist from within the NLE, or it should be intentionally very difficult to do so from the NLE UI. It's simply too dangerous to make this operation an easy thing to do.

I'm in 100% agreement with Mel. I think it's very dangerous to delete original source files from within the editor interface -- I think it should only be done within the OS. I feel your pain with the accidental deletion: this is the kind of mistake a Resolve user will do once (at least that's the way it was for me), and never again.

Peter's suggestion of just using Media Management would solve the problem and create a new drive with only the files actually used in the project.

I'm waiting for this little feature for sooooo looong! delete grouped clip directly from resolve, easy task like in Premiere Pro. I do a lot of documentary project, a lot of clip, bad clip, good clip, while editing I mark it with flag move to the smart bin and I want to delete all bad clip....need an easy way to delete.
I used BMPCC4k Raw, so many files want to delete in a fast way.

Deleting files from within Resolve should absolutely be a thing. I have a project I'm working on that is almost 1tb of files. At most, 10% of the files are used. That is a LOT of files to go through and manually delete one...at...a...time. There is no reason Resolve shouldn't be able to highlight all of the unused files and right click, delete from Explorer. Put up 10 or 100 confirmation screens. That will still save me hours over what I have to do manually now. It does not help that right click > open file location > delete does not work. I literally have to open an Explorer window and do a search for every file's 18 character file name? For about 800GB worth of clips???? It is ridiculous that deleting from the hard drive is not possible. If it's for safety, then people need to learn how to back up and save because no real editor will edit the only copy of the file. You archive and edit the 2nd copy. SMH.

I can agree that it would be nice sometimes to filter out used footage from a bin and scrapping the rest, but I definitely don't want an EASY way to delete footage from within Resolve.

Someone somewhat tired and stupid (me) DOES make mistakes once in a while, and that's why a simple right-click delete option is totally out of the question in my humble opinion.

Wow - the comments in here...

This is a great feature request. For those that are too afraid of this feature, simply don't use it. Absolutely, don't make this something that can be easily clicked accidentally. There are other safer ways of doing this as well if Blackmagic doesn't want to actually allow you to delete from the file system - and this is... allow you to move your unused clips to a different location on disk. Then you can use your OS file browser to delete these.

There are cases for the feature request above. Just because you don't need this, doesn't mean someone else doesn't. I agree with the OP that it is much more dangerous to manually delete one by one and make a mistake. Odds are much higher that you'll mess up those steps than accidentally click yes on a confirmation screen after walking through a nice UI to select and delete media.

mdupls wrote:Wow - the comments in here...

This is a great feature request. For those that are too afraid of this feature, simply don't use it. Absolutely, don't make this something that can be easily clicked accidentally. There are other safer ways of doing this as well if Blackmagic doesn't want to actually allow you to delete from the file system - and this is... allow you to move your unused clips to a different location on disk. Then you can use your OS file browser to delete these.

There are cases for the feature request above. Just because you don't need this, doesn't mean someone else doesn't. I agree with the OP that it is much more dangerous to manually delete one by one and make a mistake. Odds are much higher that you'll mess up those steps than accidentally click yes on a confirmation screen after walking through a nice UI to select and delete media.

This is a feature request forum, intended for discussions about the pros and cons of suggested features. If someone disagrees with the feature, and provides legitimate reasons and examples to support their disagreement with it, you shouldn't take it as a personal affront to your own request. Just because you think it's a good idea, doesn't necessarily mean it is a good idea when considered in the context of the overall operation and focus of the software.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that because they "don't need this" that it means others don't. Most of us who are advocating against this specific feature are considering the wider ramifications of the feature if it were actually implemented, and coming to the conclusion that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages, and can even be a liability for BMD from a legal perspective. The fact remains that numerous workarounds exist for this feature, that are safer, and protects BMD from liability in the event that they ever make a mistake in their code that results in unintentional data loss.

Adobe was recently involved in a lawsuit filed by an editor who lost his media, due to Premiere's new (at the time) feature that automatically deleted cache files without user intervention. I also saw numerous complaints on various forums at the time, from users who experienced similar issues. You could dismiss these people by simply accusing them of "user error', but then you would be dismissing them based on a lack of knowledge of good software design practices. Good software design doesn't make it easy (or even possible) for the user to do the wrong thing. Including any intentional code in the software that allows for media to be deleted on disk also makes it possible for unforeseen, otherwise unrelated bugs in the software to accidentally delete files when the user didn't intend to.

Most developers would prefer to err on the side of safety, by not allowing any deletion related code in the their software, unless it only deletes expendable files like cache files. In the specific case of Premiere, Adobe made the stupid mistake of deleting everything inside of a given folder, without first parsing the filenames to ensure that only cache related files were deleted. Developers, however, are human, so mistakes and oversights like this happen sometimes.

There's nothing stopping you from deleting this media yourself at the filesystem level, so I would hazard to guess that BMD engineering would rather people assume that risk outside of their software, so that you could never blame Resolve for accidentally deleting your data.

This probably also explains why they recently removed the "Move" option from the Media Manager. I can see a feature like that as being very dangerous.

There is a big difference between working in a facility or studio with multiple editors, artists, assistants, producers, and those working on their own projects on laptops in a cafe. (see new v17 screenshots -BMD's apparent focus).

Permissions are set at the OS level by administrators in these environments. It has to be this way so that juniors and freelancers can't accidentally destroy an entire project. Losing days - if not weeks of collaborative post production. Even renaming a file can cause havoc on workflow or sequence destined for a broadcast output. ( I have been there (FCP) - and it was ugly. Lost the client, actually.)

Editing is collaborative. Unless you are Apple, selling individual warrior mobility. It appears, BMD also subscribes to this false empowerment more and more.

This is why Avid is still the workgroup standard.

Permissions should be set at the OS admin level.

I understand the concern or firm dislike of some people. It would be alright with me if it does not become a feature, but I would not mind if it does and I liked the way Final Cut Pro 7 was doing it. After confirming the "delete permanently option" there were two popups in a row if I recall correctly. First a simple "Do you want to delete the files YES/NO". And right after that a second one with screaming red letters that warned the user on last time that "Warning! Files will be lost permanently! Are you sure you want to delete your Files form the Hard drive? YES /NO"

For me that was a good last wakeupcall. I never deleted a file by accident within FCP7 unlike other programs that were less dramatic about it.

GalinMcMahon wrote:Deleting files from within Resolve should absolutely be a thing. I have a project I'm working on that is almost 1tb of files. At most, 10% of the files are used. That is a LOT of files to go through and manually delete one...at...a...time. There is no reason Resolve shouldn't be able to highlight all of the unused files and right click, delete from Explorer. Put up 10 or 100 confirmation screens. That will still save me hours over what I have to do manually now. It does not help that right click > open file location > delete does not work. I literally have to open an Explorer window and do a search for every file's 18 character file name? For about 800GB worth of clips???? It is ridiculous that deleting from the hard drive is not possible. If it's for safety, then people need to learn how to back up and save because no real editor will edit the only copy of the file. You archive and edit the 2nd copy. SMH.

I don't agree at all... I'm working on a project that is currently 46TB and when done I'll deal with the excess as usual, with media management or with the app Resolve Collect.

For people that sometimes work long hours with every precious material, it can be very dangerous to have a delete function like this from within the program.

any update for this little feature, but i think must have feature......

I agree that a right click delete from disk is not necessary since you can do it from the media pool, what would be very useful however would be to be able to rename original files from inside the app. It used to be that I could do that by clicking on another clip and rename with explorer, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

Marc Wielage wrote:

Mel Matsuoka wrote:The act of deleting media files should either not exist from within the NLE, or it should be intentionally very difficult to do so from the NLE UI. It's simply too dangerous to make this operation an easy thing to do.

I'm in 100% agreement with Mel. I think it's very dangerous to delete original source files from within the editor interface -- I think it should only be done within the OS. I feel your pain with the accidental deletion: this is the kind of mistake a Resolve user will do once (at least that's the way it was for me), and never again.

Peter's suggestion of just using Media Management would solve the problem and create a new drive with only the files actually used in the project.

For me it is even more dangerous to do this on the windows explorer level when you DO NOT have any indication on which clips were actually used, no proper way to view them. Adding the feature to safely remove unused clips would reduce the risk of loosing valuable material than without it.

Jim Simon wrote:I would argue that the ability to delete non-originated files from the hard drive should never exist in an NLE. Hard drive file management should always be done via a proper file manager like Windows Explorer or Finder.

Jim Simon wrote:I would argue that the ability to delete non-originated files from the hard drive should never exist in an NLE. Hard drive file management should always be done via a proper file manager like Windows Explorer or Finder.

Fully disagree. Deleting files from windows explorer:
= no possibility to check if the clip is used or not - increasing risk of loosing used data
= you have to manually select clips to delete - increasing risk manual error
= you have no tool to review the clips and mark them for deletion (no proper viewer, markers and tags and clip colors from resolve not visible on OS level.

I would say the ONLY safe method of deleting discarded footage is from the GUI of the NLE application.

And deleting unused footage is essential part of many professional workflows. I do not need nor want to pay for extra storage for the footage that will never be needed to re-render or re-color customer's movie. So I always delete unused footage. And this is very painfull in Resolve.

Give me arguments why deleting from OS is safer, faster and less prone to errors.

Possible workaround for Windows (not fully tested):

1. Create a new empty timeline and drag inside all the clips you want to delete
2. Export the timeline as FCP 7 XML
3. Open the exported XML file with notepad
4. Select all text and copy
5. Go here https://jsfiddle.net/g523cdzu/ and paste the text on the left text box
6. Press the Start button, the script will generate a BAT file with delete commands for every referenced clip inside the XML file.
7. Copy the generated text on the right side and paste it inside notepad
8. Save the file with .bat extension at the end
9. Double click the .bat file to delete the files.


I did a simple test and seems to be working with local files, I don't know what happens with network files.
I guess would be easy to adapt it for Mac or Linux.

+1 for this feature request.
I often import all Files to a project, do a rough cut and then delete unused clips from disk to save space.
If it's critical footage it has back ups somewhere anyway.

This option does exist on Premiere Pro and It's super useful.

need this feature....... waiting for long time, after leaving adobe premiere 4 years ago