Documents
Last updated
Last updated
In PostLab, Documents are your video editing app’s project files added or imported into a Production. Once inside a Production, Documents are synced with the PostLab Cloud service for activity tracking, versioning, and collaboration possibilities.
Final Cut Pro - https://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/
Premiere Pro - https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html
Documents are stored inside a Production, a bundle of files downloaded and cached on your local computer. Are Documents already available inside your Production? First time accessing these Documents on your computer? Click Download to get started. Otherwise, add or import Documents into your Production.
In a Production, click ➕ > DOCUMENTS > (Your Video Editing App) > New...
Final Cut Pro Library
LIBRARY NAME - name it.
DESCRIPTION - describe it.
MEDIA LOCATION - set how storage locations will be defined when a Team Member opens this Library.
TEMPLATE LIBRARY - create a new Library based on a Template.
Preferences > Templates
Premiere Pro Project
PROJECT NAME
DESCRIPTION
TEMPLATE PROJECT
Preferences > Templates
🛠 Workflow Tip: On Adding / Importing Final Cut Pro Libraries > MEDIA LOCATION
When you add or import a Library into PostLab, PostLab has you define a MEDIA LOCATION for each Library:
Individual- allow each Team Member to set their own Storage Locations for this Library. Perfect for Teams using their own local media drives in distributed locations.
Shared- define a common set of Storage Locations for this Library. Perfect for Teams who use shared storage, whether on-premise or in the cloud (like PostLab Drive!).
Unique to PostLab, setting MEDIA LOCATION for each Library lets your Final Cut Pro Team collaborate without the friction of constant media relinking.
In a Production, click ➕ > DOCUMENTS > (Your Video Editing App) > Import...
🛠 Workflow Tip: Import Documents, Not Media
Final Cut Pro lets you import media into a Library. If that’s true of your Library, you’ll have to separate the media from the Library before importing it as a Document in PostLab.
In FCP, use Consolidate on the Library to move media outside of it to a super-fast, local drive.
Move the Original Media outside your Library to a fast, local drive with enough space (e.g. RAID, SSD).
Relink to the Original Media on that local drive.
(Document Name) - the name of the Document.
Description - this Document’s description.
Status
Application Status - give your Team an at-a-glance view of this Document’s progress.
Approval - use PostLab with your clients or producers for some Review & Approval.
Media Status - PostLab can tell you when media is online, offline, or partially missing.
Click the Media Status indicator for a report on all available media, or direction on relinking media if everything’s offline.
Documents
THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT ON YOUR COMPUTER
Download
When editing a Document for the first time:
JUST HAVE A LOOK - Open Copy
The last version of this Document synced to PostLab Cloud is downloaded to your local computer then opened in your video editing app.
Take a look at this Document, then close it when you’re done.
Documents opened this way are not synced with PostLab Cloud.
LET’S GET TO WORK - Start Editing
This Document is downloaded from PostLab Cloud, locked for use by others on your Team, then opened in your video editing app.
While the Document is Open in your Video Editing App:
If PostLab doesn’t detect any changes in your Document:
DID YOU CHANGE ANYTHING?
Check for Changes - manually nudge PostLab to compare this open Document with the Document on PostLab Cloud.
Once you’ve started editing:
STEP 1: START WORKING
Open Library - PostLab takes you back to your edit session in your video editing app.
STEP 2 : UPLOAD
What have you changed? - add meaningful comments. Add to your bread crumb trail. Be a good team player.
Upload - upload this Document to PostLab Cloud, which unlocks it for use by someone else.
If a Document’s locked:
FORCE UNLOCK
Transfers control from the Team Member who was working on the Document to you.
Opens the latest version of the Document last synced to PostLab Cloud.
Any work-in-progress on the formerly locked Document should be considered orphaned and lost.
Activity
Revert to Previous Version
The selected version of this Document becomes the latest version to work from inside this Production.
Useful when you need to roll back to a Document at a particular moment in time, perhaps for troubleshooting or content direction changes.
Open copy of this version
A copy of this version of the Document is downloaded from PostLab Cloud to your local computer, then opened in your video editing app.
Useful for seeing a Document at a particular moment in time, perhaps for troubleshooting.
Documents opened this way are not synced with PostLab Cloud.
Export this version
Export a copy of this version of your Document outside of PostLab to your local computer.
Useful for seeing a Document at a particular moment in time, perhaps for troubleshooting.
⚙️ / (⋯) (Options)
Reload - nudge PostLab to resync your Document with the current date from PostLab Cloud.
Edit Description - is that space under your Document name still blank? Add a Description! It’s a full-featured, rich text editor. Bold. Italics. Underline. Do it.
Export - export a copy of your Document outside of PostLab to your local computer.
Duplicate - duplicate a Document inside your Production.
Remove Local Copy - removes the currently cached local copy of this Document, prompting you to download a fresh copy from PostLab Cloud.
Housekeeping - compares Document changes between the locally cached version with the version on PostLab Cloud, then removes any unnecessary references for faster syncing with PostLab Cloud.
Select a Document.
Click ⚙️ / (⋯) (Options), then Delete.
Read - ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE THIS…?
If you still want to delete this Document, follow the instructions, then click Delete....
Currently, you can't directly rename a Document. However, you can duplicate a Document, giving it a new name.
Select a Document.
Click ⚙️ / (⋯) (Options), then Duplicate.
Set up your duplicate Document, then click OK.
When you duplicate a Document, the Activity log from the original Document won't transfer to the duplicate. So you may wish to keep the original Document in your Production until you no longer need its Activity log.
Ordinarily, this would force you to update/upgrade as well. However, you could use the Revert to Previous Version feature to restore a Document from a particular point in time in a Production.
Then, decide if it would be best to continue working from that version based on factors such as time spent working on the updated Document, whether or not you should update/upgrade your NLE's sooner than later.
You can also control which version of Final Cut Pro Library or Premiere Pro Project PostLab is created by default by setting DEFAULT EMPTY LIBRARY | PROJECT in Preferences > Templates.
In Final Cut Pro, create a travel library, with or without media.
In PostLab, open the last version of a Library in Your Production as a local copy, consolidate all media to a local backup destination, and you'll have everything you need in place. When you're ready, delete the Production in PostLab and all related media on Drive.
Note: when deleting a production in PostLab, you will lose all versioning, Tasks, and Bookmarks.
To move a Library back into PostLab:
In FCP, consolidate the media outside of the Library to a folder on PostLab Drive.
