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FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 Beta 1 released - new utilities and more

We've just released a beta of the next major version of FCS Maintenance Pack, version 1.3.

This version offers many exciting new features, some of which are summarized below.

New tool - QuickFix

Ever had a problem with Final Cut Pro but don't know (or care) what it's caused by? There are lots of tools in FCS Maintenance Pack but you need to have a general idea of what the problem is in order to know which tool can fix it.

QuickFix aims to solve this problem by becoming a one-stop solution whenever problems occur. When something goes wrong simply launch it, press the QuickFix button and it will perform a series of common tasks to resolve issues that would normally require launching several tools at once. You can then quickly get back to work without needing to worry about determining the cause of the issue.

Keyboard shortcuts

Now you can perform common maintenance tasks simply by pressing a keyboard shortcut. When used in conjunction with QuickFix, it makes it even more powerful by enabling you to easily fix common problems simply by pressing a button. It makes QuickFix even quicker.

Note: keyboard shortcuts are only supported for FCS Housekeeper and QuickFix in this beta. Support for the other apps in the suite will be added in future betas.

Crash Analyzer error message database

Crash Analyzer is invaluable when Final Cut Studio applications crash, but what if they just display an error message without crashing? That's why we've added a new tool to Crash Analyzer that allows you to search for common error messages and receive tips for overcoming them.

The database is very much a work in progress right now so not every error message is supported. If you receive a message that's not in the database we'd appreciate it if you could use the built-in error message submission system to send it to us so that we can support it in future versions.

File Salvage droplets

You can now create droplets (mini-applications that you can drag files onto) within File Salvage to make it easier to salvage multiple files of the same format at once. Just go to File > Create Droplet, select the relevant source and destination formats and then drag corrupt files onto the droplet.

Growl notification support

If you schedule a task or use a keyboard shortcut it can be difficult to tell when the task is running. If you have Growl installed, FCS Maintenance Pack can now notify you when these background tasks run.

Note: Growl is only supported for FCS Housekeeper and QuickFix in this beta. Support for the other apps in the suite will be added in future betas.



Please note that this is a beta release designed for evaluation purposes only. It is not intended for use in a production environment. If you require a stable version please use version 1.2.7 instead.

To download this update, either visit the FCS Maintenance Pack product page or, if you have an existing version of FCS Maintenance Pack installed, go into the Preferences menu of Software Update and select the option to check for beta updates, then go to File > Check for Updates.

It's also worth noting that in addition to our regular appcast, we now have a beta appcast to separate beta updates from stable versions.

Update: Just to clarify, this will be a free update when the final version is released, so if you buy version 1.2.7 today you will not be penalized for it.