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By default files go to the Trash. Open the Trash, select the files and choose “Put Back”: they return to their place in the library. Do this with Final Cut Pro closed.

If you used direct delete, or the library was on a NAS or network drive, the files were deleted permanently and the app can’t bring them back.

Because the files are in the Trash. The space is freed when you empty the Trash.

With the full unlock you can turn on direct delete, which frees the space right away without using the Trash. It is off by default.

If Final Cut Pro is open, it may use or write those files while they are being removed. That’s why the app only cleans while Final Cut Pro is closed. You can see Final Cut Pro’s status live in the app window.

Yes for Render Files, Analysis Files and Transcoded Media: Final Cut Pro rebuilds them when needed, for example when you render again or create proxies again. It may take some time.

No for Original Media: see the next question.

Original Media are the files copied into the library. Final Cut Pro doesn’t rebuild them: the clips that use them go offline. Only remove them if you have another copy of your footage.

To be safe they are never included by default: you have to pick them every time in the “Danger zone” and confirm by typing the library name. Links created with “Leave files in place” are never touched.

To protect your files, macOS only lets the app open folders you choose (App Sandbox). The app remembers the last folder, but if the permission no longer applies, for example because the folder was moved or renamed or the drive was disconnected, macOS asks you to choose it again.

Yes, with the full unlock. Network drives have no Trash, so there files are deleted permanently, after you confirm. The free version doesn’t clean on these drives.

The app adds up the size of the files. The Finder sometimes shows the space actually used on disk, which can be different: for example with compressed files, or with cloned files on APFS drives that share the same space. So the space you get back may differ a little from what is shown.

Sign in to the App Store with the same Apple Account you used to buy it, open Library Cleaner and use “Restore Purchases”. The full unlock can also be shared with Family Sharing.

Full analysis, sizes for every category, and Render Files cleanup to the Trash. The full unlock is a one-time purchase, with no subscription.