Add a source log before your Frame.io review

What you gain

Keep your review links. Give the editor known subjects, searchable fields and useful ranges before the footage reaches the first cut.

You can start with the free base app and your existing storage. Use the first shoot to build a palette, identify known subjects and hand useful ranges to the editor. ClipLogger does not recreate Frame.io review links, version stacks or approvals. This guide adds the source workflow beside your existing review process.

1. Bring the files and keep the old log

Export comments from the correct version and temporarily clear filters if the goal is a complete export. Preserve a PDF or other readable record as well as the machine-readable export. Keep version IDs and timeline context beside the file.

Use a copy of one shoot for the first rename or metadata-writing attempt. Include repeated camera filenames from different cards, and retain the full source paths so you can tell them apart.

2. Reuse the work you already did

Download the mapping worksheet. It is a checklist for your records, not a file to import into the app.

If your existing filenames already describe the shoot, open that directory and choose Learn from these files… from the palette picker. With at least three visible files, ClipLogger can infer a palette you can edit. Supported XMP fields can also be read from media; that does not convert every vendor’s custom field or AI index.

3. Give the next editor a better log

Import a roster, menu or code-replacement table for the names and terms you know. Set fields such as action, shot size and rating, then choose a small batch for suggestions. Use a supported local model for no per-clip service fee, or choose Rush for hosted processing. Review the suggested values against the footage.

Use Drill-down to see nested camera folders together. Search by meaning, transcript or the reviewed fields, then narrow the results with the values available in the directory. Mark the useful ranges and promote the ones you want to log separately into virtual clips. Search and filter guide.

4. Write something you can keep

Enable .logger.json output and confirm the sidecars have been written beside your pilot media. Preview a filename built from your reviewed fields, then apply it to the copy. Keep names stable once the editor links the footage, or plan to relink after a rename.

Open a supported export in a test NLE project. Check the actual names, metadata and source timing there. If you need a separate media file, choose subclip export; a virtual clip by itself still depends on the original. Naming · Sidecars · NLE handoff.

5. Decide what you still need to pay for

Prepare source names, fields and selects in ClipLogger; share the edit in Frame.io. Keep source markers with the source clip and review comments with the correct edit version, because their timestamps can refer to different things.

Frame.io supports comment exports. Preserve the relevant version and timestamps with them; a comment export does not recreate the full review project. ClipLogger’s written source log and filenames stay with your archive, and the free base remains usable after Rush ends.

Keep a way back

Continue review on the original Frame.io version. The ClipLogger pilot can stop without changing review links or the project's feedback history.

Retain the original media and old exports until an editor has used the new handoff. Back up the ClipLogger project/catalog as well as sidecars, especially when some work has not been written beside the files.

Return to the Frame.io comparison for capability and cost details.