Four steps, and the timeline never leaves your hands
Build the cut
Select bites in the paper cut. Speaker names, timecodes and notes go with them.
Export the XML package
One zip: the sequence, an EDL, subtitles, Avid locators, a conform guide and the assembly as audio.
Cut in your editor
Relink, lay picture, add titles. Type a keyword such as Animation: into a title to say what it is.
Import the edit
Export the timeline as FCP 7 XML. Import Edit from XML turns it back into a paper cut.
The timeline you hand over is the timeline you get back
An edit room checks timing first, so it is built in rather than promised. The rules below are covered by tests.
On the frame
In and out points sit on one frame grid. Clips butt-join with no one-frame overlaps, and an out-point rounds up to the next frame, so a quote may run a frame long and is never clipped short.
Your frame rate
23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 and 30. You set one rate for the project, and every sync sequence you bring in is checked against it before it can lay out of step.
Nothing added to the clock
The note at the head of an export sits on a track of its own and does not lengthen the sequence. A title laid over a bite adds no running time on the way back in.
Timecode kept
An imported row keeps the in and out the editor burned into the picture, frame accurate, with the XML it came from. Drag it anywhere in the cut and it still says where it was.
Names that survive
Speaker names travel with the clips. Each clip carries a tape name drawn from its folder, so ten recorder files called MixPre-007 stay apart through the conform.
Honest about gaps
A bite with no camera picture exports as sound and is counted before you commit. Archive the project does not have yet comes back as a placeholder marked Transcript missing.
The package your editor opens
A paper cut exports as a package, because the file an assistant reaches for depends on the room they are cutting in. Everything ships by default. Switch off what your room will not open.
Opens in Avid, Premiere, Final Cut Pro and Resolve. Every quote is written on as a marker, and every clip carries its media reference.
CMX3600 with reel names built from the folder, and the full file name in each event's comment.
One file timed to the cut, one per source timed to that file, or both.
A text locator list for the markers, ready to bring into a bin.
Written for the assistant who opens the folder cold, with the relink steps for their system.
The whole assembly rendered as one file, with silence of the right length where a bite has no footage yet.
Each assembly pass can carry its own clip colour and its own pair of audio tracks. Export a spaced pass and the gaps of the others stay.
Add frames of tape either side of every bite, point the export at the root your media lives under, and map file extensions.
Acts, beats, placeholders and request cards go out as text cards, so the editor sees what the cut still needs.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE xmeml>
<xmeml version="4">
<sequence id="sequence-1">
<name>Act 1</name>
<rate><timebase>25</timebase><ntsc>FALSE</ntsc></rate>
<duration>1925</duration>
<timecode>
<rate><timebase>25</timebase><ntsc>FALSE</ntsc></rate>
<string>00:00:00:00</string>
<frame>0</frame>
<displayformat>NDF</displayformat>
</timecode>
<media>
<video>
<format><samplecharacteristics>
<rate><timebase>25</timebase><ntsc>FALSE</ntsc></rate>
<width>1920</width><height>1080</height>
</samplecharacteristics></format>
<track>
<generatoritem id="generator-section-1">
<name>act: Act 1 · The Control Room</name>
<enabled>TRUE</enabled>
<duration>75</duration>
<rate><timebase>25</timebase><ntsc>FALSE</ntsc></rate>
<start>0</start>
<end>75</end>
<in>0</in>
<out>75</out>
<effect>
<name>Text</name>
<effectid>Text</effectid>
<effectcategory>Text</effectcategory>
<effecttype>generator</effecttype>
<mediatype>video</mediatype>
<parameter>
<parameterid>str</parameterid>
<name>Text</name>
<value>Act 1 · The Control Room</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterid>fontname</parameterid>
<name>Font</name>
<value>Arial</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterid>fontsize</parameterid>
<name>Size</name>
<valuemin>0</valuemin>
<valuemax>1000</valuemax>
<value>42</value>
</parameter>
<parameter>
<parameterid>fontstyle</parameterid>
<name>Style</name>
<valuemin>1</valuemin>
<valuemax>4</valuemax>
<valuelist>
<valueentry><name>Plain</name><value>1</value></valueentry>
<valueentry><name>Bold</name><value>2</value></valueentry>
… 696 more linesThe finished edit becomes a paper cut
Export the timeline as XML and bring it in. Each clip is traced to its interview and filled with what was said, so the producer and the editor are reading the same cut.
Each clip is followed to its file through SyncYard, a reference export or its file name, and filled with the words said there.
Short clips of one answer join into a single bite with its [...] marks, so the row reads the way the person said it.
Each timeline becomes a section, or lands at the end of a cut you already have as an act of its own.
PaperCuts spots the paper cut an edit was made from and carries its notes and visuals across.
Sound is pulled out on your computer and transcribed for whatever the project has no transcript for. The picture is never uploaded.
Each row is stamped with its burned-in timecode and the runtimes add up to the editor's sequence.
Picture under the quotes
A paper cut is built from the sound report, and the picture sits on camera cards married to that sound by your assistant. SyncYard reads those sync sequences, so the exported sequence arrives with the right camera angle cut to the same frames as each quote. Bites with no camera come through as sound and are counted.
- One flattened sequence per shoot day
- Recorder files matched by length and folder as well as name
- Every bite from one marriage cut at the same frame offset
Type a keyword into a title. Get the row it names.
Titles are a handy shortcut on the way back. Start a title in your editor with a keyword and a colon, and the import knows what it is. Change the text below and watch the row.
Interview Request: Elena M. Needs a second sitting. Should talk more about the bridge inspection.
The first line of an interview request is only the name. It is matched to a speaker in the project, here Marcus T., Elena M. and David R., and a name that matches nobody stays as typed. This box runs the same reader the import does.
All 13 keywords, with examples
Structure
Build the outline from the timeline.A title header that names the whole cut.
Title: Episode 1, Savior
An act header. It owns every beat until the next act.
Act: The Fall
A beat header. It owns the rows until the next header.
Beat: Elena finds the letter
Cards
Rows for what is not a bite.An animation row: a sequence to be animated, not shot.
Animation: the river rising over the old bridge
A visual break: picture with nobody talking.
Visual Break: dawn over the harbour
A GFX row for something somebody has to build: a map, a chart, a lower third.
GFX: map of the 1962 coastline
On-screen text: a title, definition or caption the audience reads.
On-Screen Text: Halifax, Nova Scotia. 1917.
Wording that holds a place until the real line exists.
Placeholder: narration about the explosion
Requests
Rows for what the cut still has to get.An interview request. The first line is only the name, matched to a speaker in the project. Whatever follows is the note on what the interview is for.
Interview Request: Elena M. Interview needed for the bridge inspection. Should talk more about the second week.
A request for original footage. A line reading Shoot date: 2026-11-03 sets the date.
Footage Request: the harbour at low tide Shoot date: 2026-11-03
A request for stock footage. Any links in it become link chips.
Stock Request: 1940s trains https://archive.example.com/trains
A request for archival material. Links and File: lines become items.
Archival Request: harbour newsreel File: NFB-1917-reel2.mov
A search for a bite already in the rushes. Speaker: and File: lines narrow it.
Find Existing: the part about the whistle Speaker: Marcus T.
Case does not matter. The keyword can sit in the clip name or on the first line of the text. Anything without one stays plain on-screen text.
A note on every export
Each XML starts with one text card saying where the file came from, who sent it and where to read more. It sits above the cut for six seconds and takes no time from it. Delete it when you have read it. If the timeline comes back in, it is ignored.
Exported via PaperCuts.io on October 26, 2026 from: Ep 1 Selects v4 by David R. More XML export and import tips: papercuts.io/xml
Clearance starts from the timeline
Convert an edit's XML into an archival log: one line per archival clip, with its program and source timecode, file name, and columns for rights holder, source link, clearance approach and legal response. It needs no project. With a project open it can add the speaker and quote over each clip, and check the clips against an export of the mix.
| Program TC | Source TC | File | Rights holder | Source link | Clearance | Legal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:04:10:08 | 00:12:31:00 | HARBOUR-1917-REEL2.mov | to fill | to fill | to fill | to fill |
| 01:11:42:15 | 00:03:05:12 | HARBOUR-NEWSREEL-04.mov | to fill | to fill | to fill | to fill |
Need a document instead of a timeline?
Word, PDF, Excel, a Google Doc, a Miro board, print and subtitles are on the Export page.
Frequently asked questions
Which editing systems does it work with?
Export writes the interchange XML that Avid Media Composer, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve all open. Import Edit from XML reads an edit from Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Avid as FCP 7 XML.
What are typed cards?
Text you type into a title or text card in your editor. Start it with a keyword and a colon, such as Animation:, Beat: or Interview Request:, and the import turns it into the matching paper cut row instead of plain on-screen text. The full list is in the cheat sheet on this page and in the how-to guide.
How does an interview request pick its speaker?
The line with the keyword holds the name and nothing else. It is matched against the named speakers in the project, by full name first and then by a first name or surname that points at one person. A match links the row to that speaker. A name that matches nobody, or two people, stays on the row as typed.
Will any of this move my timing?
No. The note at the top of an export sits on its own top track over the first six seconds and does not change the sequence length. A title laid over a bite is read as on screen over that bite and adds no running time. A card over silence holds the length you gave it.
What is the burned-in timecode on an imported row?
The import writes down where each bite sat on the editor's timeline, in and out, frame accurate at the sequence's rate, along with the name of the XML and when it was imported. It shows in a read-only Burned-in TC column and as a line above the words in the Word script, so a producer who says the bite at 00:01:30 can be answered. Dragging the row elsewhere in the paper cut does not change it.
Do I need transcripts for every clip on the timeline?
The import fills each clip from the project's transcripts. Where the project has none, an export of the cut as video or audio fills the gap: PaperCuts pulls the sound out on your computer and transcribes it, so the picture is never uploaded.
Can I bring in more than one timeline?
Yes. Several timelines become one paper cut with a section each, or you can add a timeline to the end of a cut you already have as an act of its own.
Which frame rates are supported?
23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 and 30. You set one rate for the project, and every imported sync sequence is checked against it.
Can I get an archival clearance log from an XML?
Yes. Convert XML for Archival Log reads an edit and writes a spreadsheet with one line per archival clip: program and source timecode, file name, and columns for rights holder, source link, clearance approach and legal response. It needs no project.
Related capabilities
How-to guides
Step by step, in the support centre.
Type Animation:, Beat: or Interview Request: into a text card in your editor and the import turns it into the matching paper cut row.
Turning an editor's timeline from Premiere, Resolve or Avid into a paper cut: how clips find their interview, what happens to titles and gaps, and the exported video that fills what is missing.
What is inside the export package, which file your room needs, and the conform steps for Premiere, Avid, and Resolve.
The export formats available, what is inside the XML package, and how to export the translation instead of the source.
Getting the assistant editor's synced sequences into the project, setting the frame rate, linking each one to its shoot-day folder, and reading the import warnings.
A clearance spreadsheet of every archival clip, built from an editor's XML or a paper cut, with source timecode, project matches and an audio check.
Further reading
Background guides and comparisons.
FCPXML carries edit decisions, clip references, timecodes, roles, and markers. It does not carry media. Here is how Premiere, Resolve, and Avid handle it differently, and where timecode offsets and missing audio come from.
A timeline exported as FCP 7 XML can be traced clip by clip to the interviews it came from and read back as a paper cut. How the tracing works, what comes back, and what does not.
An archival log lists every clip of archive in a film with its program and source timecode, so a clearance team can establish who owns each shot. What goes on each line, why picture and sound are logged separately, and how to build one from a timeline.