Change role colors or names in Final Cut Pro for Mac

Roles have distinct colors that let you instantly recognize clips by role in the browser and the timeline. You can change the color of a role and, by extension, the color of the clips it’s assigned to.

You can also rename roles and subroles, within certain basic guidelines.

The role editor with a new role added at the bottom

Note: By default, clips with video and audio take the color of the audio role, but you can expand the clips to show video role colors separately. See Show video role colors in Final Cut Pro for Mac.

Change a role’s color

In the Final Cut Pro role editor, move the pointer over a role, then click the Change Color button to the right of the role name.
Click the new color for the role.
All the clips assigned that role display the new color in the timeline and the browser.

Rename a role or a subrole

In the Final Cut Pro role editor, select the name of a role or subrole and type a new name.

Keep the following in mind when renaming roles or subroles:

You can rename custom roles or any subrole, but you can’t rename the default roles (Titles, Video, Dialogue, Effects, Music, and Mixed Audio). You also can’t rename a role or subrole using one of the default role names.
Renaming a role also renames its default subroles throughout a library, but not custom subroles that you created.
Renaming a subrole updates every clip using that subrole in the library.

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Final Cut Pro User Guide for Mac

Change role colors or names in Final Cut Pro for Mac

Change a role’s color

Rename a role or a subrole