Editor overview
How the post-generation editor is laid out, what each panel does, and where to start when a scene looks off.
3 min read
Once your video's preview is ready, you can open it in the editor. The editor opens while a video waits for you to render it, while it renders, and after it is done. This page maps the screen and the shortcuts. Editing your video covers each kind of fix.
The layout
Top bar. A Back button to the video page, the save state, a download button for the latest render, and the Render video button.
Preview. The middle of the screen plays your video in the browser, with your edits. The preview is free and does not start a render.
Timeline. The strip at the bottom has a track each for the script, footage, overlays, voiceover and music. Click a clip to select it, drag it to move it, and drag its edges to change where it starts and how long it runs. The timeline toolbar has undo and redo, duplicate, delete, split at the playhead, magnetic snapping and zoom. It also opens the captions panel, the audio mixer, the export menu, the canvas settings and the shortcut sheet.
Panels. The rail on the left opens seven panels.
| Panel | What it does |
|---|---|
| Text | Title styles you add to the timeline at the playhead. |
| Media | Replace a scene's footage with a suggested clip, a search result or your own image. |
| Transitions | A transition style and length for each cut between footage clips. |
| Audio | Swap the music track and add sound effects. |
| Animations | Animated overlays, added at the playhead. |
| Uploads | Your own images and audio, ready to place in any scene. |
| History | Checkpoints of your edit. Restore any earlier version. |
Inspector. Select a clip and the inspector opens on the right. It shows the clip's timing, volume and layout. For a voiceover clip it also shows the voice controls.
Keyboard shortcuts
Press ? in the editor to open the shortcut sheet. On Windows, use Ctrl where the table shows ⌘.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Space | Play or pause |
J / K / L | Back one second, pause, play |
+ / - | Zoom the timeline in and out |
→ | Move between clips (↑ ↓ change track) |
Enter | Select the clip and jump to it |
⌘ + Enter | Add or remove a clip from the selection |
Shift + → | Grow or shrink the selection along the track |
Alt + → | Nudge the clip 0.1 seconds (with Shift: trim the footage fill) |
S | Split at the playhead |
H | Hide or show the selection |
Shift + H | Hide or show the whole scene |
Delete | Delete the selection |
⌘ + D | Duplicate the selected clip |
⌘ + C / ⌘ + V | Copy, paste at the playhead |
⌘ + Z / ⌘ + Shift + Z | Undo, redo |
Esc | Clear the selection or close a panel |
? | Show the shortcut sheet |
On a phone or tablet
On a phone, the editor shows the preview and the Render button only. Edit on a bigger screen. On a tablet you can play, select, and edit with the toolbar and the inspector, but you cannot drag to trim.
What's next
Editing your video is the working manual: footage, narration, captions, audio, history and rendering.
FAQ covers the questions creators ask most.
Cheers,
Carl