Canvas, rulers & guides

Choose the project frame, inspect it with zoom and pan, and place visual content precisely using project-pixel rulers, guides, and a configurable grid.

Choose landscape, portrait, square, or a custom frame

Choose a standard shape

1. Click Project settings at the left of the toolbar immediately above the preview. In a wide window it shows the current ratio and dimensions.
2. In the Project & canvas panel, find Frame.
3. Click 16:9 for 1920 × 1080 landscape, 9:16 for 1080 × 1920 portrait, or 1:1 for 1080 × 1080 square.
4. The selected preset applies immediately. Close the panel with Close project settings, the X, or click outside it.
5. Check text, graphics, media framing, and guides in the new shape. Use Undo after closing the panel if you want to return to the previous size.

Enter an exact custom size

1. Open Project settings.
2. Replace Width and Height with your required pixel dimensions.
3. Use even whole numbers from 2 to 16384 for each dimension. The small +/− buttons step these fields by two pixels.
4. Click Apply size. Merely typing the custom width and height does not resize the project.
5. Close the panel and review the composition. A ratio other than the three presets is shown as Custom.

Apply size is disabled if the values are not valid even dimensions or already match the project. Pressing Escape or closing the panel before Apply size discards unapplied size entries. Other controls in this panel, such as grid spacing or guide locking, apply as you use them.

Changing the frame keeps the relative placement of editable text, graphics, and guides; you should still review the result in its new shape. The change does not retime clips. Picture magnification is a separate view setting: changing preview zoom does not change this frame size. The export preset chooses the output dimensions from this project frame.

Zoom and pan the preview

Zoom with the wheel or toolbar

1. Move the pointer over the picture area.
2. Roll the mouse wheel to zoom in or out around the point under the pointer. This makes it easier to inspect an edge or position a small item.
3. Alternatively, click Zoom preview out or Zoom preview in, the magnifying-glass minus/plus icons above the picture.
4. Read the percentage between these controls. 100% means the frame is fitted to the available preview space; it does not mean one screen pixel for every project pixel.

Move around the picture

1. Press and hold the right mouse button over the preview, then drag to pan. Middle-button dragging also works.
2. For left-button panning, click the Pan preview hand icon beside the zoom controls. Its highlighted state means the hand tool is enabled. Hold the left mouse button on the picture and drag.
3. Click the hand icon again to turn it off when you want left-drag to position or resize selected content.
4. For temporary left-button panning, hold Space while the pointer or focus is in the preview and drag with the left button. Release Space when finished. Change or remove this hold key under Hold to pan preview in Keyboard shortcuts.
5. Click the Fit preview icon, a small frame inside four corners at the right of the canvas toolbar, to center the whole frame and return to 100% of the fitted view. You can assign a Fit key in Keyboard shortcuts.

Preview zoom ranges from 25% to 800% of Fit. Zoom and pan do not move clips, change saved composition, create Undo edits, or alter the export. The rulers remain at the preview edges while their pixel markings follow the magnified, panned frame.

Close menus and dialogs before navigating. The hand cursor shows when left-drag will pan. Space is the default hold key and remains a button or text-field key when such a control has focus; click the preview background before Space-dragging. For ordinary playback, use the Play button or press K; Space is used for the hand tool when the pointer or keyboard focus is in the preview's working area.

Identify the canvas aid buttons

A highlighted button is on. These aids help you edit; rulers, grid lines, guides, selection outlines, and temporary snap indicators are not part of the exported picture. Canvas aid settings and guide positions are saved with the project and can be changed back with Undo.

Read project-pixel coordinates

The top ruler measures X, increasing to the right from the project's left edge. The left ruler measures Y, increasing downward from the project's top edge. Values refer to the project frame, not your monitor or the size of the preview window.

1. Turn Rulers on if the scales are hidden.
2. Locate the value corresponding to the position you want to align. Zoom in for more closely spaced detail.
3. When you pan, follow the moving tick values rather than treating the edge of the visible window as project zero.
4. Use a guide or a numeric property when a position must be exact.

Create vertical and horizontal guides

Drag from a ruler

1. Turn on Rulers and Guides.
2. For a vertical guide, press the left mouse button on the left, vertical ruler and drag into the picture toward the desired X position.
3. For a horizontal guide, drag from the top, horizontal ruler down to the desired Y position.
4. Without Shift, the guide follows whole project pixels. Hold Shift to place it on the nearest configured grid interval.
5. Release the mouse button inside the frame. The guide remains at that coordinate.

You can create guides from the pinned rulers even when zooming has taken the project's outer edges out of view. A drag that never enters the frame creates no guide. A guide dragged out of the frame is removed on release, including when Shift would otherwise snap it back near an edge.

Add a centered guide from settings

1. Open Project settings and find Guides & snapping.
2. Click Add vertical guide or Add horizontal guide, the guide-with-plus icons.
3. A guide is added at the corresponding center of the frame. Close the settings panel to move or edit it.

There can be up to 200 guides. If the add buttons are disabled because this limit is reached, remove unwanted guides first. If ruler dragging does nothing, check Lock guides.

Move, set an exact position, hide, lock, or delete guides

Move or enter a coordinate

1. With Guides visible and unlocked, drag an existing line perpendicular to its direction: left/right for a vertical guide, up/down for a horizontal guide.
2. Use plain dragging for whole-pixel placement or hold Shift for grid-interval placement. Press or release Shift during a held drag to switch immediately, even without moving the pointer.
3. To type an exact coordinate, double-click the guide. You can also Tab to a guide and press Enter.
4. In the small guide editor, change Guide position in pixels, then click Done. A vertical guide's value is X; a horizontal guide's value is Y.

The position field accepts values from −16384 to 32768 pixels, so an entered guide can lie outside the frame. Such a guide may not be visible until its position is moved back inside. Guide changes are immediate; Done closes the editor rather than applying a separate pending edit. Use Undo to reverse an unwanted move.

Hide or lock without removing

1. Click the toolbar's Guides button to hide every guide. Click it again to show them. Hidden guides remain saved.
2. To prevent guide movement, open Project settings and click Lock guides, the lock icon under Guides & snapping.
3. Close the settings panel. Locked guides remain visible and can still help objects snap when canvas Snap is on.
4. Turn Lock guides off before moving, keyboard-editing, or deleting a guide through its line.

Delete a guide

1. Drag the unlocked guide outside the project frame and release, or open its guide editor and click Delete guide.
2. Alternatively, Tab to an unlocked guide and press Delete or Backspace. This deletes the guide rather than the selected timeline clip.
3. Use Undo if the removal was unintended.

Set grid spacing, origin, and grid snapping

1. Open Project settings and scroll to Grid.
2. Set Horizontal spacing to the pixel interval between vertical grid lines. Set Vertical spacing to the interval between horizontal grid lines. Each can be 1–16384 pixels.
3. Set Origin X and Origin Y to shift the grid's starting alignment. These fields accept −16384 to 16384 pixels.
4. Under Guides & snapping, turn Snap to grid on if objects should align to grid lines.
5. Close the panel. Use the toolbar's Grid button to show or hide the drawn lines, and keep the toolbar's Snap on if you want object snapping.

New projects start with 100-pixel horizontal and vertical spacing and an origin of 0, 0. The grid is initially hidden and Snap to grid is off. Grid visibility and grid snapping are independent: objects can snap to a hidden grid when Snap and Snap to grid are on.

How Shift guide placement uses the grid

Shift-dragging a vertical guide uses Horizontal spacing and Origin X. Shift-dragging a horizontal guide uses Vertical spacing and Origin Y. For example, horizontal spacing 120 and origin X 20 gives X positions 20, 140, 260, 380, and so on. Shift chooses the nearest interval and keeps the dragged guide within the frame.

Shift guide placement works even if Grid is hidden, Snap to grid is off, or canvas Snap is off. It is a deliberate guide-placement modifier, separate from object snapping. Pressing and releasing Shift during one drag does not require starting another drag.

Move and resize visual content in the preview

1. Pause playback and place the playhead inside the item's visible time range.
2. Select the video, photo, title, or graphic on the timeline. Visible editable titles and graphics can also be selected by clicking them in the picture.
3. Drag inside the selection outline to move it. The selection label identifies the item and its approximate pixel position.
4. Drag the small square resize handle to change its size. Media scales around its center; text resizing adjusts the text's visual size. For an arrow, the handle moves its endpoint.
5. Release, review the picture, and use Undo if the result is wrong. For exact numeric values and reset actions, use Clip properties, Text, or Elements.

Preview zoom changes how far your pointer travels on screen, but placement still refers to project pixels. Use Fit if the selected item or its handle is outside the visible area. If there is no outline, check the selected clip's time range, track visibility, and whether playback is paused.

Snap objects to the frame, guides, or grid

1. Turn the canvas toolbar's Snap on.
2. Show Guides if you want your guides to be targets. Frame edges and the frame center are also targets.
3. For grid targets, additionally turn on Snap to grid in Project settings. The Grid drawing itself may be on or off.
4. Move or resize the selection near a target. A temporary alignment line shows when a usable edge or center aligns.
5. Hold Alt while dragging to bypass object snapping. Release it to allow snapping again.

Hiding guides removes them from object snap targets; locking visible guides does not. The canvas Snap setting is separate from timeline Snapping. The S shortcut toggles timeline snapping, not the canvas button.

Canvas problems and corrections

The whole frame seems cropped after zooming.

That is the magnified working view. Click Fit to see the whole frame. Export still uses the project frame, not the portion visible in the preview window.

Space starts playback instead of panning.

Close open controls, click a clear part of the preview, then hold Space and left-drag. A focused button or field takes priority over the hand tool.

I cannot grab a guide.

Turn Guides on and Lock guides off. Check that the guide coordinate is inside the project frame. Zoom in if lines are close together.

Shift steps are the wrong size.

Check the matching grid spacing and origin in Project settings. Shift uses those values even while the grid is hidden.

A grid is visible but objects do not snap.

Enable both canvas Snap and Snap to grid. Grid visibility alone does not enable snapping.

I closed settings but the change remains.

Most settings apply immediately. Close the panel, return focus to the editor, and use Undo. Only custom frame dimensions wait for Apply size.