Edit clips & their appearance

Arrange, trim and split timeline clips, then use the selection inspector to control timing, sound, picture and reusable text or elements.

Select a clip and open its properties

1. Find the clip on the timeline. Scroll the tracks or adjust timeline zoom if necessary.
2. Click the body of the clip, away from its left and right trim edges. Its border highlights and the inspector on the right shows its name and track.
3. Click a section heading such as Timing, Audio, Transform or Color to expand or collapse it.
4. Scroll inside the inspector to reach the lower settings and actions.

With the keyboard, use Tab to focus a timeline clip, then press Enter or Space. Keyboard selection also moves the playhead to that clip's start. Clicking a clip selects it without necessarily moving the playhead; click the timeline ruler separately when you need to inspect a particular moment.

To hide the properties without removing the clip, use the inspector's close icon, named Close clip properties. When nothing is selected, the inspector asks you to select a clip, title or transition. A selected transition has different properties; see Transitions.

Change a value and correct a mistake

Most numeric fields can be edited directly. A unit beside the number tells you whether it is seconds (s), pixels (px), degrees (°) or a multiplier (×).

1. Click the number, select the existing value and type the new value.
2. Press Enter or move focus out of the field to finish. Valid values can update the clip while you type, so watch the preview or timeline.
3. For small changes, use the field's + and − buttons, or press ↑/↓ while the field is focused. Hold Shift with an arrow key for a larger step.
4. If the result is wrong, click Undo in the timeline toolbar. Use Redo to reapply it.

Escape leaves a numeric field and discards an unfinished entry; it is not a replacement for Undo after a valid value has already changed the clip. If a value is outside a field's limits, finish the entry and check the resulting value rather than assuming the out-of-range number was accepted.

Outside text and value fields, Ctrl+Z undoes an edit and Ctrl+Y redoes it; Ctrl+Shift+Z is also available for Redo. While you are typing in a text field, its own text editing takes priority. Click the timeline before using an editing shortcut if focus is still in an input. Save the project after changes you want to keep.

Move and trim clips

Move a clip in time or to another track

1. Press and hold in the middle of a timeline clip.
2. Drag left or right to change its time. Drag into another track of the same kind if you want a different layer or audio track.
3. Release the mouse button to finish. The clip cannot start before the beginning of the timeline.
4. For an exact time, select the clip and enter Timing → Start in seconds.

Visual clips move between video tracks; audio clips move between audio tracks. Add a suitable track first if needed. Higher video tracks appear over lower ones. Moving a clip does not automatically rearrange the clips that follow it, so check for gaps and overlaps.

With Snapping active, a dragged clip's start or end can line up with nearby boundaries, the playhead, markers and the beginning of the timeline. Hold Alt during a drag to bypass snapping temporarily. The timeline's Snapping control is separate from the canvas Snap control. See Timeline for track navigation and snapping.

Trim the beginning or end

1. Find the narrow trim edge at the left or right of the clip.
2. Drag the left edge to remove or reveal the beginning. The clip's far end stays in place, and its source in-point changes with the trim.
3. Drag the right edge to change the ending while keeping the start in place.
4. Release, then play across the cut. Use Undo if you trimmed the wrong edge.

You cannot reveal video or audio before the start of its source or beyond its available end. Still images can be lengthened because they have no moving source footage to run out of. The trim controls normally keep at least 0.2 seconds of clip length. Hold Alt to bypass snapping while trimming as well.

Moving or trimming a linked audio/video pair keeps the pair together. It does not cut or overwrite the source recording. For independent edits, see Linked audio and video.

Timing fields

Start and Source in are different. Start moves a clip in the project. Source in chooses what part of the recording plays without moving the clip's timeline start. For example, Start 20 and Source in 5 means the clip appears 20 seconds into the project using footage beginning 5 seconds into the recording.

Change speed while keeping the chosen footage

1. Select the clip and expand Timing.
2. Enter the desired Speed.
3. Check Length: it changes to keep the same selected source span. A 6-second clip changed from 1× to 2× becomes 3 seconds long.
4. Check the next clip's position. A shorter or longer clip can leave a gap or overlap; the following clips are not automatically moved by this field.
5. Play through the result and use Undo if the timing is not what you intended.

For titles and elements, Source in and Speed also affect where you are in their animation. A fade or drawing that seems already finished may be starting partway through its animation rather than at its beginning.

Split a clip into two parts

Split at the playhead

1. Select the clip you want to cut.
2. Click the timeline ruler to put the playhead inside that clip, away from its very beginning and end. Use ← and → for frame-by-frame positioning after returning focus to the timeline.
3. Click Split in the timeline toolbar or Split selected clip at the bottom of the inspector. Alternatively, press C, Ctrl+B or Ctrl+K.
4. The right-hand part becomes selected. Move, trim or delete either part as needed.

The cut preserves the source position of both parts, including a clip's speed. Linked picture and audio split together. A split does not duplicate the full recording or restart an existing audio fade at the cut.

If the selected clip does not contain the playhead, Split can act on another clip under the playhead. Keep the playhead inside the intended selection, or use the right-click procedure below. No clip under the playhead — move it inside a clip first. means there is no valid cut at the current position.

Split at a clicked point

1. Right-click the desired point on the body of a timeline clip.
2. Choose Split clip here in Timeline actions.
3. The clip splits at the clicked timeline time rather than at the old playhead position.

The menu command is unavailable too close to a clip's edge. For a keyboard-only cut, use the playhead procedure instead. Shift+F10 or the keyboard's Menu key opens timeline actions at the playhead, but use the Split button or shortcut when you need to target the selected clip from the keyboard.

Delete a clip, with or without closing the gap

Leave the following clips in place

1. Make sure Ripple editing is off in the timeline toolbar.
2. Select the clip.
3. Click Delete in the timeline toolbar, click Delete selected clip in its inspector, or press Delete. Backspace also deletes a selection when you are not typing in a field.
4. Check the gap left by the removed clip. The other clips stay at their previous times.

Right-clicking a clip and choosing Delete clip also performs this ordinary deletion. That context-menu action leaves later clips in place even if Ripple editing is enabled.

Close the gap with ripple deletion

1. Turn on Ripple editing in the timeline toolbar; its highlighted state shows that it is active.
2. Select the clip to remove.
3. Use the toolbar Delete, the inspector's Delete selected clip, or the Delete key.
4. Later clips on the affected track move earlier by the removed length. If a linked pair is removed, its affected tracks are handled together.
5. Check the result across every relevant track. Ripple deletion is not a command to shift every track in the project together.

Turn Ripple editing off again when you want ordinary deletion. It does not make every move, trim or numeric edit ripple. To recover a mistaken deletion, use Undo. Deleting a clip leaves its source card in Media and does not delete the original on your computer.

Linked audio and video

Adding a video with sound creates two aligned blocks: picture on a video track and sound on an audio track. Chain icons and a matching selection outline identify the linked pair. Silent videos add only a picture block.

1. Select either block. The properties header shows Linked audio/video. On a phone, tap Properties in the tool rail to open the selected clip’s controls.
2. Move, trim, split or delete either block while linked. The same timing edit or deletion applies to its partner.
3. To separate them, right-click either block and choose Detach audio. With keyboard focus on a clip, press Shift+F10 to open its menu. You can also use Detach audio at the bottom of Properties, including on a phone.
4. Select the detached audio block to move or trim it, change its speed, volume or fades independently. To remove the sound, select that audio block and use Delete. The video remains silent in preview and export.
5. Use Undo to reverse the last edit, restore deleted sound or reconnect a pair immediately after detaching. Save the project to keep the separation; reopening it does not recreate deleted sound.

Detaching does not make a second copy of the recording. The video’s embedded sound stays muted, so it never plays twice. There is no manual Link command; use Undo to reverse detaching.

Adjust a clip's sound

Select an ordinary media clip and expand Audio. On an audio track this section normally opens immediately; on a visual clip you may need to expand it. Text and element clips use their own animation settings instead. A still photo can show ordinary media Audio controls, but changing them cannot create sound in an image.

1. Put the playhead shortly before the part you want to hear.
2. Select the clip, expand Audio, and adjust Volume.
3. Enter Fade in and Fade out lengths if you want softer edges. Each audible fade is limited to half the relevant clip or retained fade length; entering a very long fade does not create an unlimited ramp.
4. Press Play and listen across the clip's beginning and end. Pause before making further edits if necessary.

There is no separate Mute button for one clip. Set that clip's Volume to 0×, or mute its whole track as described below. With linked picture and sound, the Audio controls operate on the linked sound even when you selected the picture.

After a split, the note Fades retain their phase across split clips. means an existing fade continues through the cut. Change the fade deliberately to make a new edge fade, or use Reset audio to remove inherited fades entirely.

Mute sound or hide a track

The controls beside a timeline track label apply to that entire track, not just the selected clip.

1. Find the row label, such as V1 or A1.
2. Click its speaker icon, named Mute V1 or Mute A1, to silence that track. The name changes to Unmute V1 or Unmute A1; click again to restore it.
3. On a visual track, use the eye icon, Hide V1, to hide its picture. Use Show V1 to bring the picture back.
4. If you want neither picture nor sound from a visual track, use both Hide and Mute. Use Mute explicitly when your intention is to remove sound.

Track settings are part of the edit; check them before exporting. If one clip should be quiet but the others should remain audible, change that clip's Volume instead of muting the track. If linked sound is on a separate audio track, check the speaker control on that audio row as well.

Scale, place and rotate the picture

The Transform section is available for visual clips, including titles and elements. Its values affect the selected clip's appearance; they do not resize the project frame.

Use the preview handles

1. Put the playhead inside the clip's visible time and select the clip on the timeline.
2. In the preview, drag the selection outline to reposition it.
3. Drag the small resize handle to change its size. A media picture scales from its center; a text item resizes its typography; an arrow's handle adjusts its end point.
4. Use the inspector for exact values, or use Reset transform for the ordinary clip transform settings.

Text and element placement also has its own content coordinates in the inspector. Reset transform does not reset a title's Text layout or an arrow's From/To coordinates. See Text, element and animation properties. Preview zoom and panning change only your view; they do not change Scale or the exported composition. See Canvas, guides and preview navigation.

Adjust brightness, contrast and saturation

1. Select a visual clip and expand Color.
2. Adjust the field you need while viewing a representative frame.
3. Play through other parts of the clip to check that the adjustment still works.
4. Click Reset color to restore all three adjustments to 1.

These adjustments affect the selected visual clip. For the actual color of editable letters or an arrow, use Text color or Element color in that item's own section instead.

Text, element and animation properties

Selecting an editable title or element adds its content controls above Timing. The regular Timing, Transform and Color sections remain available. Expand the appropriate section to find the following fields; the full creation workflows are in Text and Elements.

To choose a typeface or weight, open the field, use the arrow keys to choose an option and press Enter; Escape closes the list. To choose a content color, open its color field, choose a swatch or enter a valid value in Hex color, then choose Done.

The two Fade in/Fade out sets have different purposes: ordinary media Audio fades change sound, while a title or element's Animation fades change that visible item. An animation setting does not automatically extend the timeline clip. Check Timing → Length if an animation is cut off, and check Source in if it begins partway through.

Save a selected title or element for reuse

1. Select the editable title or element clip.
2. Make the desired changes in Text, Text layout, Element and Animation.
3. Scroll to the bottom of its content properties and enter an Asset name, named Reusable asset name for keyboard and screen-reader users.
4. Click Save as reusable asset. A confirmation says it was saved to My assets in Text or Elements.
5. Open the matching Text or Elements library, choose My assets in its category field, and find the saved name.
6. Move the playhead to the desired insertion time and click the saved style's card. A new, independently editable clip is added on an upper video track.

This saves the selected item's editable content style and its own layout and animation, not an entire multilayer composition. Save a title and subtitle separately when they are separate clips. Ordinary clip Timing, Transform and Color adjustments are not included in the saved style.

Saving again creates another asset; it does not overwrite the first one. Repeated names receive a numbered suffix. Saved assets stay in the current editor site's browser profile or desktop app's local library and are available to its other projects. They are not a replacement for saving the project or keeping backups. There is no asset deletion command in My assets, and Undo does not remove a saved library asset; it can undo a clip inserted from that asset.

Add and organize tracks

1. Click Add video track or Add audio track in the timeline toolbar.
2. Drag a compatible clip into the new row to place it there. Audio belongs on audio rows; visual clips belong on video rows.
3. Open the three-dot button beside a row label, named for example V2 track actions.
4. Choose Move track up or Move track down to change its order within the video or audio tracks. An unavailable direction is disabled.
5. To remove an extra row, first move or delete every clip on it, then choose Remove empty track. The standard V1 and A1 rows cannot be removed.

These menu actions affect the track, not one selected clip. Open the menu and use ↑/↓, Home/End and Enter to choose an action. Escape dismisses the menu. For more on timeline zoom, row height and markers, see Timeline.

Common clip-editing mistakes