Find your way around

Learn where the editor puts your files, picture, properties, and timeline, and how to use its compact buttons and fields without losing your place.

The small number beside the CutWright name is the installed or loaded app version. It appears in both the browser editor and the Windows app. Include it when reporting a problem.

Edit on a phone or tablet

On narrow screens, the preview uses the full available width. Tools sit below it; in a short landscape view they move to a thin rail on the left. The top bar uses two rows on phones. Rotate the device for more horizontal timeline space.

1. Track labels start as a slim strip. Tap V1, V2 or A1 to unfold that row’s visibility, mute and three-dot controls over the clips. Choose an action and the row folds back. Tap the label again, tap outside, scroll the timeline or press Escape to close it. Only one row opens at a time; clips and the time ruler stay in place. A dot marks muted audio; a crossed-out track name marks hidden video. Opening controls is not an edit. Use Undo to reverse a visibility or mute change. The caption row uses the CC icon.
2. Tap Media, Text, Elements, Transitions or Captions to open its floating library. Tap the same tool again, its Close button, or outside the panel to dismiss it. A library closes after you add and select a clip.
3. Tap a clip or transition, then tap Properties in the tool rail. Change its fields in the floating panel. Closing this panel keeps the selection and accepted edits. Properties is unavailable until you select a clip or transition. Captions use the Captions tool instead.
4. Swipe an empty area of the timeline horizontally to see earlier or later times, or vertically to see more tracks. The timeline scrolls inside its own area; the page stays within the screen.
5. Tap the time ruler to seek, or drag along it to scrub. Tap a clip to select it; drag the selected clip to move it, or drag its left or right edge to trim. Use Undo to reverse an edit.
6. Open the three-dot Timeline actions button for Snapping, Ripple editing, Add video track, Add audio track and the track-height control. Track-specific three-dot buttons still open each track’s actions.
7. Open Markers for the marker list and Add marker, Previous marker and Next marker controls. Use the timeline’s minus/plus buttons to change its zoom; very small screens omit the zoom slider.
8. Use the hand icon, Pan preview, to drag the preview without changing clip position. Tap Fit preview to restore framing.
9. Tap Agent to open Agent connection. Choose Codex, Claude or WebMCP, and expand Setup instructions only when needed. Long commands wrap; scroll inside the dialog to reach all steps. Its X closes it.

Find your way around

Hover over an icon to read its tooltip. A highlighted toggle is on. Disabled controls are unavailable for the current selection or position; for example, Previous frame is disabled at the beginning.

Use every top-bar control

Saved is not a backup guarantee. A new empty project can show Saved before you have saved any file. Keep the project download or the file you chose in Windows. Temporary messages near the editor report completion or errors and disappear after a short time.

Switch tools and find files

1. Click a labeled tool in the left rail: Media, Text, Elements, Transitions, or Captions.
2. In Media, use All media (four-square icon), Videos, Photos, or Audio to filter Project files.
3. Type part of a filename into Search files…. Clear the search to restore the full filtered list.
4. Click a file card to add another clip made from that file. A green check means the file is already used on the timeline; it does not stop you using it again.

Switching tools does not delete timeline items. Import remains in the top bar, whichever tool you have selected. A missing badge means an original needs relinking, not that its timeline edits have disappeared.

Open and close properties

1. Click a timeline clip, title, graphic, or transition. Its properties appear on the right. The selection header identifies the item and, for a clip, its track.
2. Click a section heading such as Timing, Audio, Transform, or Color to expand or collapse it. Scroll inside the panel if lower controls are not visible.
3. Change the relevant field. Most valid changes apply immediately; a close button does not cancel them.
4. Use the X labeled Close clip properties or Close transition properties to clear that selection. The item remains on the timeline.

Clicking a caption opens its selection in the caption controls instead of this clip inspector. If shortcuts are typing into a property field, click the timeline before using an editing shortcut.

Resize the workspace panels

1. To widen or narrow the library, drag the thin vertical separator between the library and preview.
2. To give the timeline more height, drag the horizontal separator immediately above the timeline upward. Drag it down to return space to the preview.
3. For keyboard operation, press Tab until the separator is focused. Arrow keys adjust the media-panel width or timeline height in small steps. These keys resize the focused separator instead of seeking through your video.

There are minimum and maximum panel sizes. A smaller window may show shorter labels and less of the properties panel; scroll the panel rather than assuming a control is missing. Panel sizing changes your workspace view, not the exported video.

Change appearance

1. Click the small Appearance icon near the keyboard icon at the top-right. It shows a half-filled circle for Automatic, a sun for Light, or a moon for Dark.
2. Each click cycles Automatic → Light → Dark → Automatic. Automatic follows your device’s light/dark preference. The tooltip names both the current choice and what the next click will select.
3. For keyboard use, Tab to the icon and press Enter or Space to cycle. You can also assign a shortcut to Cycle appearance in Keyboard shortcuts.

The editor remembers the appearance choice where local settings are available. It does not alter media colors or your exported video. The website and editor have their own appearance controls.

Change language

1. Click the small Language globe between Appearance and Keyboard shortcuts at the top-right.
2. Choose English, Deutsch, Dansk, Hrvatski, Srpski, Čeština, Nederlands, Français, Español, Русский, or Українська. Each language is listed in its own name; the current choice has a checkmark.
3. The controls, tooltips, settings, and messages change immediately. For keyboard use, move through the menu with the arrow keys and confirm with Enter. Escape closes it without choosing another language.

The editor remembers your choice when local settings are available. On a first visit it uses a supported language from your browser preferences, otherwise English. A link carrying a language choice opens in that language and remembers it.

Language is a viewing preference. Switching it preserves your project name, filenames, titles, captions, custom creations, saved content, and Undo history. New default names use the language selected when you create them; existing names are not rewritten. Serbian uses Latin script.

The website has its own globe beside the appearance icon in the footer. Choosing a language there opens the same page in that language. Launch carries that choice into the editor; the editor's guide links open the matching manual language.

Use number, slider, color, and choice controls

Number fields

1. Click the value, select the existing text, and type the number. The unit beside it tells you whether the value is seconds, pixels, degrees, or a multiplier. For a decimal, use a dot or comma: 0.8 and 0,8 mean the same value. Do not use a thousands separator.
2. Valid values can update the picture while you type. Press Enter or click away when finished.
3. Use the small +/− buttons to step up or down. In a focused number field, Up/Down changes one step; Shift+Up/Down changes ten steps.
4. Escape discards an unfinished draft and leaves the field. It does not undo a valid value already applied. For that, leave the field and use the editor's Undo button.

Sliders and choice menus

Click or drag a slider to change its value. When a slider is focused, arrow keys move by one step, Page Up/Page Down by ten steps, and Home/End choose its minimum/maximum. A choice menu uses Up/Down, Home/End, and Enter or Space; typing a label's opening letters highlights a matching option. Escape or an outside click dismisses a menu. These keys operate the control, not the timeline.

Color fields

1. Click the color chip to open its palette.
2. Choose a swatch, or replace Hex color with a valid color such as #65DDD3. Use a six-digit color for marker colors.
3. Click Done or press Escape to close the palette. Accepted color changes are already applied; closing is not a rollback.

Keyboard focus, menus, and help

Tab and Shift+Tab move among controls. Enter or Space activates a focused button. Editing shortcuts yield to text fields, number fields, sliders, menus, and open dialogs so that typing and choosing values work normally. Save, Open, focus Export, and Agent connection have some additional shortcut behavior described in Shortcut focus rules.

Press Escape to close a menu, palette, or dialog. Click outside a floating panel to dismiss it where offered. Dismissal generally closes the panel without reversing changes already made. To reverse an edit, return focus to the timeline and use Undo.

Open the keyboard-icon Keyboard shortcuts button to search actions and configure their keys. See Configure keyboard shortcuts for recording, conflicts, removing keys, and restoring defaults. For full procedures, use these guides: Projects, Timeline, Canvas, and Export.