Timeline Overview

Layout

• Ruler — Time markers across the top. Click to move the playhead.
• Track headers — Track names, mute, and lock controls on the left.
• Clip area — Clips as colored blocks.
• Playhead — Vertical line at the current time.

Tracks

• Video tracks — Hold video, image, text, and shape clips. Higher tracks render on top.
• Audio tracks — Hold audio clips. Each video track has a paired audio track.

Tracks are always created in pairs (video + audio). See Multi-Track Editing for more.

Clips

Each clip has a start time, duration, and in point (where playback begins within the source media). Video clips show thumbnails; audio clips show waveforms.

Selecting clips

• Click to select. Shift-click to toggle.
• ⌘A — Select all.
• Escape — Deselect all.

Moving clips

Drag left/right to reposition in time. Drag up/down to change tracks. Clips snap to the playhead and other clip edges.

Zoom and scroll

• ⌘+ / ⌘- — Zoom in/out.
• Scroll horizontally to move through time.
• Scroll vertically to see more tracks.