Timeline Edits
The timeline is where you make precise, frame-accurate edits to your video. While conversation editing and search help you work quickly, the timeline gives you complete control over every clip's position, duration, and arrangement.
Understanding the Timeline
The timeline runs along the bottom of the editor, showing all your video and audio clips arranged from left to right over time. Each clip appears as a rectangular block with a thumbnail preview, and you can see audio waveforms for clips with sound.
The blue playhead indicates your current position in the video. As you play your video, the playhead moves along the timeline, and the canvas shows what appears at that exact moment.
Basic Timeline Operations
Trimming Clips - Hover over the edge of any clip until you see trim handles appear. Drag the handles left or right to adjust where the clip starts or ends. This lets you cut out unwanted portions without deleting the clip entirely.
Moving Clips - Click and drag any clip to reposition it on the timeline. You can move clips to different times or even different tracks. Clik snaps clips together to help prevent gaps.
Selecting Clips - Click any clip to select it. Hold Shift and click multiple clips to select several at once. Selected clips show a highlight border and can be moved or deleted together.
Deleting Clips - Select one or more clips and press Delete or Backspace to remove them from your timeline.
Zooming - Use the zoom controls to see more or less of your timeline at once. Zoom in for frame-accurate edits, zoom out to see your entire project.
Multi-Track Editing
Your timeline supports multiple tracks, allowing you to layer video, audio, text, and other elements. Tracks stack vertically—items on higher tracks appear in front of items on lower tracks in your video.
This is how you add text overlays, captions, or B-roll footage over your main video. Simply drag elements to different tracks to layer them.
Audio Waveforms
When clips contain audio, you'll see waveforms showing the volume levels over time. This visual representation helps you:
Find specific spoken words or sounds
Identify silent moments to trim
Align audio with visual actions
Spot audio issues like clipping or noise
Playback Controls
Use the playback controls to review your edits:
Play/Pause button to start and stop
Skip forward or backward buttons to jump between clips
Click anywhere on the timeline to jump to that moment
Use keyboard shortcuts (spacebar to play/pause)
Timeline Tips
Undo and Redo - Made a mistake? Use the undo button or Ctrl/Cmd+Z to reverse your last action. You can undo multiple steps if needed.
Auto-save - Clik saves your work automatically in the background, so you won't lose changes if you close your browser.
Keyboard shortcuts - Learn common shortcuts like spacebar (play/pause) and Delete to speed up your editing.
When to Use Timeline Editing
The timeline is essential for:
Fine-tuning clip timing with precision
Arranging clips in a specific order
Trimming exact frames from clips
Layering multiple elements together
Creating precise audio and visual synchronization
Use the timeline when you need control over exactly what appears and when. For broader changes like "remove all pauses," conversation editing is faster—but for getting each cut perfect, the timeline is where you'll do that work.
