Keys and typing

Frame Job plays on Space and trims on W, so a letter means one thing on the timeline and another in a text field. The rule is short: the keys belong to the editor unless you’re typing or a sheet is open.

Keys: Space↩Tab⎋
Where: The editor windowThe Preview Window

This page explains how the keys are shared. Keyboard shortcuts has the full list.

Single-letter keys

These keys need no modifier and act on the editor window. They also work in the Preview Window.

Key	What it does
`Space`	Play or pause
`J` `K` `L`	Play in reverse, pause, play forward
`←` `→`	Back or forward one frame, ten with `⇧`
`↑` `↓`	Previous or next edit point
`Home` `End`	Start or end of the project
`,` `.`	Nudge the selected clips one frame earlier or later, ten with `⇧`
`I` `O`	Set In, Set Out
`W` `E`	Trim the start or end to the playhead
`M`	Add Marker
`T`	Add a text clip at the playhead
`C`	Crop mode on or off
`Z`	Region mode for Zoom to Region
`⇧Z`	Fit Timeline
`N`	Snapping on or off
`⎋`	Deselect the selected action

⇧ and Caps Lock still count as no modifier, so Caps Lock doesn’t stop these keys. ⌘, ⌥ and ⌃ always make it a different key.

The single-letter keys never fire while you’re typing. While a sheet is open none of them works, in either window, so the project can’t change underneath the sheet. In the Preview Window they also do nothing while a field in the editor window is still being typed in.

Some menu items have a single-letter key the menu doesn’t show. Keyboard shortcuts gives those too.

When the focus changes a key

A few places claim keys for themselves while they hold the focus:

Where the focus is	What changes
The preview canvas	The arrow keys nudge a selected clip that’s showing at the playhead. Hold `Space` and drag to pan a zoomed canvas. A tap of `Space` still plays and pauses. The canvas has the focus from a click or drag on it until you click anywhere else in the window.
The Transcript tab’s text	The arrow keys select words. See Transcript keys.
A selected point on a curve	The arrow keys move the point, `⌫` deletes it and `⎋` deselects it.
A button, with macOS Full Keyboard Access on	`Space` presses the button.

Everywhere else in the window, Space plays and pauses.

Every shortcut with ⌘ belongs to a menu item, so it does exactly what the item does. While the item is greyed out, the shortcut does nothing. That includes every editor command while a sheet is open.

Start and finish typing

A field takes the keys only when you click in it, or choose a command that opens one for typing, such as Clip ▸ Rename… or View ▸ Assistant. Nothing else moves the keyboard into a field, so you won’t type into one by accident.

Any of these applies what you typed and gives the keys back, so Space plays straight away:

Do this	Where it works
Press `↩` or keypad Enter	A one-line field. Multi-line fields have their own rule.
Press `Tab` or `⇧Tab`	Any text, including the Assistant’s message field
Click outside the field	Anywhere in the window. The click still does what it would have done, after the field lets go.

Tab doesn’t step through fields. With macOS Full Keyboard Access on, it does, and walks to the next control instead.

A click on the title bar doesn’t end your typing. Neither does a click on the field’s own margins or on a text view’s scroller, because they count as part of the field. A click on a field’s quick-pick chevron applies what you typed, then opens its menu.

While an input method is composing, ↩ and Tab belong to it.

Delete keys while you type

These four keys act on the timeline when you’re not typing. In a text field their menu items switch off, so the keys keep their usual text meaning and a slip of the finger can’t delete a clip.

Key	On the timeline
`⌫`	Delete
`⌘⌫`	Ripple Delete
`⌘↓`	Open Nest
`⌘↑`	Close Nest

Multi-line fields

Four places take more than one line: the Text sub-tab’s Content, a graphic’s multi-line text setting, the Assistant’s message field and text you’re editing on the canvas.

Key	What it does
`↩` or keypad Enter	Applies the text. In the Assistant’s message field it sends the message, and beeps if the Assistant is busy.
`↩` with any of `⇧`, `⌘`, `⌥` or `⌃`	Starts a new line

On the canvas, ⎋ stops editing. If the text changed, Frame Job asks whether to Apply, Revert or Cancel.

While an input method is composing, ↩ belongs to it.

Keys in a sheet

In a sheet, ↩ presses the main button and ⎋ presses Cancel. The single-letter keys stay off until the sheet closes.

What Esc leaves

⎋ backs out of whatever is under way.

What’s under way	What `⎋` does
A canvas drag: move, scale, rotate, crop, a line’s endpoint or an obscure region	Puts everything back as it was before you pressed, with no undo step
Crop mode	Leaves it, as `↩` and the keypad’s `Enter` do, wherever the focus is, except while you’re typing in a field.
Region mode, from `Z` or the Obscure section’s Place on Canvas	Leaves it
The key-colour or qualifier eyedropper	Cancels it
A selected curve point in the Color tab	Deselects it
A selected action	Deselects it, so the Clip tab shows the clip’s own values again
Typing in a number field	Throws the typing away
A rename field on the timeline	Closes it and keeps the old name
A selection in the Transcript tab	Clears it

Region mode also ends by itself when the selection stops being the clip it started for, or the playhead leaves that clip.

A canvas tool that waits for your click or drag shows a crosshair and a hint on the canvas, and only one can wait at a time. The hint says what to do:

“Click to pick the key color · Esc to cancel”
“Click to pick the color to qualify · Esc to cancel”
“Drag a rectangle to zoom to it · ⇧ fills · Esc to cancel”
“Drag a rectangle to obscure · Esc to cancel”