The Clip menu

The Clip menu holds the commands that act on the selected clips. This page gives every item’s exact title and shortcut, and what makes it available, so you can find a key or work out why something is greyed out.

The symbols and the (key) mark are explained in How to read these tables. Every item here is greyed out while a sheet is on the window.

The Clip menu

From top to bottom, with lines dividing it into five groups after Trim End to Playhead, Switch Angle ▸, Add Blurred Background and Label ▸:

Item	Keys	Details
Split	⌘T	Cutting and trimming
Split at Shot Changes		Cutting and trimming
Trim Start to Playhead	W (key)	Cutting and trimming
Trim End to Playhead	E (key)	Cutting and trimming
Freeze Frame	⇧⌘F	Cutting and trimming
Detach Audio	⌥⌘D	Sound
Attach Audio	⇧⌥⌘D	Sound
Normalize		Sound
Enhance Voice		Sound
Match Audio…		Sound
Synchronize Audio		Sound
Switch by Speaker…		Sound
Add Action	⌥⌘K	Actions and speed
Auto Zoom…		Actions and speed
Follow Subject…		Actions and speed
Add Shortcut Overlays		Actions and speed
Speed Up Typing…		Actions and speed
Speed…		Actions and speed
Speed Ramp…		Actions and speed
Close Gap		Cutting and trimming
Retime Range…		Actions and speed
Remove Silences…		Clean-up
Remove Filler Words…		Clean-up
Transition ▸		Transition
Motion ▸		Motion
Look ▸		Look
Remove Background		Remove Background
Camera Layout ▸		Camera Layout
Switch Angle ▸		Switch Angle
Add Background ▸		Backgrounds
Add Blurred Background		Backgrounds
Rename…	⇧⌘R	Rename and label
Label ▸		Rename and label
Nest	⌘G	Nests
Un-nest	⇧⌘G	Nests
Open Nest	⌘↓	Nests
Close Nest	⌘↑	Nests

Most items have no key, because every bare letter belongs to the editor and a menu key with no modifier would take it.

Cutting and trimming

Agent tools

splitsplit_at_shotstrim_starttrim_endfreeze_frameclose_gap

Item	Keys	What it does	Available when
Split	⌘T	Cuts the selected clips at the playhead. With nothing selected, it cuts every clip under the playhead on an unlocked track. See Split clips.	The timeline has any clip
Split at Shot Changes		Cuts each selected clip of a video file at every hard cut in the part it plays, as one undo step. The Analyzing sheet shows while the cuts are found on this Mac. See Split at Shot Changes.	A selected clip shows a video file’s picture
Trim Start to Playhead	W (key)	Trims the selected clips’ starts to the playhead. The sound half of a detached pair trims on its own, without its picture. See Trim clips.	A selected clip is under the playhead
Trim End to Playhead	E (key)	Trims the selected clips’ ends to the playhead. The sound half of a detached pair trims on its own, without its picture.	A selected clip is under the playhead
Freeze Frame	⇧⌘F	Holds the frame under the playhead as a still clip, 2 s long, in a gap opened there. It acts on the earliest selected clip under the playhead that’s a clip of a video file. See Freeze frame.	A selected clip of a video file is under the playhead
Close Gap		Closes the gap under the playhead on the current track, and everything from the far side slides left across every unlocked track. See Close gaps and insert time.	The timeline has clips

Sound

Agent tools

detach_audioattach_audionormalize_clipenhance_voicematch_audiosync_audioswitch_by_speaker

Item	Keys	What it does	Available when
Detach Audio	⌥⌘D	Moves a clip’s sound onto its own clip on the track below, linked to it. See Detach and Attach Audio.	Something is selected
Attach Audio	⇧⌥⌘D	Merges a detached sound back into its picture.	A selected clip is linked to its detached sound or picture
Normalize		Sets the selected clips’ volume to a loudness (the default, turning a clip’s limiter on when its peaks need it) or a peak, by the mode chosen in the Volume section’s Normalize row. A clip with processing is measured through it while the Measuring Sound sheet shows. See Normalize.	A selected clip plays sound and isn’t a nest
Enhance Voice		Sets the selected clips up for speech from their own measurements, as one undo step. It sets a rumble cut, a compressor, the limiter and the volume for the Normalize row’s target, and adds voice isolation or noise reduction, a gate, the leveller and the de-esser when the recording needs them. See Enhance Voice.	A selected clip plays sound and isn’t a nest
Match Audio…		Gives the selected clips the loudness and speech tone of one of them, chosen in a sheet, by setting their volume, limiter and EQ. They’re measured while the Measuring Sound sheet shows. See Match Audio.	Two or more selected clips play sound, not counting nests
Synchronize Audio		Lines up the selected clips by their sound. A weak match asks you first. See Synchronize Audio.	Two or more selected clips play sound, not counting nests
Switch by Speaker…		Cuts a Program track from the selected cameras, showing whoever talks on each microphone, as one undo step. Run Synchronize Audio first. See Switch by Speaker.	The selected clips with a picture sit on two or more tracks and a selected clip has its sound on. It works inside a nest

Actions and speed

Agent tools

add_actionauto_zoomreframe_clipadd_shortcut_overlaysspeed_up_typingset_speedadd_speed_rampretime_range

Item	Keys	What it does	Available when
Add Action	⌥⌘K	Adds an action at the playhead, 1 s long, which changes nothing until you set what it animates to. Frame Job won’t add one that would overlap another action or run past the clip’s end. See Add an action.	A selected clip is under the playhead
Auto Zoom…		Zooms the selected screen recordings in at their clicks and typing and back out after, as ordinary actions, in one undo step, “Auto Zoom”. See Auto Zoom.	Every selected clip plays a movie that has a cursor file. It works inside a nest
Follow Subject…		Frames each selected movie clip on its subject (faces, people or the region the eye goes to, found on this Mac), with eased moves on its action lane and a blurred copy on a Backgrounds track where it shows the whole picture, in one undo step. See Follow Subject.	A selected clip plays a movie. It works inside a nest
Add Shortcut Overlays		Shows each keyboard shortcut recorded in the selected screen recordings as keycaps at the moment it was pressed, on a “Shortcuts” track, in one undo step. See Shortcut overlays.	Every selected clip plays a movie that has a cursor file, and Frame Job isn’t already reading the files. It works inside a nest
Speed Up Typing…		Plays the typing in the selected screen recordings faster where nobody speaks and no shortcut shows, in one undo step. See Speed Up Typing.	Every selected clip plays a movie that has a cursor file. It works inside a nest
Speed…		Sets the selected clips’ playback rate through a sheet, ×0.1 to ×1000. See Change a clip’s speed.	The selection includes a clip that plays a media file
Speed Ramp…		Puts a speed ramp preset on one selected media clip. See Make a speed ramp.	Exactly one clip is selected and it plays a media file
Retime Range…		Plays the in/out range faster or slower on every unlocked track and moves what follows to stay in step, in one undo step, “Retime Range”. See Retime Range.	An in/out range is set. It works inside a nest

Clean-up

Needs

Remove Filler Words… needs your AssemblyAI key, unless a file it would read already has a transcript made with filler words.

Agent tools

detect_silencedetect_fillerstranscribe_for_fillersripple_delete_ranges

Item	What it does	Available when
Remove Silences…	Finds silent stretches and removes them, through a sheet. It needs no key. See Remove Silences.	A clip plays sound
Remove Filler Words…	Finds “um”s and “uh”s and removes them, through a sheet. See Remove Filler Words.	A clip plays sound from a media file forwards, with its audio on, and either your AssemblyAI key is set or a file it would read has a transcript made with filler words

When the key is all that’s missing, the item is greyed and reads Remove Filler Words… (needs your AssemblyAI key), and its tooltip says where to set the key. See Your AssemblyAI key.

Transition

Agent tools

add_transitionset_transition

Transition ▸ sets the transition into the clip. See Add or remove a transition.

The rows are Cross Dissolve, Fade Through Black, Fade Through White, Push Left, Push Right, Push Up, Push Down, Wipe, Slide, Zoom, Wipe Left, Wipe Up and Wipe Down, then None. A checkmark shows the selected clip’s transition.

Row	Available when
A transition	A selected clip has room for one, meaning an overlap or a hard cut. Other selected clips are skipped.
None	Something is selected, so a transition the timeline doesn’t show can always be cleared.

At a hard cut it aims for a transition 0.5 s long, snapped to frames, and makes a shorter one when the clips have less footage to spare. Where neither side of the cut has a frame to spare, a sheet says so and offers Shift Clips Left, which slides the second clip and everything after it on unlocked tracks left by half a second.

Motion

Agent tools

set_video

Motion ▸ sets how the clip enters, leaves and moves, and previews the result. Every item is available when a selected clip is anything but sound alone. See Motion presets.

Item	Rows
In ▸	Fade, Zoom In, Zoom Out, Slide Left, Slide Right, Slide Up, Slide Down, Spin, Pop, then None
Out ▸	The same as In ▸
During ▸	Pulse, Shake, Spin, Bounce, Drift, then None
Preview	Sets the in/out range to the first selected clip with a picture, turns Loop on and plays it. The range and Loop stay set afterwards.

In each submenu a checkmark shows the kind every selected clip has. An In or Out kind with a length of zero reads “Fade (inactive)”, or “Fade (some inactive)” when only some of the selected clips with that kind have zero length.

Every During motion starts from where the clip is placed, so the clip’s first frame sits exactly there.

Look

Agent tools

set_video

Look ▸ puts a look or a LUT on the clip. See Looks and .cube LUTs.

The rows are Warm, Cool, Teal & Orange, Vivid, Faded, Vintage, Dramatic and Black & White, then the project’s .cube LUTs in Media list order when it has any, then None. The LUT rows are updated each time the menu opens.

A checkmark marks a look every selected clip has, and a dash marks one only some of them have. Each clip keeps its amount, and a clip with no look starts at full strength.

It’s available when a selected clip shows a picture from a file, or is an adjustment clip.

Remove Background

Agent tools

set_videoanalyze_cutout

Remove Background keeps the person and removes the rest of the picture, or turns that off. It has no key. See Remove Background.

It’s checked when every selected clip has it, and shows a dash when some do. With every clip it can act on already cut out, it turns them all off. Otherwise it turns on the ones without, and each clip already cut out keeps its values.

It’s available when a selected clip plays a video file, is a freeze frame of one, or is a picture.

Camera Layout

Agent tools

switch_layout

Camera Layout ▸ lays out the camera and the screen behind it at the playhead, eased over half a second and held until the next switch. One undo step, “Camera Layout”. See Camera layouts.

Item	What it does
Corner ▸	The whole camera fitted in a box in the corner you pick, with the screen at its full placement. The box is a quarter of the canvas wide, a third tall and 5 % in from the edges.
Rounded Corner ▸	The same, with rounded corners.
Circle ▸	The camera cropped to a circle as tall or wide as the box’s shorter side, in the same corner.
Side by Side	The screen fitted in the left two-thirds, and the camera cropped to fill the right third, with margins and a small radius.
Stacked	The screen across the top, and the camera filling the rest below.
Camera Full	The camera fills the canvas.
Screen Only	Hides the camera where it is.

Corner ▸, Rounded Corner ▸ and Circle ▸ each hold Bottom Right, Bottom Left, Top Right and Top Left.

The camera’s crop is centred on the person when Frame Job has already made the camera’s person masks. It doesn’t start that analysis for you. A zoom in the way brings up a sheet offering Nest and Switch.

It’s available with two selected clips with a picture on different tracks, one selected clip with a picture, or, with nothing selected, a clip at the playhead on a track named “Camera”. The camera has to contain the playhead. It works inside a nest.

Switch Angle

Agent tools

switch_angle

Switch Angle ▸ changes which camera track the selected shot comes from, keeping its span, its switches and its dissolves, as one undo step. The new pieces are selected. See Switch Angle.

It has one row per track covering the shot’s whole span, updated each time the menu opens. There are up to nine, front first, named after their tracks, and tracks that share a name add their position, as in “Camera (2)”. With no track to offer, the menu shows No Covering Angle, which is never available.

A row is available when exactly one clip is selected, its track isn’t locked, it isn’t linked to a detached sound, and that row’s track still covers it with video clips. It works inside a nest.

Backgrounds

Agent tools

add_backgroundadd_blurred_background

Both commands put something on a new track behind everything. See Backgrounds.

Item	What it does	Available when
Add Background ▸ Solid Color	Adds a canvas-sized white rectangle the length of the timeline, selected so you can recolour it in the Fill row of the Shape sub-tab. There’s no dialog.	Always
Add Background ▸ Image…	Adds a picture you choose, scaled to fill the canvas, the length of the timeline. It takes images only. Importing and placing are one undo step.	Always
Add Blurred Background	Adds a blurred copy of the picture with the same start, duration and speed, playing the same part of its media. The copy is muted, and has none of the clip’s transition, actions or label.	Exactly one clip is selected and it’s a video, image, freeze frame, shape or graphic clip. Greyed for a nest, text, adjustment or audio-only clip

Add Background ▸ needs no selection.

Rename and label

Agent tools

set_clip

Item	Keys	What it does	Available when
Rename…	⇧⌘R	Renames the selected clip in place on the timeline. It’s also the way to rename a nest clip, because double-clicking one opens it. See Clip names and labels.	Something is selected
Label ▸		Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple, each with its colour dot, then None. A checkmark shows the label the selected clips share. One undo step, “Label Clip”, and a colour every selected clip already carries beeps.	Something is selected

Nests

Agent tools

nestunnestset_scope

Item	Keys	What it does	Available when
Nest	⌘G	Wraps the selected clips into one nest clip, which is selected afterwards. The nest’s canvas stays at the project’s size at this moment. See Nests.	Something is selected, other than a single nest clip on its own
Un-nest	⇧⌘G	Breaks a nest clip back into its clips. The nest clip’s own transform, opacity, fades and volume are lost.	The selection includes a nest clip
Open Nest	⌘↓	Goes inside the selected nest clip. See Work inside a nest.	Exactly one clip is selected and it’s a nest clip
Close Nest	⌘↑	Comes back out by one level.	A nest is open

Open Nest and Close Nest are greyed while you’re typing in a text field.

Related

• Menus
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Gestures with no menu item
• Buttons and context menus
• When an edit is refused