Keyboard shortcuts
This page lists every key in Frame Job, grouped by what you’re doing. Keys and typing explains how the keys share the keyboard with text fields, and Menus lists every menu item in menu order.
- Where
- The editor windowThe Preview Window
- Agent tools
set_playheadset_rangemove_cliptrim_starttrim_endadd_text_clipadd_zoom_actionadd_markerset_markerset_clipset_trackset_text
The symbols are ⌘ Command, ⌥ Option, ⇧ Shift, ⌃ Control, ⌫ Delete, ⌦ Forward Delete, ↩ Return and ⎋ Esc.
How the keys are shared
Section titled “How the keys are shared”- Keys with no modifier belong to the editor window. That’s Space, the letters and punctuation on this page and the arrow keys. They don’t work while you’re typing in a field or while a sheet is open. ⇧ and Caps Lock still count as no modifier. ⌘, ⌥ and ⌃ never do.
- Shortcuts with a modifier are menu shortcuts. A shortcut does nothing while its menu item is greyed out.
- ⌫, ⌘⌫, ⌘↓ and ⌘↑ switch off while you type in a text field, where they keep their usual text meaning.
- In a sheet, ↩ presses the default button and ⎋ cancels.
- The Preview Window takes the same keys. Keys with no modifier do nothing there while a field in the editor window is being typed in, or while a sheet is open on it. Keys with a modifier go through the editor’s menus.
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. ↩, keypad Enter, Tab or a click anywhere outside the field applies what you typed and gives the keys back, so Space plays straight away. With macOS Full Keyboard Access on, Tab moves to the next control instead. In a multi-line field, such as the Text tab’s Content, ↩ applies and ⇧↩ starts a new line. The Assistant’s message field sends on ↩.
Playback and moving the playhead
Section titled “Playback and moving the playhead”None of these has a menu item.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Space | Play or pause, wherever the focus is in the window. ⇧Space does the same. |
| L | Play forward. Press it again for ×2 and again for ×4. While playing in reverse, it goes straight to ×1 forward. |
| J | Play in reverse. Press it again for ×2 and again for ×4. While playing forward, it goes straight to ×1 in reverse. |
| K | Pause. |
| ← → | Pause and step back or forward one frame. |
| ⇧← ⇧→ | Pause and step back or forward ten frames. |
| ↑ | Go to the previous edit point, or to the start when there isn’t one. |
| ↓ | Go to the next edit point. On the last point it stays there. |
| Home End | Pause and go to the start or end of the project. The keypad and fn versions of these keys work too. |
An edit point is the start or end of a clip, or either end of the project. J and L beep when there’s nothing loaded to play.
Space does something else in three places:
- In a text field, Space types a space.
- With macOS Full Keyboard Access on, a focused button, pop-up or segmented control keeps Space to press itself.
- With the preview canvas focused, a tap of Space plays or pauses when you release it, because holding it down is how you pan. A Space held to pan doesn’t change playback.
The arrow keys move by word in the Transcript tab, and move a selected curve point in the Color tab. With the preview canvas focused and a selected clip showing at the playhead, they nudge that clip 1 pixel, or 10 with ⇧.
Editing
Section titled “Editing”| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| , . | Nudge the selected clips one frame earlier or later. |
| ⇧, ⇧. | Nudge them ten frames. |
| I O | Mark ▸ Set In and Mark ▸ Set Out. |
| W E | Clip ▸ Trim Start to Playhead and Clip ▸ Trim End to Playhead. |
| M | Mark ▸ Add Marker. |
| N | View ▸ Snapping, on or off. |
| T | Add a text clip at the playhead. |
| C | Turn crop mode on or off for the selected clip on the canvas. |
| Z | Region mode: drag a rectangle over the selected clip to zoom to it. Hold ⇧ while you drag to fill the canvas instead of fitting it. ⎋ or Z again cancels. |
| ⇧Z | View ▸ Fit Timeline. |
| ⎋ | Deselect the selected action, so the Clip tab shows the clip’s own values again. |
Where one of these keys has a menu item, the menu doesn’t show the letter.
These keys beep instead of acting when:
- , or .: nothing is selected. A nudge also has to keep to the overlap rule, as a drag does.
- W or E: no selected clip is under the playhead.
- M: a nest is open.
- C: nothing selected is on the canvas at the playhead, or the clip is a text, shape or graphic clip, because crop mode opens only on a video clip, image clip or freeze frame. A clip on a matte track is the exception.
- Z: anything other than exactly one clip is selected, or that clip isn’t visible at the playhead, or its track is locked.
Shortcuts on menu items
Section titled “Shortcuts on menu items”App and windows
Section titled “App and windows”| Key | Menu item |
|---|---|
| ⌘, | Frame Job ▸ Settings… |
| ⌘H | Frame Job ▸ Hide Frame Job |
| ⌥⌘H | Frame Job ▸ Hide Others |
| ⌘Q | Frame Job ▸ Quit Frame Job |
| ⌘M | Window ▸ Minimize |
| ⌘W | File ▸ Close |
| ⌥⌘W | File ▸ Close All |
Projects
Section titled “Projects”| Key | Menu item |
|---|---|
| ⌘N | File ▸ New Project |
| ⌥⌘N | File ▸ New Recording…, which reads Stop Recording while a recording runs |
| ⌘O | File ▸ Open… |
| ⌘S | File ▸ Save |
| ⇧⌘S | File ▸ Duplicate |
| ⌥⇧⌘S | File ▸ Save As… |
| ⇧⌘I | File ▸ Add Media… |
| ⌘E | File ▸ Export… |
| ⌥⌘E | File ▸ Save Frame… |
Clipboard and undo
Section titled “Clipboard and undo”| Key | Menu item |
|---|---|
| ⌘Z | Edit ▸ Undo |
| ⇧⌘Z | Edit ▸ Redo |
| ⌘X | Edit ▸ Cut |
| ⌘C | Edit ▸ Copy |
| ⌘V | Edit ▸ Paste |
| ⌥⌘V | Edit ▸ Paste Attributes |
| ⌘D | Edit ▸ Duplicate |
Removing and selecting
Section titled “Removing and selecting”| Key | Menu item |
|---|---|
| ⌫ | Edit ▸ Delete. It leaves a gap. With an action selected it removes the action, and with nothing selected it lifts the in/out range. |
| ⌘⌫ | Edit ▸ Ripple Delete. It closes the gap, and with nothing selected it acts on the in/out range. |
| ⌘A | Edit ▸ Select All |
| ⌥⌘A | Edit ▸ Select After Playhead |
Clips and nests
Section titled “Clips and nests”| Key | Menu item |
|---|---|
| ⌘T | Clip ▸ Split |
| ⇧⌘F | Clip ▸ Freeze Frame |
| ⌥⌘D | Clip ▸ Detach Audio |
| ⇧⌥⌘D | Clip ▸ Attach Audio |
| ⌥⌘K | Clip ▸ Add Action |
| ⇧⌘R | Clip ▸ Rename… |
| ⌘G | Clip ▸ Nest |
| ⇧⌘G | Clip ▸ Un-nest |
| ⌘↓ | Clip ▸ Open Nest |
| ⌘↑ | Clip ▸ Close Nest |
Tracks and range
Section titled “Tracks and range”| Key | Menu item |
|---|---|
| ⇧⌘N | Track ▸ New Track |
| ⌥X | Mark ▸ Clear Range |
| Key | Menu item |
|---|---|
| ⌘+ or ⌘= | View ▸ Zoom In |
| ⌘- | View ▸ Zoom Out |
| ⌘0 | View ▸ Zoom to Fit |
| ⌥⌘I | View ▸ Hide Inspector |
| ⌃⌘T | View ▸ Transcript |
| ⌃⌘A | View ▸ Assistant |
| ⇧⌘P | View ▸ Preview Window |
| ⌃⌘U | View ▸ Show Ungraded |
| ⌃⌘W | View ▸ Scopes |
| ⌃⌘L | View ▸ Loudness Meter |
The three zoom items zoom the preview canvas, not the timeline. The timeline’s zoom has no shortcut except ⇧Z. See Zoom and scroll.
Keys in text and fields
Section titled “Keys in text and fields”Text on the canvas
Section titled “Text on the canvas”These work while you edit a text clip in place on the preview.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↩ or keypad Enter | Applies the text and stops editing. Clicking away applies it too. |
| ⇧↩, ⌘↩, ⌥↩ or ⌃↩ | Starts a new line. |
| ⎋ | Stops editing. If the text changed, a sheet asks “Apply your changes to this text?” |
In that sheet, Apply is the default, on ↩. Revert throws the changes away, and Cancel goes back to editing. While an input method is composing, ↩ and ⎋ belong to it.
Rename fields
Section titled “Rename fields”The name field that opens on the timeline for a clip, a track or a marker.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↩ or Tab | Saves the new name. A click elsewhere does too. |
| ⎋ | Closes the field and keeps the old name. |
Saving an unchanged or empty field does nothing. To clear a clip’s name, use the name field at the top of the Clip tab.
Transcript text
Section titled “Transcript text”These work while the Transcript tab’s text has the keyboard. Transcript keys has the detail.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ← → | Selects the previous or next word and moves the playhead to it. |
| ↑ ↓ | Selects the word on the line above or below and moves the playhead to it. Beeps at the first and last line. |
| ⇧ with an arrow | Extends the selection without moving the playhead. |
| ⌘A | Selects every word. |
| ⎋ | Clears the selection. |
| ⌫, ⌦ or ⌘⌫ | Deletes the selected words and closes the gap, one undo step called Delete Words. With a pause selected, it shortens the pause to 0.2 s each end, one undo step called Delete Pause. |
Every other key, Space and J K L included, works as it does on the timeline.
Assistant message field
Section titled “Assistant message field”| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↩ or keypad Enter | Sends the message. |
| ⇧↩, or ↩ with any modifier | Starts a new line. |
| Tab ⇧Tab | Leaves the field and gives the keys back. With macOS Full Keyboard Access on, they move to the next or previous control. Neither types a tab. |
| ⌘Z ⇧⌘Z | Undo and redo your typing in the field, not project edits. |
Timecode field
Section titled “Timecode field”Click the timecode in the toolbar, type a time and press ↩, or click away. Playback pauses and the playhead moves there.
| Type | Means |
|---|---|
1:23:04:12 |
Hours, minutes, seconds and frames |
1:23:04.5 |
Hours, minutes and seconds with a fraction |
1:23:04 |
Hours, minutes and seconds |
1:23 |
Minutes and seconds |
83.5 or 83 |
Seconds |
The time lands on the nearest frame. A time with a leading minus goes to the start of the project. A time Frame Job can’t read beeps, and the field goes back to the current time. See Jump around the timeline.
Inspector fields
Section titled “Inspector fields”| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↩ | Applies the value and leaves the field. |
| Tab | Applies the value. A click elsewhere does too. |
| ⎋ | Throws the typing away and keeps the old value. |
In the Media tab’s search field, ⎋ empties the field. See Inspector fields.
Modes that Esc leaves
Section titled “Modes that Esc leaves”| What’s under way | How to leave it |
|---|---|
| A canvas drag: move, scale, rotate, crop, a line’s endpoint or an obscure region | ⎋ puts everything back as it was before the drag, and adds no undo step. |
| Crop mode | ⎋, ↩ or the keypad’s Enter wherever the focus is, except while you’re typing in a field, or C. A click on empty canvas leaves it too. |
| Region mode, from Z or the Obscure section’s Place on Canvas | ⎋. If you started it with Z, Z again leaves it too. |
| The key-colour or qualifier eyedropper | ⎋. The hint on screen reads “Click to pick … · Esc to cancel”. |
| A selected curve point in the Color tab | ⎋ deselects it. |
Timeline drags have no such cancel. To take one back, use Edit ▸ Undo after you let go.
Region mode also ends by itself when the selection stops being the clip it started for, or the playhead leaves that clip. Only one of these canvas tools can be on at a time, so starting one ends the others.