Add, rename and reorder tracks
Add a track when you need another layer, name it so the stack stays readable, and clear out the tracks you’ve stopped using.
- Menu
- Track ▸ New TrackTrack ▸ Remove TrackTrack ▸ Remove Empty Tracks
- Keys
- ⇧⌘N
- Where
- Double-click or drag a track headerRight-click a track header or an empty stretch of its lane
- Agent tools
add_trackremove_trackmove_trackset_trackremove_empty_tracks
New Track
Section titled “New Track”Choose Track ▸ New Track or press ⇧⌘N. An empty track appears at the front, as the top lane. It’s named from the track count, such as Track 4 when there are three tracks.
A project holds at most 64 tracks, and the tracks inside nests count towards that. Past the limit, Frame Job shows an error and adds nothing.
Drop past the stack
Section titled “Drop past the stack”You can make a track and fill it in one move:
- Drag clips above the top lane to make a new front track for them.
- Drag clips below the bottom lane to make a new back track for them.
Clips selected on more than one track can only make a new back track. The new track and the move are one undo step, and this works for a ⌥-drag duplicate too. See Move clips.
Dropping a file from the Media tab on the preview also adds a new front track for it.
Rename a track
Section titled “Rename a track”-
Double-click the track’s header, away from its switches. A name field opens in place.
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Type the new name.
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Press Return or Tab, or click somewhere else.
Esc closes the field and keeps the old name. So does clearing the field, because this field can’t leave a track with no name. Spaces at either end of the name are dropped. Clips and markers rename in the same kind of field.
Reorder tracks
Section titled “Reorder tracks”Drag a track’s header up or down. A coral line shows where it will land, and the track moves there when you let go.
Dragging a header changes what draws in front of what. It also changes what a matte track cuts, because a matte cuts the track directly behind it. A locked track can be moved like any other.
Remove Track
Section titled “Remove Track”Track ▸ Remove Track removes the current track. Remove Track in the track context menu removes the track you clicked, which is how you remove an empty track that isn’t the front-most, since an empty track has no clip to select.
An empty track goes at once. A track that still holds clips asks first, in an alert titled with the track’s name: “The track still holds 3 clips, which will be removed with it.” Choose Remove or Cancel. One undo brings back the track and its clips.
A project always keeps one track, so the last one can’t be removed. Remove Track is greyed out on it, in the context menu and in the Track menu.
Remove Empty Tracks
Section titled “Remove Empty Tracks”Track ▸ Remove Empty Tracks drops every track that holds no clips, as one undo step. Hidden, locked and named tracks go too if they’re empty. If every track is empty, the back-most one stays. If no track is empty, Frame Job beeps.
The Track menu
Section titled “The Track menu”The Track menu’s commands work on the current track, apart from New Track and Remove Empty Tracks.
| Item | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| New Track | ⇧⌘N | Adds an empty track at the front. |
| Remove Track | Removes the current track. | |
| Remove Empty Tracks | Drops every track with no clips. | |
| Hide Video | Flips the current track’s Hide Video switch. | |
| Mute Audio | Flips its Mute Audio switch. | |
| Lock Track | Flips its Lock Track switch. | |
| Solo | Flips its Solo switch. | |
| Mix… | Opens its mix panel. | |
| Matte | Makes it a matte track: Off, Alpha, Inverted Alpha, Luma or Inverted Luma. |
Of the four switches, only Solo shows a checkmark in this menu, because a soloed track with nothing on it still silences the rest and you can’t always hear that. For the other three, read the track’s header.
The track context menu
Section titled “The track context menu”Right-click or ⌃-click a track’s header, or the empty part of its lane, to get a menu for that track:
- Hide Video, Mute Audio, Lock Track and Solo, each checked when it’s on
- Mix…
- Matte, with the track’s mode checked
- Remove Track, greyed out on the last track
Every item acts on the track you clicked, not the current track, and shows that track’s own state. A right-click on a clip, the ruler or the corner above the headers opens no menu.
Undo names
Section titled “Undo names”Every switch flip, rename and reorder is one undo step, and Edit ▸ Undo (⌘Z) names the edit it will reverse. The names for edits to tracks, markers and clip labels are:
| Edit | Undo name |
|---|---|
| Track switches | Hide Track, Mute Track, Lock Track, Solo Track |
| A track’s matte | Track Matte |
| A track’s mix | Track Volume, Track Pan, Track Compressor, Track Limiter, Reset Track Mix |
| Track names and order | Rename Track, Reorder Track |
| Adding and removing tracks | New Track, Remove Track, Remove Empty Tracks |
| Markers | Add Marker, Move Marker, Rename Marker, Chapter Marker, Remove Marker |
| Clip names and labels | Rename Clip, Label Clip |
Good to know
Section titled “Good to know”- With a nest open, everything on this page works on the nest’s own tracks, except that the mix panel’s compressor and limiter are turned off there.
- Remove Track takes only the clips on that track. A linked picture or sound on another track stays, and is no longer linked.
With an agent
Section titled “With an agent”add_track can put a new track anywhere in the stack and name it as it’s made, where you’d add it at the front and then drag it. move_track moves a track to a numbered place in the stack, 0 being the back. To do what a drop past the stack does, an agent adds the track and then moves the clips onto it with move_clip.
remove_track never asks: it leaves a track that holds clips alone unless it’s told to take them too, and it won’t remove the last track.
These tools also work on the tracks inside a nest. See Tools: tracks, markers and canvas and Editing inside a nest.