Select several clips and work on them together

This is the screen before any operation. On the Text track at the top, three heading text clips sit side by side with no gaps.

1. 1Check that there are three heading text clips: Paris, Nairobi and Lima from the left.
2. 2The voice track two rows below has three speech clips, one note for each city.
3. 3The preview shows the heading at the playhead, Paris, at the upper left.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check Check that there are three heading text clips: Paris, Nairobi and Lima from the left.
2. 2
   Check The voice track two rows below has three speech clips, one note for each city.
3. 3
   Check The preview shows the heading at the playhead, Paris, at the upper left.

Check Each heading in this example is five seconds long, starting at 0.4, 5.4 and 10.4 seconds.

First select the three headings together, using the menu that opens when you right-click the track name at the left (the track header).

1. 1Right-click the Text header at the left. In this screenshot the opened menu hides part of the header.
2. 2Click Select all clips on this track. Its second line shows the track name and “3” (three clips).

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Action Right-click the Text header at the left. In this screenshot the opened menu hides part of the header.
2. 2
   Action Click Select all clips on this track. Its second line shows the track name and “3” (three clips).

Check With the track or one of its clips selected, Ctrl+A does the same. The menu also lists Select all clips (Ctrl+Shift+A) for every track and Select everything to the right of the playhead (Shift+→); the latter is used later in this guide.

With three clips selected, a “3 selected” indicator appears at the top. Operations for the selection are gathered in the Selection menu. Here, open a small gap between the headings.

1. 1Check that the “3 selected” indicator is shown.
2. 2Click Selection.
3. 3Click Timing: arrange with a set gap…, the last item.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check Check that the “3 selected” indicator is shown.
2. 2
   Action Click Selection.
3. 3
   Action Click Timing: arrange with a set gap…, the last item.

Check The menu items change with how the selected clips are arranged, among other things. Here the three clips already touch, so Join selected clips reports that they are already joined.

A dialog titled Arrange clips opens.

1. 1Type 0.2 in the Gap between clips (seconds) field. It held 0.5 when the dialog opened.
2. 2Click Arrange at the lower right.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Enter Type 0.2 in the Gap between clips (seconds) field. It held 0.5 when the dialog opened.
2. 2
   Action Click Arrange at the lower right.

Check Choose Cancel to stop. The note under the field mentions Opening and Closing clips; this example has none.

This is the screen after the arrangement. The first heading stayed in place; the second moved 0.2 seconds later and the third 0.4 seconds later, leaving a 0.2-second gap after each of the first two headings.

1. 1Narrow gaps now separate the headings: 0.4–5.4, 5.6–10.6 and 10.8–15.8 seconds in this demonstration.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check Narrow gaps now separate the headings: 0.4–5.4, 5.6–10.6 and 10.8–15.8 seconds in this demonstration.

Check Clips are arranged in order of start time. The length of each clip does not change.

Now do the reverse and remove the gaps. With the three clips still selected, open the Selection menu again.

1. 1Click Selection.
2. 2Click Join selected clips. Its note now reads that three clips will follow the clip to their left with no gap.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Action Click Selection.
2. 2
   Action Click Join selected clips. Its note now reads that three clips will follow the clip to their left with no gap.

Check Because gaps now exist, the menu also shows Timing: pack. This guide uses Join selected clips.

This is the screen after joining. The three clips touch again, as they did at the start.

1. 1Check that the headings are back at 0.4–5.4, 5.4–10.4 and 10.4–15.4 seconds.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check Check that the headings are back at 0.4–5.4, 5.4–10.4 and 10.4–15.4 seconds.

Check The Edit menu at the top has Undo (Ctrl+Z). Undoing these operations is not demonstrated in this guide.

Next, match the position within the picture. As preparation, only the first clip, Paris, was selected and its Position Y on the right was changed from -230 to -180 to move it down slightly. Then Ctrl+A selected the three clips again and the Selection menu was opened, as shown here.

1. 1Check that the “3 selected” indicator is shown.
2. 2Click Selection.
3. 3Click Match the first clip's placement. The clips take the placement of the earliest clip in the selection.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check Check that the “3 selected” indicator is shown.
2. 2
   Action Click Selection.
3. 3
   Action Click Match the first clip's placement. The clips take the placement of the earliest clip in the selection.

Check The Position items below, such as Align to the left of the selection, are separate items for aligning the position of the selected clips. They are not used in this guide.

This screen shows the third clip, Lima, selected to check the result.

1. 1Click the third heading, Lima, to select it.
2. 2Check that Y under Position X / Y on the right reads -180, the value set on the first clip.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Action Click the third heading, Lima, to select it.
2. 2
   Check Check that Y under Position X / Y on the right reads -180, the value set on the first clip.

Check Instead of typing the same value into each clip, fix the first one and match the rest, and every heading sits at the same height.

Selected clips can be copied together. In this demonstration the three clips were selected and Ctrl+C was pressed, the playhead was moved to 22.32 seconds, and Ctrl+V was pressed. The timeline zoom is lowered to 20% in this screenshot so that everything is visible. Because the playhead was moved to a position with no avatar or background clip (22.32 seconds), the preview is black and shows a hint that a preview appears when the playhead is on a clip.

1. 1The three clips were pasted from the playhead with their original spacing, from 22.32 to 37.33 seconds.
2. 2The original three clips remain as they were.
3. 3Right after pasting, the three pasted clips are the selection.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check The three clips were pasted from the playhead with their original spacing, from 22.32 to 37.33 seconds.
2. 2
   Check The original three clips remain as they were.
3. 3
   Check Right after pasting, the three pasted clips are the selection.

Check In the Selection menu, Copy clips (3) carries the note that pasting keeps the same spacing. Clips are pasted on the selected track at the playhead (the Paste clips item in the menu of the next screenshot says the same).

The three pasted clips were only for practice, so delete them together. After clearing the selection with Esc, pressing Shift+→ selected the clips that start at or after the playhead (22.32 seconds), which are exactly the three pasted clips.

1. 1Click Selection.
2. 2Click Delete all selected clips. Its second line shows “3” (three items).

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Action Click Selection.
2. 2
   Action Click Delete all selected clips. Its second line shows “3” (three items).

Check In this demonstration the three selected clips were deleted at once, with no confirmation dialog. Before deleting, always check the count shown at the top and which clips are outlined. The Edit menu has Undo (Ctrl+Z), but undoing a bulk deletion is not demonstrated in this guide.

This is the screen after returning the timeline zoom to 40%, saving and reopening the project.

1. 1Check that the three headings run from 0.4 to 15.4 seconds with no gaps. The pasted clips are gone.
2. 2The heading Nairobi in the preview sits at the height matched to the first clip.
3. 3Check that Saved (auto-save) is shown at the lower right.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check Check that the three headings run from 0.4 to 15.4 seconds with no gaps. The pasted clips are gone.
2. 2
   Check The heading Nairobi in the preview sits at the height matched to the first clip.
3. 3
   Check Check that Saved (auto-save) is shown at the lower right.

Check Only text clips were tried here. Whether the same items appear for other kinds of clips was not checked for this guide. Open the Selection menu and check which items are available as you go.