- Play
- Press play or the space bar. The preview shows the reel as it will export: vertical, framed on you.
- Cut words
- Click a word in the transcript to cut it, again to put it back. ··· marks a pause that was cut: click it to keep it.
- Play from a word
- Alt-click (Option-click) a word to play from there.
- Fix words
- Double-click a word to correct it.
- Make it longer
- Click a faded word before or after the reel to start or end it there.
- Rearrange
- Drag a section on the timeline to a new place. Drag the handle at either end of a section outwards to use more of the video around it, or inwards to trim it. To select several sections, drag across them from the waveform or any empty part of the timeline, Shift-click to select a run, or Cmd-click (Ctrl-click) to add one; Delete removes them all. ✂ splits the section under the playhead; select a section and press Delete to remove it; ↺ puts the original order back.
- Combine clips
- + Add a clip under the timeline puts another of your clips after this one: they play one after the other as a single reel, each keeping its edits. Rearrange or trim their sections like any others. Separate turns it back into the clips it was made from. On the shortlist, Combine does the same.
- Sound
- Swear words are underlined in red. Under Adjust, mute them all in one click (silence or a bleep), or one at a time; shift-click any word to mute it. Audience members' voices are made louder automatically (8 dB, set in Settings): each shows as an Audience bar on the Volume row and a +8 dB tag in the transcript; change them all under Adjust, or one at a time like any other bar. The Volume row on the timeline makes stretches louder or quieter: press the speaker to add one at the playhead, drag its ends, and set its level under Adjust. "Boost the laughs" lifts every laugh in the reel.
- Start or end it somewhere else
- Play or scrub to the moment you want, then press ⟦ Start here (or I) to cut everything before it, or End here ⟧ (or O) to cut everything after. To start earlier than the clip does, click a faded word before it in the transcript, or drag the first section's left end outwards.
- Undo
- Cmd Z undoes the last change, Shift Cmd Z (or Cmd Y) redoes it, as many steps back as you like. The arrows under the timeline do the same.
- Zoom the timeline
- Cmd + and Cmd − (Ctrl on Windows) zoom in and out around the playhead; Cmd 0 fits the whole reel. Pinch on a trackpad over the timeline to zoom around the pointer.
- Keys
- Space plays and pauses · J back 3 s and play · K stop · L play (again: faster) · ← → a frame (with Shift, a second) · I / O start or end here · Delete removes · Cmd Z undo · Cmd +/− zoom.
- Frame by frame
- ← and → step the playhead one frame (with Shift, a second). Select a section and its In and Out buttons appear above it: each press moves that end by one frame. Keys: , and . for the start, < and > for the end. Dragging a section's ends snaps to whole frames.
- Framing modes
- Under Adjust: Follow my face (the default), Hold still (for physical comedy or pacing that throws the tracking), Pan by hand (drag the preview at different moments to set keyframes, shown as diamonds on the timeline; it glides between them), or Whole picture (the full stage over a blurred fill; punch-ins still cut in close).
- Punch-ins
- The Punch in row shows where the picture pushes in on your face. Dashed nodes are the editor's suggestions (usually the punchlines): click one to add it. Select a punch-in to choose 1.2×, 1.4×, 1.6× or 2×, or ✕ to remove it; drag its ends to change how long it lasts. To add your own, move the playhead and press the magnifier (Punch in here).
- Framing
- It follows your face and pushes in on punchlines. Drag the preview to move the shot left, right, up or down (moving up or down zooms in a little, since the full-height picture has no room), or change it under Adjust.
- Export
- Makes a 1080 × 1920 MP4 on your computer, with the sound evened out and at the right loudness for Reels, TikTok and Shorts. Choose tall 9:16, 4:5 or square first; Save a cover image saves the frame at the playhead as a JPEG for the post. Alongside the video comes a captions file (.srt) with the reel's words timed to the edit, to drop into your captions app. Under Adjust, Duplicate this reel makes a copy to try another version.