"Move selection" shortcuts don't scroll through the timeline on use

  • Win10

  • Shotcut 21.09.20

  • Using the mouse for selection: I have to manually scroll through the timeline to be able to select the clips that I want and thus my currently selected clip will always be visible

  • Using the keyboard: I can move through the clips with CTRL+leftarrow/rightarrow, but when I move further than the currently visible part of the timeline I’m stuck and have to use the mouse to scroll through the timeline to get to the clip which I’ve previously selected using the keyboard

Expected:
The timeline scrolls accordingly to the use of the “move selection” shortcuts: when the current selection is outside of the currently visible part of the timeline then the timeline is being scrolled left/right until the current selection is in view again

Have you tried this?
2021-10-08_19-10-50

Or this?
2021-10-08_19-10-06

Or using this selection.
shotcut_2021-10-08_19-14-40

While I appreciate the effort all you were providing are workarounds for a different use-case:

  • Using the cursor to move through the preview isn’t the use-case I described of using they keyboard shortcut “move selection” to go through the clips on the timeline
  • Using the “skip to next point” in the preview isn’t the use-case I described, as I want to actually select a clip using the keyboard shortcut for “move selection”, and not the point in between 2 clips
  • The “center playhead” option does nothing: I can still move the selection out of the currently visible timeline

As you’re quite fast to create those short clips: please create one where you’re doing what I described in my OP.

A bug report is for when something isn’t working right as programmed.
Going back to version 19.01.27, what you’re seeking just is not available.

I was attempting to find a bug as you had described, but failed to do so, so I provided workarounds.

I spent some time with a few versions to see if there was any difference, and there wasn’t.

What version did this work for you?

The current version is the first time I’ve ever used Shotcut.

I labelled it as a bug, and not a feature-request, because there’s just no UX whatsoever when I can select clips on the timeline with available shortcuts, even outside of the currently visible timeline, but when I do that the timeline doesn’t scroll to get the currently selected clip into view.

Just open your Windows explorer, select a folder with plenty of files and move through them using the arrow-keys: if the currently selected file is outside of what is being displayed then the scrollbar moves until you can see your selection, and that part is completely missing in Shotcut regarding the “move selection” functionality.

p1881, may I respectfully suggest that the burden is on you, not on a forum member? We are trying to understand what you are asking about, but we are guessing. You are the one who can best generate a video of the exact issue you are experiencing.

This is not a bug, it is a feature. The timeline always displays the current position of the playhead. As you select clips using Ctrl + >, the timeline window does not move. If it did and you selected a clip far enough away the timeline window would not then display the position of the playhead.

To illustrate Elusien’s point, I made a little video. The key is to note the difference between the clip selection (if any), versus the playhead (what you are seeing on the preview). You’ll probably have to view this full-screen to see where the playhead is.

I have been caught by the difference (between what is showing = playhead vs. what is selected), particularly when I am applying a filter and wondering why it doesn’t seem to work. (It is working … but it is applying to the selected clip, which may not be under the playhead.)

I suppose one could make a suggestion to have a check-box option, similar to the “keep playhead centered” option, e.g., “Keep playhead synchronized with selection.” But I see the likelihood of unintended problems arising. One issue would be where exactly in the clip to synchronize to - move the playhead to the start of the selected clip, or to the middle, or ? A bigger issue would be, if I move the playhead to a given spot, which of the clips under the playhead should be selected - the one on track 1, or track 2, or … ?

Another simple example. Put several long clips on the timeline. Rewind the timeline to the beginning of the first clip. Select that first clip. Now hit play. The selected clip will start to move to the left once the playhead reaches the right-hand edge of the timeline window and eventually that selected clip will vanish off the left-hand edge of the timeline window. The selected clip will no longer be shown in the timeline window. This is what is supposed to happen - it is not a bug.

If the timeline window is zoomed to show say a 2 minute slice of the timeline it will always contain the playhead within that 2-minute moving slice and clips (selected or not) may or may not be shown in that slice.

Also, what do you expect to be shown if you select several clips concurrently that don’t all fit within the timeline window? The only sensible thing to do is what Shotcut does i.e. Always show the position of the playhead in the timeline window.

Then we have to agree to disagree:

  • Function to move the selection between clips on the timeline + its shortcut is currently available
  • That function + its shortcut both work, but it’s quite useless in terms of UX if I can move the selection outside of the currently viewable part of the timeline

Assuming your PoV that it’s a feature-request, and not a bug: is it a valid use-case to offer a method of selection via keyboard shortcut for a long list of entries without moving the currently selected entry into view for the end-user?

Using my Windows explorer example, or really any kind of software following UX principles: if there are keyboard shortcuts available to move between entries then the currently selected entry will be in view.

@awake: thanks for the demonstration.

Windows explorer shows 1 thing only: a list of files and folders in a window. So when you move between entries it displays the entriy selected.

Shotcut’s timeline shows 2 things: the playhead position and clips on the tracks. It is obviously a design decision to always show the playhead in the timeline window. So if you select a clip in such a position that would mean that displaying the clip would cause the playhead to disappear, then Shotcut cannot display the clip.

Shotcut does highlight the selected clip and it also creates a slowly flashing light on the end of the timeline in the direction where the selected clip is, but I can’t see what else it can do if the premise is that the playhead is always visible.

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Hmmm … in an effort to irritate see all sides … I do agree with @p1881 that it seems counterintuitive to select something and not see it on the screen. But I also understand @Elusien’s point: There are two different things that can be considered “selected” - one or more clips, and the playhead - and it is entirely possible that showing one selection rules out showing the other.

Now to throw a kink in the works: I just observed that it is actually not entirely correct to say that Shotcut implements “a design decision to always show the playhead in the timeline window.” If one uses the mouse wheel to scroll the timeline, one can readily scroll the playhead off to the left or right, out of view. In fact, one can scroll the timeline such that neither the playhead nor any selected clips are in view!

So with regard to @p1881’s original point: given the observation above, is it worse if the playhead scrolls out of view in the process of selecting a clip (as it can already do when scrolling the timeline), or worse if the clip selection goes out of view because the timeline does not scroll?

Having thus stirred up the waters, I will now retire to the sidelines with some popcorn … :popcorn:

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I normally use a trackpad and touch-screen, so don’t have a mouse-wheel, so I’ve never come across that behaviour.

I guess we’ll have to leave it up to Dan and/or Brian to decide whether or not to implement a new feature to enable the newly selected clip to be displayed.