Many actions for clips in the timeline require that you select one or more of them. There are also some actions that only work when a single clip is selected. Click the menu button in the top left of the Timeline: there is a Selection menu.
Selected clips on the timeline have a red outline unless it is part of a group. When a Group is selected, the clips have a white outline.
Select Single Clip
Usually, you simply click a clip with the left mouse button to select it. However, you can also select the clip under the playhead/cursor using the keyboard combination Ctrl+Space (command+space on macOS). If there is more than one clip under the playhead, it selects the top clip.
You can select the neighbor of a selected clip (move the selection) by holding Ctrl (command on macOS) with left, right, up, or down arrow keys.
Multiple Selection
Here are some of the actions you can perform with multiple clips selected:
- Copy
- Cut
- Lift
- Ripple Delete
- Move
- Split
- Apply Copied Filters
- Align To Reference Track
To select a range (multiple consecutive clips) click the first (or last) clip, press and hold Shift and click the last (or first) clip.
To select or deselect multiple clips individually hold Ctrl (command on macOS) while clicking the clips.
Rectangle Selection
You can also use the mouse to drag out a rectangle to select multiple clips. If Settings > Timeline > Rectangle Selection is on simply click an empty area of the timeline near a corner where you want to start. Then, holding the left mouse button down drag to select. Release the left mouse button when you are done.
If that setting is turned off, hold Shift to draw the rectangle (without Shift clicking seeks).
To facilitate this feature, it is helpful to have empty space above or below the clips. You can start the rectangle by clicking below the existing tracks. To have an empty track at the top turn on Settings > Timeline > Automatically Add Tracks.
Group/Ungroup
A group is a multi-selection that is saved with the project. To make one, select multiple clips, right-click any member, and choose Group/Ungroup from the context menu. Alternatively, use keyboard shortcut Ctrl+G (command+G on macOS). Now, whenever you click a member of a group, it selects all of the members and show a white outline instead of red. You can have multiple groups but not overlapping groups.
Frequently you need to work with only one member of a group. You could ungroup and re-group later, which is tedious, or:
- If the group is already selected Ctrl-click the one to use.
- If the group is not selectedAlt-click to select a single member of a group.
Select Track
Did you know that you can not only select clips but also a track? With a selected track, you can add Filters to it that affect all clips on that track! There is a special track at the top of the track headers labeled Output, and by selecting that you can add a filter to everything in the project. However, it is better to think about that as putting an effect between the timeline and the output–preview or the export.
However, there is also a current track. It has the gold color background. Selecting a track or clip also makes it current, but it also possible to use the keyboard to change the current track: Ctrl+Alt+Up or Down (option+command on macOS).
Some actions depend on the current track. See the Track Operations in the timeline’s menu button:
- Insert Track
- Remove Track
- Move Track Up
- Move Track Down
- Show/Hide
- Lock/Unlock
- Mute/Unmute