Main Window

OpenShot Video Editor has one main window which contains most of the information, buttons, and menus needed to edit your video project.

Overview

_images/main-window.jpg

For step-by-step instructions on the basic usage of OpenShot, be sure to read the Quick Tutorial.

Built-in Tutorial

When you first launch OpenShot, you will be presented with a friendly built-in tutorial. It will point out and explain the basics. Clicking Next will jump to the next topic. You can always view this tutorial again from the Help→Tutorial menu.

_images/built-in-tutorial.jpg

Tracks & Layers

OpenShot uses tracks to layer videos and images. The top most track is the top layer, and the bottom track is the bottom layer. If you are familiar with layers in a photo editing application, then you should be quite familiar with this concept. OpenShot will mix each layer together, just like a photo editing application. You can have an unlimited number of tracks, but typically a video project will not need more than 10 (or so) tracks.

For example, imagine a 3 track video project

_images/tracks.jpg

Keyboard Shortcuts

Here is a list of the default keyboard shortcuts supported by OpenShot. You can configure these shortcuts in the Preferences dialog. Learning a few of these shortcuts can save you a bunch of time!

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+H About OpenShot
Ctrl+M Add Marker
Ctrl+Shift+T Add Track
Ctrl+W Add to Timeline
Ctrl+B Animated Title
Ctrl+P Choose Profile
Ctrl+C Copy
Delete Delete Item
Backspace Delete Item
Ctrl+D Details View
Ctrl+E Export Video
L Fast Forward
F11 Fullscreen
Ctrl+F Import Files
Ctrl+End Jump to End
Ctrl+Home Jump to Start
Ctrl+N New Project
Right Next Frame
Ctrl+Right Next Marker
Ctrl+O Open Project
Ctrl+V Paste
Space Play/Pause Toggle
Up Play/Pause Toggle
Down Play/Pause Toggle
K Play/Pause Toggle
Ctrl+Shift+P Preferences
Left Previous Frame
Ctrl+Left Previous Marker
Ctrl+I Properties
Ctrl+Q Quit
Ctrl+Y Redo
J Rewind
Ctrl+S Save Project
Ctrl+Shift+S Save Project As...
Ctrl+A Select All
Ctrl+Shift+A Select None
Ctrl+K Slice All: Keep Both Sides
Ctrl+L Slice All: Keep Left Side
Ctrl+J Slice All: Keep Right Side
Ctrl+G Toggle Snapping
Ctrl+X Split Clip
Ctrl+Shift+D Thumbnail View
Ctrl+T Title Editor
Ctrl+Z Undo
= Zoom In
Zoom Out
Ctrl+Scroll Zoom In/Out
Ctrl+Middle Button Scroll Timeline