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¶

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.

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

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 |