The editor

Edit screen recordings on your Mac: learn the editor’s parts, then cut, trim, speed up and move things on the timeline.

Edit screen recordings on your Mac #

You edit screen recordings on your Mac in the ScreenCameo editor. It opens when you stop recording. You see Polishing your recording… for a moment while it finds your clicks, smooths the cursor and plans zooms.

Use the toolbar #

Watch and frame it in the preview #

The preview shows the video exactly as it will export, with your zooms, cursor and effects.

1. Click the video, or press Space, to play or pause.
2. Click the shape chip at the top right to change the shape. It reads Auto or a ratio such as 16:9.
3. In a shape that crops your screen, the Follow cursor chip keeps the action in frame. Click it to show the whole screen instead.
4. While you edit a zoom, switch between Edit area and Preview zoom at the top left. See aim a zoom.
5. Press F for a full-screen preview. Press F or Esc to come back.

Play it back with the transport #

The glass pill under the preview has the playback controls, from left to right.

Read the timeline #

The timeline has one lane per kind of edit. Each lane has a color dot that matches its blocks. Some lanes appear only when they have something in them.

Above the lanes, the tool row has Split, Zoom, Text, Blur area, Clips, Silences and Delete. On the right are the snapping switch and the timeline zoom slider.

Change settings in the inspector #

Select a block or a clip and the inspector edits just that. Press Esc to deselect, and it goes back to the tabs. Each tab has its own key.

The Next steps card at the top of the Style tab suggests what to do next: Pick a look, Add captions, Cut silences and Export. Each one gets a tick when it’s done. Click the × to hide the card for this recording.

Find any action with the Command Palette #

The Command Palette finds any action by name, so you don’t need to know where it lives.

1. Press Cmd+K, or click Commands in the toolbar.
2. Type what you want, such as “split”, “cut range” or “marker”. Words can come in any order.
3. Press Up Arrow or Down Arrow to pick a row, and Return to run it. Esc closes the palette.

Move around the timeline #

1. Click anywhere on the timeline to move the playhead, the line that marks the current moment. Drag along it to scrub. A click only moves the playhead, so your selection stays.
2. Press Space to play or pause.
3. Press J to play backward and L to play forward. Press them again for 2× and 4×. K stops. Hold K and press J or L to step one frame.
4. Press Left Arrow or Right Arrow to step one frame, or add Shift for one second. Up Arrow and Down Arrow jump to the previous or next edit. Home and End go to the start and the end.
5. To zoom the timeline itself, drag the slider at the right of the tool row, pinch on your trackpad, or hold Cmd and scroll. The playhead stays in view.

Cut out a part you don’t want #

Mark where the unwanted part starts and ends, then cut it. The video closes the gap.

1. Move the playhead to where the part starts and press I for the in mark.
2. Move it to where the part ends and press O for the out mark. The ruler shows the range, and a range chip appears in the tool row.
3. Click the range chip, or right-click the ruler, and choose Cut Range.
4. Prefer splitting? Press S at the start and at the end, double-click the piece in between, and press Delete.

Trim the start or end #

1. Point at the left or right edge of a clip on the Video lane until the pointer becomes a double arrow.
2. Drag the edge inward to trim, or outward to bring back what you trimmed. The preview shows the frame at the edge as you drag.
3. To fade in from black or out to black, drag the small white dot at the top corner of the first or last clip.
4. Or choose Clips → Fade In and Out → Fade In from Black (1 s) or Fade Out to Black (1 s). Right-click the dot for 0.5 s to 2 s, or None.

Speed up or mute a clip #

1. Double-click a clip on the Video lane to select it, or click it twice in the same spot.
2. In the inspector, under Speed, click 0.5×, 1×, 1.5×, 2×, 4× or 8×. Your voice keeps its pitch.
3. Under Audio, turn on Mute this clip to silence it, or drag Volume from 0 to 200%.
4. To speed up just part of a clip, set in and out marks with I and O. Then choose Speed Up Range 2× or Speed Up Range 4× from the range chip.

Add another video #

Click Clips in the tool row and choose Add Videos or Recordings at Playhead…, Add at the Start… or Add at the End…. You can also drag files from Finder onto the timeline. See Clips, takes & transitions for transitions and more.

Work with blocks #

Zooms, camera layouts, text, blur areas, captions and markers are colored blocks on their lanes.

1. Double-click an empty spot on the Zoom, Camera, Text or Blur lane to add a block there. A single click only moves the playhead.
2. Click a block to select it and edit it in the inspector. Shift-click more blocks on the same lane to change them together.
3. Drag the middle of a block to move it. Drag its left or right edge to change when it starts and ends.
4. Blocks snap to the playhead, cuts and other blocks, and a yellow line shows where. Press N to turn snapping off or on.
5. With a block selected, Left Arrow and Right Arrow move it one frame. Add Shift to move it one second.
6. Press Cmd+D to duplicate the block. Press Shift+Cmd+C to copy it and Shift+Cmd+V to paste it at the playhead.
7. For exact times, click the clock chip in the tool row, or right-click the block and choose Set Time…. Type the start and end.
8. Press Delete to remove the selected block, or Esc to deselect it.

Add markers and chapters #

1. Press M to drop a marker at the playhead. Marks you made while recording, and the places you paused, show up as flags too.
2. Click a flag to name it, change its Kind (Mark, Pause or Chapter), or click Make Chapter.
3. Drag a flag to move it. Right-click the Markers lane and choose Add chapter here to start a new chapter.

Fold and resize lanes #

1. Click a lane’s name to fold it to a thin strip. Click again to unfold it.
2. Drag the handle above the timeline to make it taller or shorter. Double-click the handle to fit every lane.
3. Right-click anywhere on the timeline to see what you can do there, such as add, paste, set time or Select All in Lane.
4. Music has its own lane. Drag it to move it, drag its edges to trim it, and drag the dots at its top corners to fade it. See Audio & music.

Your edits save as you go #

There’s no Save button. ScreenCameo saves your project a moment after each edit, and again when you close the window or export. Undo remembers your last 300 edits, and a whole drag counts as one.

Shortcuts on this page#

See every shortcut

If something’s off#

Clicking a clip doesn’t select it

A single click moves the playhead. Double-click the clip, or click it again in the same spot.

A key like S or Space does nothing

Single-key shortcuts pause while you type in a field or a slider has focus. Click the timeline or press Esc, then try again.

Transitions Between Clips is grayed out

It needs at least two clips. Split the video with S, or add another clip. See Clips, takes & transitions.