Ten Must-Know Video Editing Shortcuts in DaVinci Resolve 14

No matter how efficient and productive your video editing workflow is, odds are there is still some room for further optimization, especially if you’ve just made the switch to video editing in DaVinci Resolve 14. So, if you want to up the ante by taking your video editing workflow with the platform to the next level, here are ten essential keyboard shortcuts that might help you in your endeavor to achieve that goal much more quickly and effortlessly than expected.

Best of all, these shortcuts will not only speed up your video editing workflow but also should help you to get plenty of time off your busy schedule. The good news is that these are easy to implement, therefore your learning curve won’t be very steep. Having said that, let us get started by looking at the simple shortcuts provided by seasoned colorist and Resolve expert Casey Faris in the video below.

First off, if you want to zoom in and out of the video timeline, you just hold down the CTRL Key and hit the + Key or – Key. That will get you to a particular point on the video timeline. You don’t have to jerk it back and forth using by clicking on the or – menu buttons with your mouse. You can also hold down the Alt Key and then roll your mouse wheel back and forth, that will zoom in and out to the play head.

It’s also worth noting that you can easily switch the tools by using the letters. Just use A for the arrow, B for the Blade and T for the Trim-Tool. That saves your mouse some mileage, and really speeds things up. Another shortcut is to hold down the Alt key, then clicking on a clip to drag it upwards so that you can duplicate it.

Enabling and disabling multiple clips allows you to save a clip that you don’t want to use for the moment, but you still want to save it for later use. To do that, select a clip, hit D to Disable it or hit again to enable it. It also allows you to work with multiple videos, where one video is on top of the other. You can use it to shift between multiple camera clips without deleting any of them as you do your editing.

If you have come to a point in your video where you need to note something about the scene, you can just hit M and Resolve 14 will add a marker at that point in the time line. If you hit M again, you will be able to add some information in an editor window that will pop up.

There are times that you may want to split clips into individual frames. To do that, you can hit Control + B or Control + \ and that will split the video clip right on the playhead. That enables you to find the exact frame that you want to edit without spending lots time playing the clip back and forth. Another awesome shortcut is the Shift + Z, it allows you to zoom out and bring the whole clip into focus and if you hit Shift + Z again, it zooms back to where you were in your zoom.

One of the best editing features is crossfading between different clips. To use that feature, select the space in between the clips and hit Control + T, you will then be able to add a crossfade between the video clips and adjust its position. If you still have the crossfade edit selected, you can hit the < sign or > sign, to nudge the crossfade edit left or right.

There are times that you may want to move clips on the timelines to introduce new ones. You can achieve that by selecting a clip and then using the < sign or > sign to nudge the clip left or right. However, that breaks the clip and it’s best to use it for the clips found on the beginning or end of your video. Another way to move a clip faster is to select it, Click T and then hold the bottom part of the clip to drag it back and forth.

If you want to learn more video editing tips regarding DaVinci Resolve 14, make sure you also check out and subscribe to Casey Faris’ official YouTube channel that provides loads of useful information regarding professional video editing and color grading in DaVinci Resolve.

[source: Casey Faris]

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