Source and Sequence solve different tasks
Source reviews the selected library item; Sequence reviews your assembled film. Selecting a timeline clip, choosing a source, and positioning the sequence playhead are independent actions. Before marking or playing, check the viewer label and focus.
On Mac, browser focus routes In/Out, playback, arrows, and J/K/L to Source. Timeline focus routes them to Sequence. Viewer/inspector focus follows the viewer named in its header. The mobile transport guide explains the touch arrangement.
Inspect and mark a source
- Select a library item and review a useful moment in Source.
- Press
I, or click In, at the first wanted position. - Move to the boundary immediately after the useful material and press
O, or click Out. - Read the displayed range and choose picture/audio components and destination tracks in Source patching.
- Use Append, Insert, Overwrite, or Connect to place it.
Clear or Clear In and Out (⌥X) removes marks. Marking a source range chooses future placement; it does not trim an existing timeline instance. Placement controls explain the result of each command.
Read boundary conventions carefully
For source movies, In is the first included position and Out is an exclusive boundary: material stops just before it. Sequence Out marking displays the last included sequence frame. Clip end fields and caption end fields can also be exclusive; read the field label rather than applying one convention everywhere.
Source timing can preserve finer precision than the sequence frame grid. Recorded source pictures, particularly variable-rate media, do not necessarily match the sequence's frame spacing. Source-frame stepping follows the recording; sequence stepping follows the selected sequence rate.
Navigate without changing the edit
Space plays or pauses, arrows step pictures/frames, and J/K/L provide reverse shuttle, stop, and forward shuttle in the active context. Pointer skimming in the source browser changes source preview, while the sequence playhead stays separate. Settings → Playback controls source skimming.
Finish typing before using letter shortcuts. While editing a title or a numeric field, the field keeps normal typing and text-editing keys. Use ⌘1 to focus Browser, ⌘2 for Timeline, and ⌘3 for Viewer when you need to make focus explicit.
Find the original moment again
Select a timeline clip and use Match Frame (F) to locate its corresponding source moment, or Reveal Source in Browser (⇧F) to locate the library item. A compound or linked selection can require choosing which underlying source is intended.
If the source or selection changed during a lookup, run the command again with the intended clip selected. When an action is unavailable, check source availability, selection, text-field focus, and viewer context before changing the project.