Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for AVID Media Composer

Discover the basic keyboard shortcuts of one of the most-used video editing programs on the market

AVID Media Composer is one of the most complete, professional, and stable nonlinear video editing software available. A well-known name in the editing industry, it is mainly used by professional video editors worldwide, but casual and non-professional users will also enjoy its advantages.

Speed and efficiency are the primary skills of a good editor, and as you progress in your use of AVID Media Composer, you will realize that there's a significant amount of time to be saved once you learn some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts. Below, we have compiled some of the basic ones for Mac and PC to get you started.

Audio Shortcuts

– Mute an audio track: Alt+number from 1 to 8 / Option+number from 1 to 8.
– Move an audio keyframe in the audio track: Alt+drag keyframe / Option+drag keyframe.
– Open the audio options menu: Alt+Click on Digital Scrub Parameters within Composer monitor / Option+Click on Digital Scrub Parameters within Composer monitor.

Shortcuts for working with bins

– Create a new bin: Ctrl+N/Cmd+N
– Select all objects in the active bin or project window: Ctrl+A/Cmd+A
– Close dialog windows and bins: Ctrl+W/Cmd+W.
– Duplicate the selected clip, sequence or title: Ctrl+D/Cmd+D
– Create a group of clips from Master or Sub clips: Shift+Ctrl+G/Cmd+Shift+G
– Make a copy of a clip: Alt+drag clips between bins/Option+drag clips between bins.
– In Frame View or Script View, increase the size of Clip Frame images: Ctrl+L/Cmd+L
– In Frame View or Script View, reduce the size of Clip Frame images: Ctrl+K/Cmd+K.

Shortcuts for Capture Mode

– F1: Mark the In-Point of a subclip.
– F2: Mark the Out-Point of a subclip.
– F3, F5... up to F12: Mark a clip with, respectively, a red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, black, or white locator.

Editing Shortcuts

– Undo action: Ctrl+Z/Cmd+Z.
– Redo action: Ctrl+R/Cmd+R.
– Copy the footage between a Mark In and a Mark Out on a selected track: Ctrl+C/Cmd+C.
– Paste the selected material into the same track where you selected it: Ctrl+V/Cmd+V.
– Open a selected object on a pop-up monitor: Alt+double click on the object/Option+double click on the object.
– Convert the arrow into a hand icon to drag subclips or sequences to the bin: Alt+click on the Source Monitor or – Record Monitor/Option+click on the Source Monitor or Record Monitor.
– Insert clip into your sequence without overwriting what's there: Alt+drag clip to Record Monitor/Option+drag clip to Record Monitor.
– Insert clip into your sequence, overwriting what's there: Shift + drag clip to the Record Monitor.

Timeline shortcuts

– Make a track bigger: Ctrl+L/Cmd+L.
– Make a track smaller: Ctrl+K/Cmd+K.
– Timeline Finder: Ctrl+F/Cmd+F.
– New video track: Ctrl+Y/Cmd+Y.
– New audio track: Ctrl+U/Cmd+U.
– Select all tracks: Ctrl+A/Cmd+A.
– Deselect all tracks: Ctrl+Shift+A/Cmd+Shift+A.
– Show the entire sequence in the Timeline window: Ctrl+/ / Cmd+/.

Shortcuts to access Tools

– Open the Timeline window: Ctrl+0/Cmd+0.
– Audio tools: Ctrl+1/Cmd+1.
– Command Palette: Ctrl+3/Cmd+3.
– Composer Window: Ctrl+4/Cmd+4.
– Media Creation: Ctrl+5/Cmd+5.
– Console: Ctrl+6/Cmd+6.
– Capture tool: Ctrl+7/Cmd+7.
– Effects Palette: Ctrl+8/Cmd+8.
– Project Window: Ctrl+9/Cmd+9.

If you want to learn more about AVID Media Composer, Domestika Basics: Introduction to Adobe Media Composer offers eight online courses by film editor Raúl Barreras. You'll delve into the most popular editing software in the film industry and learn to edit in a simple, fast, and organized way.

English version by @angeljimenez.

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