BetterEditsManual

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BetterEdits
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Projects

New project, renaming, autosave, the video browser, and the canvas ratio.

New project

Press ⌘N, or click New Project in the workspace window. The app makes a project called Untitled in projects/Untitled/, numbered when the name is taken, and opens the project window. Click the window title to rename it. Renaming moves the project's folder.

The browser calls them Videos and the menus say Project. Both mean the same folder.

Autosave

A workspace project saves itself one second after each change. The window subtitle reads "Saving…" and then "In workspace". There is no dirty state and no prompt on close. Undo and redo work across everything.

⌘S saves at once. The thumbnail on the project card is refreshed on every save.

The video browser

The workspace window lists every project as a card with its thumbnail, name, length, size on disk and when it was last saved. Click a card to open it. Right-click for the menu.

ItemWhat it does
OpenOpens the project window
Rename…Renames the project and its folder
DuplicateCopies the folder under a new name
Reveal in FinderShows the folder
Move to TrashMoves the folder to the Trash, closing it first if open

File › Open Recent lists projects opened before.

Closing

⌘W closes the project window and returns to the workspace window. ⇧⌘W shows the workspace window without closing the project.

Canvas ratio

New projects are 9:16. The pill in the viewer's top right corner shows the current ratio. Click it to choose 9:16, 16:9, 1:1 or 4:5 from miniatures. The app asks before changing: "Change the canvas to 16:9?" The change is one undo step.

Positions and sizes are stored relative to the canvas, so clips, text and captions keep their placement when the ratio changes. Exports follow the canvas. On the command line, ratio 16:9 does the same.