Screenflow - 2 dumb editing questions

macOS
1

I’ve recently become a screenflow user and have been relying on online resources to get up speed, including this podcast (of course). I’ve got a few questions that should be posted on a screenflow forum, but I trust this community more than anything, so I thought I’d start here. If anyone can comment on any below, would be very appreciated!

  1. As someone who started his career as a video editor, my default way to edit down a screencast is to mark an In point, mark an Out point and then Ripple Delete. But if I don’t like the result and I hit undo, both the In point and the Out point are erased and I have to find them again. Am I doing something wrong?
  2. Alternatively, I’ll just split the clips using the T command, delete what’s not needed, and then select the blank space and close all gaps. But if I have annotation clips further down the timeline, that track is not selected and so the annotations are all out of sync. Is there a work around?
  3. Relating to both above, this is usually when I’m editing something out of the audio track, and I’m often trying to make very precise edits. Are there any tricks to clean up a edit, frame by frame? In most video editing software, there’s usually a way to go in and get précise, but I suspect this isn’t part of Screenflow functionality.

I know this is a lot, on very specific software, but any help would be fantastic. Thanks again!
Rich

1 Like
2

To answer 1&2: I split, then ripple delete. It works pretty well for me and allows for easy cursor placement if I do need to undo!

Regarding 3: I use the arrow keys (left and right) to move slowly through a track. I do this while it’s not playing :slightly_smiling_face:

Good luck in your screenflow journey!

3

I never thought to use ripple delete for a selected clip, instead of just in and out points. What a great idea! Thanks!

4

I have a dumb ScreenFlow question that I never thought to ask this community. How do I add a transition that doesn’t go on top of the clip before it?

To make transitions work currently, I have to drag it into the clip before which looks OK most of the time but not always.

5

@bocciaman, not sure I completely follow. What do you mean by “go on top of the clip before”? What result are you expecting and what are you getting when it doesn’t look right. Screenshots welcome :slight_smile:

6

@RosemaryOrchard, I finally tried this trick. I think I’m missing something. If I split the clip, select the clip and Ripple Delete, the clip is deleting, but there’s no ripple. Are you marking the clip with an in and out before Rippling? I’m assuming this is user error on my part!

7

I split at the start and end, and then ripple delete it.

8

Hi @RosemaryOrchard and @Richtack, I know this is an old thread…but was just looking at where ScreenFlow tips and tricks are shared here on the Automators Forum.

@Richtack, reading you reply to Rosemary, you are correct is that there needs to be a range selection (blue overlay in timeline) for Ripple Delete to work in ScreenFlow. If you set in and out points, perform a Ripple Delete, and then Command-Z back, the selected range disappears. Two ways around this that I can think of:

  1. As Rosemary mentioned, select and split the clip at beginning and end of your edit point. Shift-Left/Right Arrow moves you by one second either way for coarser navigation with the keyboard. Another useful shortcut: Use ; and ' to move to your previous/next edit on the timeline, across all tracks. One more since we’re already here: Option-Z will clear your range selection.
  2. If remembering where your range selection is important, use the backtick (tilde) key to create markers at both edit points — no need to enter text, just hit return. You can navigate between markers with Shift-Up Arrow and Shift-Down Arrow. This way, undoing your edit preserves the markers in case you need that range. Not super elegant, but it gives you a fallback should you need it.

Hope this helps.

J.F.