There are several tools arranged around the outer edge of the editor timeline.
The Time Ruler
Along the top of the timeline is the time ruler, representing the duration of your project. Clicking on the time ruler will move the playhead, which defines the current frame, which is displayed in the Viewer.
You can also click and drag on the playhead itself.
To jump to a specific time simply type it into the time display at the top-left. The time display can be switched between time and frames using its menu.
Scaling and Panning the Timeline ![]()
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The longer your project becomes, the less likely it can easily be navigated within the width of your screen.
The timeline can be scaled using the zoom bar, so you can either zoom out to see the timeline’s entire contents, or zoom in to focus on a specific area. When zoomed in, you can then use the bottom scrollbar or the Hand tool 
to pan the timeline left and right. Knowing how to move around the Editor timeline efficiently will make your editing much easier. Once you’ve placed some clips on your timeline you will need to be able to scroll and zoom around the project.
- Pressing Home on your keyboard will scroll the playhead to the first frame of the timeline.
- Pressing Ctrl+Home will auto-scroll the timeline to the current playhead position.
Setting the Work Area
The work area is represented by the blue tinted area of the time ruler.
You can use the work area to specify a particular part of your editor sequence to export or loop play, rather than exporting the entire timeline.
The work area defaults to the timeline’s entire duration, but can be adjusted using three methods.
- Time Ruler: Drag the ends of the work area on the time ruler to reposition them on any frame of your choice. Holding the Alt key and dragging on the work area will move it without changing its duration.
- Keyboard: Position the playhead on any frame, and press I to set the In Point to that frame, or press O to set the Out Point to that frame. * Pressing the P key will set the work area to encompass the contents of your timeline.
- Viewer Buttons: Click the Set In Point button to set the In Point to the frame where the playhead is currently located, or click the Set Out Point button to set the Out Point to the frame where the playhead is currently located.
Timeline Cache ![]()
The timeline cache creates rendered images of each frame of your timeline, allowing for real-time playback of any timeline, regardless of complexity. The timeline cache can be configured to generate automatically during periods when your processor is idle, or can be manually generated using this timeline button.
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Timeline Cache Button: Click this button at the top right of the timeline to force a cache of the current timeline to begin rendering immediately.
For full details on working with the timeline cache system, see the page in this manual on The Timeline Cache.
Exporting ![]()
The Export options for your timeline are accessed through the 
Export button at the top right of the timeline.
- To File: Immediately exports the contents of the current timeline using the default export preset, allowing you to specify a name for the exported video file. The export queue remains in its current state.
- Frame: Exports the current frame as an image file. See Export Frame for full details.
- Export Now: These options behave similarly to the To File option, in that they immediately begin the export process, but they provide a finer level of control over what portion of your timeline is exported. The exported file is always named after the project being exported.
- In-to-Out Area: Immediately exports the area of your timeline found between the In Point and Out Point.
- Contents: Immediately exports the entire contents of your timeline, excluding any empty frames at the ends of the timeline.
- Add to Queue: These options add your current timeline to the queue, for later export. This provides an opportunity to change the export preset being used and the file name, and allows you to choose when the export occurs.
- In-to-Out Area: The area of your timeline found between the In Point and Out Point is added to the export queue.
- Contents: The entire contents of your timeline is added to the export queue, excluding any empty frames at the ends of the timeline.
- Default Preset: Select the default export preset. Your chosen preset will be used for all To File and Export Now export tasks. It will also be assigned to all tasks added to the export queue, although the queue can be edited later in the Export Panel.
Keyframes ![]()
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At the top left of the timeline are the keyframe buttons.
Keyframes are used to store changes to settings on particular frames. For example, on frame 10 a video could be set to full opacity and then on frame 20 it could be set to 50% opacity. This would be stored as two keyframes, one on frame 10 and one on frame 20. Between frames 10 and 20 the video would become gradually more transparent.
The Opacity of video clips and the Volume of audio clips can be keyframed directly on the Editor. See Basic Compositing with Clips and Mixing Audio for more details. Other properties can be keyframed within the Controls panel.
The two arrow buttons are used to jump between keyframes for the currently selected property.
The circle button in the center is used to turn keyframes on and off on the current frame for the currently selected property. If a keyframe is present on the current frame a dot is displayed in the middle the circle.