Shotcut productivity series · companion page
There are dozens of shortcuts in Shotcut and Ben has not memorised them either. This tutorial is the short list — the eight he presses every day, each one shown on screen beside the menu route it replaces: copy, paste, play, save, add a video track, add an audio track, export a still, split a clip. Nothing is configured and nothing is installed. You already have all of it.
Reading in another language? Use the translate picker in the header, or your browser’s own translate command — the Shotcut menu, command and key names are marked to stay in English so they still match what is on your screen.
This is the only tutorial in the series with no filter, no keyframe and no second track to build. It is a habit change: eight key presses, each replacing a menu trip you are currently making by hand.
Ben’s own advice is the opposite of completeness: “I suggest to memorize maybe the top 10 functions you most commonly use.” He says plainly that after more than a year of daily use he has nowhere near all of them memorised, and does not need them.
Every shortcut in this video is printed beside its own menu entry — Edit, File, and the right-click Track Operations submenu all show the key combination on the right-hand side. You do not need a cheat sheet to discover them; you need to read the menu you are already opening.
Seven of the eight save you seconds. Ctrl+S saves you the edit. Ben describes pressing it every ten changes as “an insurance policy because I’m paranoid and I know how it feels to lose work.”
Ben opens by saying the tips “apply across any other video editing software.” That is true of the habit, and true of Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V and Ctrl+S, which are operating-system conventions. The other five are Shotcut’s own and will not match another editor.
[ These are relatively common and seem simple, but every second counts — especially if you’re on deadline ]
Ben Espanto · 2:33
The video carries four chapters. Three of them are Ben’s own titles, taken verbatim. The first is untitled in his list, so it is named here from what is on screen. His four boundaries do not line up with the eight shortcuts — three of them are demonstrated inside a chapter named after a different one — so five extra cards marked DERIVED were read off the frames and added. Those five are ours, not Ben’s. Click any screencap or timestamp to play that moment right here in the card.
“Keyboard shortcuts has probably helped me personally cut down my editing time and sped up my workflow.”
1:20 · the build is established on screen before anything else: Help → About Shotcut reads Shotcut version 20.11.28, and Ben asks you to be on at least that version. From 1:49 to 2:45 he scrolls shotcut.org’s own index of every shortcut — Main Menu, Player, Keyframes, Rich Text Editor and more — to make the point that the full reference exists and that he is deliberately not teaching it.
“Instead of continually going to edit, then copy, then edit, then paste, I just remember control C is copy and control V is paste.”
2:54 · the whole Edit menu on this build is five entries, and four of them print their key on the right: Undo Lift from track Ctrl+Z, Redo Ctrl+Y, Cut Ctrl+X, Copy Ctrl+C, Paste Ctrl+V. The first entry is worth noticing: Undo names the exact action it will reverse, not just the word “Undo”.
“So if I copy a section of a clip and then repeat it over and over again, I just select it and click control C. Then control V, control V, control V…”
3:20 · select the clip, Ctrl+C once, then Ctrl+V as many times as you want the repeat. Each paste lands at the playhead and leaves the playhead at the end of what it just pasted, so presses chain end to end: the position and duration counters read 00:00:12:22, then 00:00:15:07, then 00:00:17:16 — exactly 57 frames added each time.
“This is simple, because it’s just the spacebar. Click the spacebar once to play and click it again to pause.”
3:46 · the same key toggles both directions, so there is nothing to remember beyond it. This is the only shortcut in the video that needs no modifier key at all besides S. It falls inside the chapter Ben titled copy a section of a clip, which is why this card is marked derived.
“Next is arguably the most important keyboard shortcut of them all. Saving, and that’s just control S.”
4:00 · the rule attached to it is the useful part: every ten changes, whatever those changes were. The title bar is the tell — it reads Untitled* with an asterisk throughout this section, and the asterisk is what the save clears. Note that this project is never named, so on a genuinely new project the first Ctrl+S opens a save dialog rather than saving silently.
“Traditionally, when I want to add a new video track I right click track V1, I choose track operations, then select add video track. But all you have to do is press control I.”
4:30 · the submenu he is replacing prints all four keys itself: Add Audio Track (Ctrl+U), Add Video Track (Ctrl+I), Insert Track (Ctrl+Alt+I), Remove Track (Ctrl+Alt+U). Two presses of Ctrl+I take the timeline from V1 to V1, V2, V3; Ctrl+U then adds A1 below them.
“The traditional way of doing it is going to the frame you want to capture, then going to file, export frame, then save. You can quickly get there by pressing control shift E.”
5:10 · the shortcut opens the save dialog directly; you still choose where the still goes. Do not confuse it with its neighbour one line up — Export Video... is Ctrl+E, and the only difference between rendering your whole timeline and grabbing a single frame is the Shift. This sits inside the chapter titled add a new video track, hence derived.
“In many of my tutorials I show you the long way, by going to the spot you want to split, then going to the split at playhead icon. In my own edits I actually just press S.”
5:47 · the button he is replacing is the ][ icon in the timeline toolbar, and hovering it spells the shortcut out: the tooltip reads Split At Playhead (S). This is the biggest saving of the eight, because splits come in runs — park the playhead, tap S, move, tap again. By the end of the demonstration the single clip carries seven cuts.
“And those are my favorites. If you want to check out all the available keyboard shortcuts for Shotcut, I’ve included the link in the comment section of this video.”
6:20 · the last minute is the channel outro. The link Ben promises is shotcut.org/howtos/keyboard-shortcuts/, the same page he scrolled at 1:49; in the published description it sits under Here is the Index of all Shotcut Keyboard Shortcuts rather than in the comments. Nothing further is demonstrated after 5:52.
Each step is the shortcut, the menu route it replaces, and what is visibly different on screen afterwards. Everything below was read off the frames of the video, not from documentation.
Open Help → About Shotcut. The dialog on screen here reads Shotcut version 20.11.28, and Ben asks you to be on at least that version before following along. Every key combination below was read off that build.
Worth noting for anyone cross-reading the older tutorials on this site: on this November 2020 build the master track head already reads Output, not Master. The rename is visible here earlier than the 2021 pages in this series imply.
Before showing anything, Ben scrolls Shotcut’s own published index of every shortcut, grouped by area: Main Menu, Player, Timeline, Keyframes, Rich Text Editor, with a Windows/Linux column and a macOS column side by side. He is showing you it exists, not asking you to learn it.
“I’ve been using Shotcut exclusively for a little bit more than a year now, and by no means do I have all the shortcuts memorized — and you don’t need to.”
Click the clip on the timeline so it is selected, press Ctrl+C, then press Ctrl+V repeatedly. The menu route this replaces is Edit → Copy followed by Edit → Paste, reopened for every single repeat.
Only Copy and Paste are demonstrated, but the same menu shows Cut on Ctrl+X sitting directly above them, and the first entry reads Undo Lift from track rather than plain Undo — Shotcut names the action it is about to reverse.
The space bar toggles playback on the timeline — press once to play, again to pause. Ctrl+S is the same key you already use everywhere else, and Ben’s habit is to press it every ten changes rather than at any natural stopping point.
“I actually make a habit of pressing control S every 10 changes I make, just as an insurance policy, because I’m paranoid and I know how it feels to lose work.” The unsaved state is visible the whole time in the title bar as Untitled*.
The route being replaced is three deliberate actions: right-click the V1 track head, open Track Operations, choose Add Video Track. The key does it in one, and the new track appears above the existing ones with the track head numbering shifting up.
The two neighbours in that submenu are worth knowing but are never pressed in this video: Insert Track is Ctrl+Alt+I and Remove Track is Ctrl+Alt+U. Insert is not the same as Add — it places the new track at the current position in the stack rather than on top — and the video does not demonstrate the difference.
Park the playhead on the frame you want, then press Ctrl+Shift+E. It opens the same save dialog that File → Export Frame... opens, so you still pick the filename and location — what you skip is walking the menu to get there.
Move the playhead to the cut point and press S. No modifier, no selection step. The route it replaces is the ][ button in the timeline toolbar, which is the method Ben uses in most of his other tutorials because it is easier to see on camera.
“It does the same thing, and I can add as many splits quickly doing that that way.” The demonstration ends with seven splits across one clip, made faster than the toolbar route could reach the first one.
The first table is the eight Ben actually presses on camera. The second is everything else that is legible in the menus he opens — on screen in this video, but never demonstrated. Nothing has been added from Shotcut’s documentation to fill either table out.
| Key | What it does | Menu route it replaces | Seen at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+C | Copy the selected clip | Edit → Copy | 2:54, 3:00 |
| Ctrl+V | Paste at the playhead; the playhead then sits at the end of the pasted copy | Edit → Paste | 2:54, 3:20 |
| Space | Play the timeline; press again to pause | The player transport buttons | 3:46 |
| Ctrl+S | Save the project | File → Save | 4:00, 5:10 |
| Ctrl+I | Add a video track, on top of the stack | right-click the track head → Track Operations → Add Video Track | 4:30, 4:40 |
| Ctrl+U | Add an audio track, below the video tracks | right-click the track head → Track Operations → Add Audio Track | 4:30, 4:53 |
| Ctrl+Shift+E | Export the current frame as an image | File → Export Frame... | 5:10, 5:22 |
| S | Split the clip at the playhead | the ][ button on the timeline toolbar | 5:43, 5:47 |
| Key | Command as printed | Where it is visible |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+Z | Undo Lift from track | Edit menu · 2:54 |
| Ctrl+Y | Redo | Edit menu · 2:54 |
| Ctrl+X | Cut | Edit menu · 2:54 |
| Ctrl+Alt+I | Insert Track | Track Operations submenu · 4:30 |
| Ctrl+Alt+U | Remove Track | Track Operations submenu · 4:30 |
| Ctrl+N | New | File menu · 5:10 |
| Ctrl+O | Open File... | File menu · 5:10 |
| Ctrl+Shift+O | Open Other... | File menu · 5:10 |
| Ctrl+Shift+S | Save As... | File menu · 5:10 |
| Ctrl+E | Export Video... | File menu · 5:10 |
| Ctrl+W | Close | File menu · 5:10 |
| Ctrl+Q | Exit | File menu · 5:10 |
Open MLT XML As Clip... and Export EDL... are the two entries in that File menu with no shortcut printed beside them at all.
| Setting | Value | Where it is shown |
|---|---|---|
| Shotcut version | 20.11.28 | Help → About Shotcut · 1:20 |
| Source clip | GH010546_1556443440144_high.MP4 | Playlist · duration 00:00:29:10 |
| Timebase | 24 fps | Derived: the frame field of the timecode counters runs to :23 |
| Master track head | Output | Timeline · not Master on this build |
| Preview scaling | ON at 360p | Player status bar |
| Video mode | 2560 x 1440 60 | New Project panel · never changed on screen |
| Filters used | None | The Filters panel is never opened |
| Tracks at the end | V1 only, with 7 splits | Timeline · 5:55 |
Has any of this changed since? Checked against Shotcut’s current published shortcut index at shotcut.org/howtos/keyboard-shortcuts/: all eight still hold. Two wording differences are worth knowing, and neither breaks anything. Copy is now listed as Ctrl+C or C — a bare C has been added as an alternative alongside the original. And the timeline command is now listed simply as Split, where this build’s tooltip says Split At Playhead (S); the key is the same S. That check is from Shotcut’s documentation, not from the video, and it has not been confirmed against a running current build.
On a Mac. Every Ctrl above becomes command, and Ctrl+Shift+E becomes shift+command+E. That mapping is the second column of the reference page Ben scrolls at 1:50 and is legible in the frame; the video itself is recorded on Windows throughout, so nothing on a Mac was demonstrated.
What this video does not answer. Whether shortcuts can be remapped — the Settings menu is never opened. What Insert Track does differently from Add Video Track — the entry is visible, never clicked. Whether Ctrl+V ripples the clips to its right or overwrites them — every paste in the demonstration lands past the end of the existing material, so the question never arises on screen. This page will not guess at any of the three.
Machine transcribed from the video audio. Spoken phrasing is left as-is, so key names appear as Ben says them aloud — “control C”, “control shift E”. Every timestamp plays the video in the hero from that second. Nothing on this page comes from here: every key combination was read off the pixels.
So today I'm going to be showing you some shortcuts and tips to help you make
your edit more productive. You don't necessarily need to use Shotcut for these
particular tips. These tips and shortcuts actually apply across any other video
editing software but in this case I'm going to be using Shotcut as the
platform to show you how you could speed up your edits, give you some tips and
some heuristics to make sure that you're more productive and also more
importantly you don't lose your work. I'm just a normal person with no video
editing background. I wanted to start making YouTube videos and maybe cool
transitions and effects. I don't really plan on being a professional video
editor so I was looking for a free easy to learn video editing software. Luckily
I stumbled on Shotcut, a free open-source video editing program that can do
many of the tricks you can do on more enterprise video editors like Adobe Premiere
or DaVinci Resolve but with a much simpler and leaner interface thus
dramatically shortening the learning curve. It just takes using your
imagination. So let's learn together. So to get started I am using Shotcut
version 20.11.28 and so make sure you have at least that version to make sure
that my tips will work with your Shotcut. Now this tip should apply to any
software you use not just Shotcut. It'll make your workflow more streamlined
and efficient. Did you know that Shotcut has an index of all their
keyboard shortcuts? Keyboard shortcuts has probably helped me personally cut
down my editing time and sped up my workflow. Don't worry I'll provide you a
link to the shortcuts at the end of this video as well as all other assets
I talk about for free. So I've been using Shotcut exclusively for a little
bit more than a year now and by no means do I have all the shortcuts
memorized and you don't need to. I suggest to memorize maybe the top 10
functions you most commonly use. I'll show you a few that I use most. These are
relatively common and seem simple but every second counts especially if
you're on deadline. The most common combination I probably use is copying
and pasting. Instead of continually going to edit, then copy, then edit, then
paste, I just remember control C is copy and control V is paste. So if I
copy a section of a clip and then repeat it over and over again, I just
select it and click control C. Then control V, control V, control V, control
V, control V, however many times I want to repeat it. Next is playing and
pausing your timeline. This is simple because it's just the spacebar. Click
the spacebar once to play and click it again to pause and so on and so forth.
Next is arguably the most important keyboard shortcut of them all. Saving and
that's just control S. I actually make a habit of pressing control S every 10
changes I make just as an insurance policy because I'm paranoid and I know how
it feels to lose work. When I work on the timeline I like stacking multiple
tracks. Traditionally when I want to add a new video track I right click
track V1, I choose track operations, then select add video track. But all you have
to do is press control I. The same thing with adding a new audio track. You just
press control U. There are times that you want to screen capture and save one
frame of your video as an image. The traditional way of doing it is going to
the frame you want to capture, then going to file, export frame, then save. You
can quickly get there by pressing control shift E. My last one is splitting a
video clip. In many of my tutorials I show you the long way by going to the
spot you want to split, then going to the split at playhead icon. In my own
edits I actually just press S. It does the same thing and I can add as many splits
quickly doing that that way. And those are my favorites. If you want to check out
all the available keyboard shortcuts for Shotcut I've included the link in the
comment section of this video. I just wanted to remind you that if you
haven't yet go visit my channel. I'm sure you'll find tons of Shotcut related
videos and don't forget to subscribe so that you know when I drop a new Shotcut
related tutorial. Every video on my channel was done on Shotcut. So aside from
examples of what Shotcut can do you can also visit my playlist of tips and
tutorials all geared toward the beginner. Visit my Shotcut tips and tricks
playlist and learn all the tips and tricks I've learned during my journey
toward video editing. So once again please subscribe and I'll see you next
time.
