Edit by transcript

The editor’s Transcript tool shows what’s said on the timeline, word by word, from the transcript Shotz makes of every video and sound file. You can cut a talking video just by taking out words.

Jump to a word

Choose Transcript in the tools on the left. Each speaker’s words are shown with the time they start. Click a word to move the playhead there.

Cut words

1. Drag across the words you want to cut, or click one word and Shift-click another to pick everything between.
2. Press Delete, or choose the button at the top of the panel, which says what it will cut: Cut this word or, for example, Cut 5 words. Clear lets go of the words without cutting.

The words go, with the moment after each up to the next word, so what’s left closes up naturally. Everything on the timeline at that moment is cut and closes up too: the picture, the music and any captions, so they all stay in step. Tracks you’ve locked are left as they are. Each cut is one step, so Undo puts it back. Press Esc to let go of the words you picked.

Filler words and pauses

When no words are picked, the top of the panel has two buttons, each shown only when there’s something to cut:

• Remove filler words, for example Remove 4 filler words, cuts every “um”, “uh” and “er” in one go. Filler words are shown in grey in the transcript.
• Shorten pauses, for example Shorten 3 pauses, cuts each silence between words that’s longer than a second down to a short breath.

Each says how much shorter it made the edit, and is one step you can undo.

Good to know

• Transcripts arrive a minute or two after a file is uploaded. Files uploaded before filler words were kept in transcripts show no filler words, but their pauses can still be shortened.
• Captions never show filler words, even when they’re in the transcript.
• If you can only comment on an edit, the transcript is there to read and jump around in, but not to cut.