About this list
This list is not just as a technical list of all the shortcuts in Final Cut Pro. This list will also include examples of where I regularly use those shortcuts. If you have suggestions for shortcuts that you use a lot then drop me an email or message in the Free Final Cut Pro X Tutorials group on Facebook. Happy editing!
J, K & L – Playing forwards, backwards pausing, rewind and fast-forward
Play your clip backwards with J, forwards with L and pause playback with K.
If you double, or triple, tap J or L then you will rewind or fast-forward your clips.
Holding J or L with K will play your clips slowly at 1/3 the speed.
Timeline Navigation, Selection & Editing Shortcuts for Final Cut Pro X + PDF Crib Sheet
Tools : ATBRP
These are the main tools I toggle between when working in Final Cut Pro X. They allow you to control your edits, move your clips, select keyframes, trim edits and much more! Definitely worth learning these ones.
- A – Select Tool
- T – Trim Tool
- P – Position Tool
- R – Range Selection
- B – Blade Tool
The Select Tool (A) is my goto tool. For moving clips around on the timeline, scrubbing, drag and drop editing and much more it is invaluable.
The Trim Tool (T) is useful for rolling edits and slipping edits on the timeline. If you are making edits where you don’t want to change the overall duration or want to time cuts to the beat then this is a really useful tool to work with.
The Position Tool (P) allows you to move clips without the magnetic timeline snapping your edits. This is great if you need to move clips, trim clips or make adjustments of your timeline but do not want those changes to ripple down the timeline.
The Range Selection Tool (R) is super useful for making selections of more than one clips, selecting areas where you want to dip the audio or selecting parts of your timeline that you want o export independently.
The Blade Tool (B) allows you to chop things up. This is great if you want to make a slice in a clip in half. Also with the COMMAND modifier key, you can make a slice across multiple layers of your timeline.
Zooming Shortcuts in Final Cut Pro
CMD & -/= (minus or plus) – Zoom out/in on your timeline or other selected windows such as the viewer or library. I always think of this as CMD & +/- but actually it is the = sign for plus as you are not hitting SHIFT when you toggle it.
SHIFT + Z – So useful! Zoom to the entire timeline or fit the clip in the viewer. It will also jump your filmstrips to thumbnail view in the library browser.
CMD + A : Select All
This allows us to select all of the clips on our timeline or all of our media in our library. The most common use I have for this particular shortcut is when copying an edit to a new sequence. For example, if you have your 1920 x 1080 full HD edit completed and are moving to edit your square edit for Facebook or Instagram then this allows you to select everything and copy it to your new timeline.
SHIFT + CMD + A : Deselect All
This is great for deselecting clips selections or range selections. A common use for me is when clearing a selection of a clip before exporting or after using a range to modify audio levels in your timeline. There are equivalents in Adobe Photoshop and InDesign that I use a lot too and deselecting everything, or making sure you have everything deselected, is often just as important as making a selection.
X (with playhead positioned over a clip) : Select Clip
Position your playhead over a clip in your timeline or in the Library browser and hit x to select that entire clip. This will also clear existing in and out points on the clip that you are selecting.