Time-Saving FCP Editing Tips

Hello you beautiful soul. Let's dive into Final Cut and make editing a little more hassle-free with three tips that'll save you a bunch of time.

Option-drag to copy transitions (and anything else)

Say you want to reuse the same transition you already customized. Instead of going back to the transitions browser and redialing all your adjustments, just hold Option and drag that original transition wherever you want, all your tweaks come with it. And if you didn't know, this works on clips or just about anything on your timeline: hold Option, drag, and you get an instant identical copy of whatever you selected.

Drag a color from one element to another

Customizing a plugin or a title? (Quick one: double-click the inspector to make it way bigger so you can actually see what you're doing.) Say you want your subtitle color to match your title color exactly. Instead of guessing or fiddling with the picker, just drag the title's color palette onto the subtitle's color palette. One drag, no buttons, and the exact color transfers.

Master paste attributes

To copy effects from one clip to another, press Command C on the clip with the adjustments, then Command Shift V on the clip you want them on. The Paste Attributes menu lets you pick exactly what transfers, effects, audio, resizing, color grading, and you can paste onto multiple clips at once. Here's a great use: say you want to swap out your music but you spent forever using the range tool to duck sections under your dialogue. Instead of redoing all that, drop your new song starting where the old one starts, press Command C on the old music, and Command Shift V on the new. The key: change Stretch to Fit to Maintain, so the keyframes don't stretch to the new duration and instead line up exactly like they were on the old track.