Use snapping for exact timing alignment and change only the timeline’s horizontal scale when you need frame-level precision or a whole-composition overview.
Where: Studio mode → Timeline header → Snap and zoom controls
Key ideas
- Snap aligns timing: When enabled, keyframes and trim handles magnetize to nearby timing boundaries so coordinated beats and cuts share an exact time.
- Zoom changes the view, not timing: The time axis ranges from a broad composition view to a detailed view without changing duration, FPS, keyframes, or clip length.
- Fit restores context: Fit compresses the active timeline into the available pane when detailed zoom makes orientation difficult.
Steps
- Enable Snap before dragging a keyframe or trim handle that must align with another timing boundary.
- Zoom in with the header control or Cmd/Ctrl+Plus until adjacent times are visually distinct.
- Drag the edit and confirm the snapped time in the playhead/time display.
- Temporarily disable Snap when a deliberately offset or in-between value is required.
- Use Cmd/Ctrl+0 to fit the active timeline, then play across the edited region.
Zoom shortcut reference
- Cmd/Ctrl+-: zoom out.
- Cmd/Ctrl++: zoom in.
- Cmd/Ctrl+0: fit the active timeline.
- The timeline zoom range is approximately 0.5×–16×.
Troubleshooting
An item will not stay at the intended offset
Disable Snap for that drag or zoom in so the intended unsnapped position is easier to place.