Video editor interface
The interface separates project-level actions, visual composition, item properties, and time-based editing without hiding the current output.
Top bar
| Control | Action | Important behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Exit to HUD | Returns to the Recorder. | The current project remains available. |
| Project selector | Shows the current project and opens another project. | Unavailable project data is handled by the project-loading state. |
| Undo / Redo | Moves through editing snapshots. | Up to 50 snapshots in the current editor session; history is not restored after reopening. |
| Performance monitor | Reports preview health. | States are Idle, Good, Warning, and Critical. |
| Discord | Opens the Beam community. | External link. |
| Export | Opens export settings. | Available when a project is loaded. |
| Window controls | Minimize, maximize or restore, and close. | Native desktop-window actions. |
Sidebar and properties
The sidebar opens Canvas, Clip, Zooms, Cursor, Captions, Audio, and Settings. The adjacent panel changes with the active category and current selection. On narrow or short windows, labels collapse while their icons remain available.
| Selection | Panel behavior |
|---|---|
| Clip | Opens properties compatible with the primary selected clip. |
| Zoom | Opens the selected zoom's focus and magnification controls. |
| Canvas | Opens composition-wide background and branding controls. |
| Cursor | Opens global cursor presentation without requiring a clip selection. |
| Multiple clips | Uses one primary clip and applies a change only to compatible selected clips. |
Canvas toolbar
| Control | Values | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:5, 3:4, 4:3, 21:9 | Changes the output canvas ratio. |
| Crop | Open crop editor | Available only for exactly one selected visual clip. |
| Grid | On or Off | Shows or hides the 3×3 alignment guide. |
| Viewport zoom | 25%–500%; reset to 100% | Changes only the editor view, never export. |
| Pan | Middle-drag or Space-drag | Moves the zoomed editor viewport. |
Timeline toolbar
| Control | Action | Constraint or default |
|---|---|---|
| Add | Imports Video, Image, or Audio; creates Text or Blur. | Adds at the playhead. |
| Split | Divides one selected clip at the playhead. | Requires the playhead strictly inside the clip; shortcut S. |
| Magnet | Snaps edits to useful boundaries. | Enabled by default. |
| Skip Back / Forward | Moves the playhead to timeline start or end. | Project duration dependent. |
| Play / Pause | Previews or pauses the composition. | Shortcut Space outside editable fields. |
| Time display | Shows current and total time. | MM:SS below one hour; HH:MM:SS at one hour or more. |
| Playback Quality | Full, Half, Quarter | Preview only; export remains full quality. |
| Timeline zoom | 100%–3200% | Also controlled with Ctrl+mouse wheel. |
Timeline tracks
Beam creates tracks for grouped visual media, zooms, text captions, keyboard captions, system audio, microphone audio, and imported audio when those sources exist.
- Click a clip to make it the current selection.
- Click a track header to select every clip on that track; use Ctrl, Cmd, or Shift on track headers to build an additive track selection. The clip nearest the playhead becomes primary.
- Drag visual track headers to reorder their layer order.
- Move a clip or trim its start and end handles. Linked recording media move together.
- Dragging media beyond the current end extends the timeline.
- Click the Zoom track to add a manual zoom or the text-caption track to add an empty caption.
- Right-click a clip for the supported Copy, Paste, Delete, and Hold Frame actions.
Space has two canvas roles
Space toggles playback, while holding Space during a drag pans a zoomed canvas. Editable fields ignore these global shortcuts.
Direct and multiple selection
Click a supported visual, caption, blur layer, cursor, or screen area directly on the canvas, or select the same item on the timeline. A multiple selection uses one primary clip for the panel.
- Visual appearance and transforms propagate only to compatible visual clips.
- Blur properties propagate only to selected blur clips.
- Volume propagates only to selected audio clips.
- Caption styling propagates only to captions of the same text or keyboard subtype.
- Custom caption text and Follow Cursor never propagate across a multiple selection.
- Crop and canvas transformation handles require exactly one selected visual clip.