DaVinci Resolve Edit Page Basics (beginner guide)

Assemble your rough cut on the Edit page using the full-featured editing tools. Here’s how to do it in DaVinci Resolve on macOS, step by step — part of the free DaVinci Resolve beginner curriculum.

Lesson 3 of the DaVinci Resolve curriculum. Before this: Media Import. Next up: Trimming and Transitions.

What you’ll do

• Understand the Edit page layout: Media Pool and panels (top-left), Source Viewer (top-center-left), Timeline Viewer (top-center-right), Inspector (top-right), Timeline (bottom half)
• Double-click a clip in the Media Pool to load it in the Source Viewer
• Mark an In point (I) and Out point (O) in the Source Viewer to select the portion you want
• Overwrite the selected source clip to the timeline (F10) — this replaces whatever is at the playhead
• Insert the selected source clip at the playhead (F9) — this ripples existing clips to make room
• Append a clip to the end of the timeline (Shift+F12)
• Zoom the timeline in/out with Command+= and Command+-
• Zoom to fit the entire timeline with Command+Shift+=
• Toggle snapping with N to snap clips to edit points
• Understand Video tracks (V1, V2, V3… stacking upward) and Audio tracks (A1, A2, A3… stacking downward) in the track headers on the left of the timeline
• Use Command+S to save the project

Do it hands-free with Skilly

Reading steps is one thing; doing them while the menus are in front of you is another. Skilly is a voice-first tutor for macOS: you ask out loud — “where’s the edit panel?” — and it answers while moving your cursor to the exact button, watching your actual DaVinci Resolve window. It’s the same DaVinci Resolve curriculum these lessons come from, taught live instead of read. Free to start.

Keep going

This is one stage of the full DaVinci Resolve beginner curriculum. Previous: Media Import. Continue with Trimming and Transitions.