Get to know the Wabcut window

Wabcut's panels sit on a black stage as rounded islands, each with a tab and a colour dot. There is no menu bar: everything is in the File menu, the title bar, the left rail and the panels themselves.

The File menu#

Open it with Alt+F or by clicking the logo, top left. It has:

• "Home", "New Project" (Ctrl+Alt+N), "Open Project…" (Ctrl+O);
• "Save" (Ctrl+S), "Save As…" (Ctrl+Shift+S);
• "Import…" (Ctrl+I), for media and timelines;
• "Relink Offline Media…", "Recover…", "Export Timeline…", "Collect Files…";
• "Settings…" (Ctrl+,), "Keyboard Shortcuts…" (Ctrl+Alt+K);
• "Window": every panel. A checked one is open in this workspace; choosing a closed one opens it. "Reset Panel Layout" is here too;
• "Exit" (Ctrl+Q).

The title bar#

• The sequence pill switches sequences. Its list also has "New Sequence…" (Ctrl+N), "Reframe…", "Rough Cut from Script…", "Narration from Script…" and "Podcast Workflow…".
• The command palette button (Ctrl+Shift+P). See Use the command palette and the Assistant.
• Undo (Ctrl+Z) and Redo (Ctrl+Shift+Z). Their tooltip names the step.
• "Save" and "Export" (Ctrl+M). A dot on Save means there are unsaved changes, and its tooltip says when the project was last autosaved. Settings > Interface can show the GPU and autosave status in the title bar again.

Workspaces#

The tabs in the middle of the title bar are your workspaces. None is built in: the first start makes one from the Edit preset, and "+" after the tabs makes a new one from a preset or as a copy of the current one.

Right-click a tab for "Rename", "Duplicate", "Move left" / "Move right", "Reset layout" (back to its preset) and "Delete workspace" (the last one stays). Double-click a tab to rename it, and drag a tab to move it.

Arrange the panels#

Each workspace keeps its own layout, and you change it right on the workbench.

• Panels sit in groups. A group with several panels shows them as tabs: click a tab to show its panel, and click its × (or middle-click the tab) to close it. The × at the end of a panel's header closes the panel too.

• Move a panel by dragging its tab, or a group's grip (the dotted handle at the end of the header):

  • onto another group's tabs or middle, to add it there as a tab;
  • near a group's edge, to dock beside it (that group gives it half its room);
  • to the edge of the window, to run along that whole side;
  • outside the panels, or with Ctrl held, to give it a window of its own. The pop-out button does the same, and closing the window docks the panel back.

  Where the panel will land lights up while you drag.

• Bring closed panels back from the left rail, File > "Window", or their focus keys: Shift+1 Library, Shift+2 Source Monitor, Shift+3 Timeline, Shift+4 Program Monitor, Shift+7 Effects. They open next to panels like them.

• Resize by dragging the gutter between two groups; a double-click shares the room evenly. A guide line follows the pointer and the panels resize when you let go (Settings > Interface > "Resize panels live" makes them follow the pointer instead).

• File > "Reset Panel Layout" puts the workspace back the way its preset lays it out.

The left rail#

The rail along the left opens panels: "Library" (Shift+1), "Effects" (Shift+7), "Transcript", "Audio Tools", "Essential Sound", "Callouts" (titles, templates and stickers), "Highlights", "Markers", "Review", "Shorts", "Takes" and "Generate".

Right-click the rail to hide an entry or move it up or down, or use Settings > Interface > "Left rail", which also resets it. Help and Settings sit at the bottom.

Settings#

Settings (the gear at the bottom of the rail, or Ctrl+,) is one window with these pages:

The Program Monitor#

The Program Monitor works like Premiere's: a click selects what is under the pointer, a double-click edits a text or title in place, and each further double-click picks the object behind it.

The time bar under the picture shows the whole sequence, with its clips, edit points, markers and the In/Out range. Click or drag it to move the playhead. The wheel steps frames, Ctrl+wheel zooms and Shift+wheel scrolls.

The timeline#

The Tracks panel keeps its tools in the header, in Premiere's groups. A small corner mark on a button means it holds more tools: right-click it, or press and hold, to pick another (Ripple holds Rolling, Rate Stretch and Remix; Slip holds Slide; Hand holds Zoom).

• "Snap" (S) and "Linked" are labelled switches at the right end of the sequence tabs.
• The pointer shows what a press will do: trim brackets on clip edges (yellow for a ripple trim), the razor, the pen, and so on.
• Drops. Clips you drop from the Library, the Source Monitor or File Explorer snap to the clip in front, the playhead and markers while Snap is on. A drop overwrites only where it lands, as in Premiere (hold Ctrl to insert instead): its picture goes on the track under the pointer and its sound on the matching audio track, or the next free one, so clips on the other tracks stay whole.
• Files dropped from File Explorer are imported first, and several files go one after another. Holding a drag over the ruler adds a video track (below the last track, an audio track), and sequences from the Library drop in as nested clips.