The 5 Most Crucial FCPX Keyboard Shortcuts

These five FCPX keyboard shortcuts are crucial if you want to increase your editing speed.

One of the big complaints about FCPX when it was first released was that the software was too “mouse-driven.” In other words, power users wanted to be able to use keyboard shortcuts to speed up their editorial process and didn’t think FCPX was well-equipped on this front.

Although things appeared that way on the surface, FCPX actually offered a whole slew of keyboard shortcuts that were specifically designed to speed up the editorial workflow. Here are five of the most important ones to learn right away if you want to increase your efficiency and overall speed.

1. P

If you don’t like working with the magnetic timeline in FCPX, hitting “P” on your keyboard will essentially make the timeline function more traditionally. It’ll let you delete clips without having everything else in your timeline snap into place, and will also allow you to drop clips freely anywhere in the timeline.

2. V

This is arguably the most widely used shortcut in FCPX among editors, as it allows you to disable/enable clips with just a single keystroke. I’ll typically use this shortcut to mute certain audio channels or connected clips/b-roll in order to quickly visualize what an edit change may look like without actually having to commit to it.

3. Option + S

This shortcut for soloing clips is essentially the opposite of the “V” shortcut. In other words, it allows you to disable every other clip in the timeline that’s not selected, so you can view a single shot or audio clip on its own without interference from surrounding elements.

4. Alt + W

If you’ve been using FCPX for a while, you know just how essential gap clips can be. They help to pad your timeline in the right places, add black space for titles to go over, and keep the overall structure of your edit in check. Thankfully, this shortcut allows you to quickly and easily add a gap clip while editing on the fly.

5. Option + Command + Up Arrow

For those of you who are still frustrated with how a magnetic timeline works, but for whatever reason don’t like using FCPX in “P” mode, this shortcut will be your lifesaver. When a clip is selected in the primary storyline, it’ll automatically lift it up as a connected clip and replace itself with a black gap. This allows you to keep the exact timing of your edit in check when moving around a-roll clips on your primary storyline.

Got any favorite keyboard shortcuts? We’d love to hear about how you speed up your workflow. Let us know in the comments below!