Keyboard Shortcuts
Kdenlive has many keyboard shortcuts already defined by default. You can change these anytime through Menu ‣ Settings ‣ Configure keyboard shortcuts or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+, . See also the Configure Shortcuts chapter.
You can also download keyboard shortcut definition files (aka Kdenlive Keyboard Schemes) from the KDE Store. See also the Useful Resources chapter.
File
| Action Name | Shortcuts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| New | Ctrl+N | Creates a new Kdenlive project |
| Open… | Ctrl+O | Opens a Kdenlive project |
| Quit | Ctrl+Q | Exits Kdenlive |
| Save | Ctrl+S | Saves the current state of the project |
| Save As… | Ctrl+Shift+S | Saves the current state of the project with the name of your choice |
General
| Action Name | Shortcuts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Collapse/Expand Item | < | |
| Cut | Ctrl+X | Current selection |
| Copy | Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Ins | Current selection |
| Delete Selected Item | Del | |
| Find Action… | Ctrl+Alt+I | Opens the action window. Only possible with this shortcut. |
| Full Screen Mode | Ctrl+Shift+F | |
| Kdenlive Handbook | F1 | |
| Switch Monitor Fullscreen | F11 or double-click | Monitor |
| Paste | Ctrl+V or Shift+Ins | |
| Redo | Ctrl+Shift+Z | |
| Rename… | F2 | |
| Show Menu Bar | Ctrl+M | Show Menu Bar Shows the menu bar again after it has been hidden |
| Select All | Ctrl+A | Works in: |
- Titler
Undo | Ctrl+Z |
Up | Alt+Up |
What’s This? | Shift+F1 |
Zoom In | Ctrl++ | Works in Timeline only
Zoom In | Ctrl+= or Ctrl+MW[[1]] | Works in:
- Effects keyframe panel
Zoom Out | Ctrl+- | Works in Timeline only
Zoom Out | Ctrl+MW[[1]] | Works in:
- Timeline
- Clip Monitor
- Project Monitor
- Project Bin
- Effects keyframe panel
Increment, Decrement | MW | Works in:
- Timeline: scroll the timeline left/right.
Shift+MWscroll vertical - Timeline Ruler
- Project and Clip Monitor
- Project Bin
- Effects keyframe pane, numbers and selections
Add to the selection | Shift+LMB[[2]] Shift+dragging | Works in:
- Timeline: adds clicked clips to the selection
- Timeline: adds multiple clips to the selection
- Titler: adds clicked clips to the selection
- Project Bin: adds all clips between already selected clip and clicked clip
Expand/Collapse | Shift+LMB[[2]] | Works in:
- Timeline: expand/collapse all tracks of the same type
- Effect/Composition Stack: expand/collapse all effects
- Project Bin: expand/collapse all folders
Navigate | Arrow Up/Down | Works in:
- Timeline: goes to the next track
- Effect/Composition Stack: goes to the next effect in the list
- Project Bin: goes to the next folder
Add to the selection | Ctrl+LMB[[2]] | Works in:
- Project Bin: adds clicked clips to the selection
- Effect: select keyframes
Double click | | Works in:
- Edit bookmark
- Project Bin: on a clip shows properties
- Project Bin: on an empty place opens add clip or folder
- Timeline: on a clip shows duration
- Timeline: into an empty part of a track makes the track active
- Monitor: opens monitor in a second monitor (if installed) in fullscreen mode
Reset value to default | MMB[[1]] or RMB[[3]] | Works in:
Navigation and Playback
| Action Name | Shortcuts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Align Playhead to Mouse Position | P | Timeline |
| Forward | L | Playback; press it again to cycle through the playback speeds (1x, 1.5x, 2x, 3x, 5.5x, 10x) |
| Forward 1 Frame | Right | Playback |
| Forward 1 Second | Shift+Right | Playback |
| Go to Clip End | End | Timeline |
| Go to Clip Start | Home | Timeline |
| Go to Next Guide | Ctrl+Right | Timeline |
| Go to Next Snap Point | Alt+Right | Timeline |
| Go to Previous Guide | Ctrl+Left | Timeline |
| Go to Previous Snap Point | Alt+Left | Timeline |
| Go to Project End | Ctrl+End | Timeline |
| Go to Project Start | Ctrl+Home | Timeline |
| Go to Zone End | Shift+O | Timeline |
| Go to Zone Start | Shift+I | Timeline |
| Loop Zone | Ctrl+Shift+Space | Playback |
| Pause | K | Playback |
| Play / Stop | Space | Playback |
| Play Zone | Ctrl+Space | Playback |
| Rewind | J | Playback; press it again to cycle through the playback speeds (-1x, -1.5x, -2x, -3x, -5.5x, -10x) |
| Rewind 1 Frame | Left | Playback |
| Rewind 1 Second | Shift+Left | Playback |
| Playback clip | Shift and move the mouse left/right | Inside the clip monitor |
Project Bin
| Action Name | Shortcuts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Closing the extra bins | CTRL+w |
Editing
| Action Name | Shortcuts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Focus Timecode | = | |
| Insert Zone in Project Bin | Ctrl+I | Clip monitor |
| Set Zone In | I | |
| Set Zone Out | O | |
| Adjust timeline zone | Shift+z | Adjusts timeline zone to selected clips |
| Switch Monitor | T | Switch between clip monitor and project monitor (timeline) |
| Select Target 1 | Ctrl+1 | 3-point-editing |
| Select Target 2 | Ctrl+2 | 3-point-editing |
| Select Target 3 | Ctrl+3 | 3-point-editing |
| Select Target 4 | Ctrl+4 | 3-point-editing |
| Select Target 5 | Ctrl+5 | 3-point-editing |
| Select Target 6 | Ctrl+6 | 3-point-editing |
| Select Target 7 | Ctrl+7 | 3-point-editing |
| Select Target 8 | Ctrl+8 | 3-point-editing |
| Select Target 9 | Ctrl+9 | 3-point-editing |
| Switch All Tracks Active | Alt+Shift+A | 3-point-editing |
| Toggle All Track Lock | Ctrl+Shift+L | Tracks |
| Toggle Track Hidden/Mute | Ctrl+Shift+H | Toggle video/audio track hidden/mute when selected |
| Toggle All Tracks Active | Shift+A | 3-point-editing |
| Toggle Track Active | A | 3-point-editing Activate the track as a target with shortcut A (this connects the track to the source) |
| Slip multiple clips at once | Shift+move | select all clips you want to slip with the selection tool using Shift then enable the slip tool and go ahead… |
| Slip a clip | left/right | Slip can be done with the mouse, with the left/right keys and with the buttons on the monitor toolbar. |
Timeline
| Action Name | Shortcuts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Add Clip to Selection | Alt++ | Adds the clip of the active track to the selection at playhead position. |
| Add Marker quickly | Num+* | On Numlock pad: * adds a marker |
| Add Subtitle | Shift+S | Adds a subtitle at playhead position. |
| Create a new subtitle layer | Shift+drag | Adds a new subtitle layer by dragging an existing subtitle down beyond the bottom of the subtitle track. |
| Add Transition to Selection | Alt+Shift++ | |
| Add/Remove Guide | G | Adds a timeline marker at playhead position. |
| Group Clips | Ctrl+G | Current selection |
| Ungroup Clips | Ctrl+Shift+G | Current selection |
| Edit Grouped Clips | Ctrl+click | Current selection |
| Cut All Clips | Ctrl+Shift+R | Cuts all clips at playhead position. Except tracks which are locked. |
| Cut Clip | Shift+R | Cuts the clip of the active track at playhead position. |
| Deselect Clip | - | |
| Deselect Transition | Shift+- | |
| Extract Timeline Zone | Shift+X | |
| Grab Current Item | Shift+G | Select a clip -> Shift+G -> move the clip with left/right |
| Insert Clip Zone in Timeline | V | |
| Lift Timeline Zone | Z | |
| Mix Clips | U | Or double click. Play head must be on the end/begin of 2 clips. Creates a transition between 2 clips on the same track. |
| Extract Clip | Shift+Del | Deletes the clip from the Timeline and removes the gap |
| Multitrack View | F12 | Tool -> Multicam tool must be disabled |
| Overwrite Clip Zone in Timeline | B | |
| Resize Item End | ) | On active track: Cut the clip at the playhead position and delete the remainder. On active track: Cut, delete and remove the empty space use Ripple Trim to Playhead. |
| Resize Item Start | ( | On active track: Cut the clip at the playhead position and delete the section from the start of the clip to the playhead. On active track: Cut, delete and remove the empty space use Ripple Trim to Playhead. |
| Select Clip | + | |
| Select Transition | Shift++ | |
| Start Preview Render | Shift+Return | |
| Razor Tool | X | Tools |
| Selection Tool | S | Tools |
| Spacer Tool | M | Tools |
| Deselect | Ctrl+Shift+A | Tracks |
| Select Audio Track 1 | Alt+1 | Tracks |
| Select Audio Track 2 | Alt+2 | Tracks |
| Select Audio Track 3 | Alt+3 | Tracks |
| Select Audio Track 4 | Alt+4 | Tracks |
| Select Audio Track 5 | Alt+5 | Tracks |
| Select Audio Track 6 | Alt+6 | Tracks |
| Select Audio Track 7 | Alt+7 | Tracks |
| Select Audio Track 8 | Alt+8 | Tracks |
| Select Audio Track 9 | Alt+9 | Tracks |
| Select Video Track 1 | 1 | Track selection in general and for 3-point-editing Multicam tool: You trim the clips in the desired track while the timeline is playing |
| Select Video Track 2 | 2 | Track selection in general and for 3-point-editing Multicam tool: You trim the clips in the desired track while the timeline is playing |
| Select Video Track 3 | 3 | Track selection in general and for 3-point-editing Multicam tool: You trim the clips in the desired track while the timeline is playing |
| Select Video Track 4 | 4 | Track selection in general and for 3-point-editing Multicam tool: You trim the clips in the desired track while the timeline is playing |
| Select Video Track 5 | 5 | Track selection in general and for 3-point-editing Multicam tool: You trim the clips in the desired track while the timeline is playing |
| Select Video Track 6 | 6 | Track selection in general and for 3-point-editing Multicam tool: You trim the clips in the desired track while the timeline is playing |
| Select Video Track 7 | 7 | Track selection in general and for 3-point-editing Multicam tool: You trim the clips in the desired track while the timeline is playing |
| Select Video Track 8 | 8 | Track selection in general and for 3-point-editing Multicam tool: You trim the clips in the desired track while the timeline is playing |
| Select Video Track 9 | 9 | Track selection in general and for 3-point-editing Multicam tool: You trim the clips in the desired track while the timeline is playing |
| Switch Track Target Audio Stream | ' | Tracks |
| Toggle Track Disabled | Shift+H | Tracks |
| Toggle Track Lock | Shift+L | Tracks |
| Toggle Track Target | Shift+T | 3-point-editing Select a video or audio track in the timeline (up/down arrow key) and set it as source with Shift+T. |
| Resize only audio or video part of a clip | Shift+resize | Only possible with keyboard |
| Move audio or video part to another track independently. | Alt+move | Only possible with keyboard |
| Adjust the speed of a clip | Ctrl+dragging | Only possible with keyboard |
| Timeline panning | Ctrl+dragging MMB+dragging[[1]] | Only possible with keyboard Hold Ctrl and click with LMB[[2]] into the timeline and start panning. Hold MMB[[1]] and start panning in the timeline. |
| Return from any tools back to Selection tool. | ESC | Only possible with keyboard |
| Tracks resized simultaneously | Shift+dragging | Either for video or audio tracks. |
| Tracks resized simultaneously to normal | Shift+double-click | Normalize track height either for video or audio tracks. |
| Track selection | up/down | |
| Toggle between sequence tabs | Ctrl+Tab Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Go to next sequence Go to previous sequence |
Titler
| Action Name | Shortcuts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Add text | Alt+T | Click on the canvas to add text |
| Add rectangle | Alt+R | Drag the mouse to draw a rectangle |
| Add ellipse | Alt+E | Drag the mouse to draw a ellipse. |
| Insert an image | Alt+I | Insert an image |
| Back to selection tool | Alt+S | |
| Move selected items vertical only. | Shift | Hold Shift moves selected items vertical only. |
| Move selected items horizontally only. | Shift+Alt | Hold Shift+Alt moves selected items horizontally only. |
Render
| Action Name | Shortcuts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Render | Ctrl+Return | Opens the Render window. |
Settings
| Action Name | Shortcuts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Configure Kdenlive… | Ctrl+Shift+, | Opens the configure window |
| Configure Keyboard Shortcuts… | Ctrl+Alt+, | Opens the shortcut window |
Raise Widgets with Shortcuts
You can assign shortcuts to raise docked widgets. In the Menu ‣ Settings ‣ Configure Keyboard Shortcuts (or Ctrl+Alt+, window search for “raise” and it will list all widgets that can be raised. Assign a keyboard shortcut to a widget, and if you press that key combination Kdenlive will bring the focus to the respective widget and select it.
Shortcuts for Keyframe Functions
You can assign shortcuts to the following three keyframe functions: Add/Remove Keyframe , Go to next keyframe and Go to previous keyframe.
Click on a clip in the timeline and you can use the shortcuts to add/remove keyframes or jump between them.
Command Search Bar
The command bar allows to easily search for any action in Kdenlive like changing themes, adding effects, opening files and more. It can be accessed with the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+I. The shortcut is defined by KDE-Framework, so do not change it.
Note This feature requires KDE Frameworks lib version 5.83.
[1] ([1],[2],[3],[4],[5])
MW = Mouse wheel; MMB = Middle mouse button (MW pressed)
[2] ([1],[2],[3],[4])
LMB = Left mouse button
[[3]]
RMB = Right mouse button *[RGB]: Red Green Blue *[VFX]: Visual Effects *[feathering]: Smoothing or blurring the edges of a feature *[LFO]: Low-Frequency Oscillation *[dB]: decibel *[LUFS]: Loudness Units Full Scale *[AI]: Artificial Intelligence *[LLM]: Large Language Model *[HSV]: Hue, Saturation, Value *[SOP/Sat]: S(lope), O(ffset), P(ower) / SATuration *[CDL]: Color Decision List *[HSL]: Hue, Saturation, Lightness - Using HSL color space is useful for subtle color changes *[px]: pixel *[hh:mm:ss:ff]: hours:minutes:seconds:frames *[Hz]: Hertz *[CIE]: Commission internationale de l'éclairage, French for International Commission on Illumination *[DCI]: Digital Cinema Initiative *[nadir]: direction pointing directly below a particular location *[OS]: Operating System *[decibel]: Unit of measurement (dB) for sound levels *[clipping]: A form of distortion that limits a signal once it exceeds a threshold *[Spectrogram]: Visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies of a signal as it varies with time *[prevent clipping]: Dynamic range compression (DRC)is an audio signal processing operation that reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds, thus reducing or compressing an audio signal's dynamic range. *[SNR]: Signal-to-Noise Ratio *[dbFS]: Decibels relative to full scale *[QHD]: Quad-HD *[UHD]: Ultra High Definition *[XML]: Extensible Markup Language *[fps]: frames per second *[NTSC]: National Television Standard Committee - defined the TV system used in the United States, Japan and many other countries *[PAL]: Phase Alternating Line - a colour encoding system for analogue television *[LFE]: Low Frequency Effects *[RAW]: The RAW file format is digital photography's equivalent of a negative in film photography: it contains untouched, raw pixel information straight from the digital camera's sensor *[DSLR]: Digital Single Lens Reflex *[DOF]: Depth of Field *[NDF]: Neutral Density Filter *[AVI]: Audio Video Interleave *[BT.601]: A standard from 1982 defining how RGB color primaries get turned into the YCbCr channels used by modern codecs *[BT.709]: A standard from 1990 which does the same at BT.601 but the transfer coefficients are slightly different *[grep]: A Unix command-line utility for searching plain-text data sets for lines that match a regular expression *[MLT]: Media Lovin' Toolkit - An open source software multimedia framework designed and developed for tv broadcasting *[SD]: Secure Digital - a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association *[SFX]: Special Effects *[VBR]: Variable Bit Rate *[HD]: High Definition *[GUI]: Graphical User Interface