The strip under the stage is the movie’s pulse — hold times, music, and where a too-long toast gets trimmed.
Time, pictures, music:
- Time ruler — click or drag to seek; hover for a ghost preview (ghost line + dimmer time chip) until you click
- Photo lane — slides, intro, and group cells
- Music lane — soundtrack clips
Chrome above shows selected clip name + duration and zoom. Readout is fit-relative: 1.0× = whole project in the window; 3.0× = three windows wide.
Need taller thumbs? Drag the thin seam above the Timeline (between the preview row and the filmstrip) up to grow the photo lane, down to shrink it. Extra height runs from 0 to about 160 points and is remembered across launches. ⌘+ / ⌘- still scale the base row with UI text size; this drag adds on top.
Zoom out for the whole birthday; in when a half-second matters.
- Zoom slider (minus / plus magnifying glass) — scale updates live as you drag; all the way left for an end-to-end overview
- Pinch on a trackpad to zoom the strip
- Scroll-wheel zoom (pointer over the Timeline)
- ⌥⌘+ / ⌥⌘- zoom in / out
- Two-finger trackpad pan or horizontal scroll to move along the strip
- Middle-mouse drag to pan
⌘+ / ⌘- / ⌘0 are UI text size (Library thumbs and Timeline row height), not Timeline zoom.
Once slides exceed a readable fit, the timeline scrolls instead of squeezing. Cells keep a minimum width (thumbs, motion label, duration). Very long projects cap at about 8 windows — zoom in from there. A very short hold still gets a clickable cell.
During playback the strip follows the playhead. Hand-pan while paused is never yanked back. Drag near either edge to auto-scroll. Hover-scrub on the ruler stands down while the strip travels under the pointer (trackpad momentum), then re-syncs when it settles.
Dragging the playhead, a blue time chip shows tenths, then hundredths / frames as you zoom in. ← / → nudge (~0.1s, accelerates if held); ⇧ for larger steps.
Move the awkward photo. Shorten what overstays. Leave the good ones alone.
Drag clips on the photo lane. Drag from the Library into a gap to insert or move; drop on a single or group seat to Replace. Music clips reorder on the music lane.
First click on a group selects the whole window; second click on a thumb drills into that seat. See Organizing.
Select a clip, then drag edge grips on either end:
- Videos — frame feedback in the trim; 2 second minimum. Reset Length restores the full file
- Music — the edge auditions that moment in the source song (the mixed bed stays paused). Reset Length returns to the auto-skipped quiet-edge window, or the full file if none was found
- Stills — edge drag changes how long the slide holds
Right-click a photo or video on the photo lane:
- Slide Transition — pick a cut, or Random (groups: Change Transition / Ungroup / Group Transition when several clips are selected)
- Rotate Right / Rotate Left / Flip Horizontal / Flip Vertical
- Set Duration… (⌘D)
- Auto Caption or Clear Caption
- Remove from Project (⌘⌫)
- Videos also: Mute Video Sound / Unmute Video Sound, Reset Length
Right-click a video or music clip for trim:
- Set Start Here / Set End Here — trim in/out at the playhead
- Reset Length
The Inspector clip footer offers the same playhead trims for a selected video or soundtrack. ⌘1 / ⌘2 = Set Start / Set End; ⌘D opens Set Duration… (value selected to type; applies to every selected slide). Reset Slide Durations (Motion → Timeline / Library ⋯) restores default still timing.
A slide with no caption offers Auto Caption (or Auto Caption N Untitled Slides for a multi-selection of blanks). Once it has text, that item is Clear Caption.
Intro cell: Disable Intro Slide.
Sort and shuffle from the Inspector when order still feels wrong.
Inspector → Motion → Timeline:
- Sort by Date Taken — Oldest First / Newest First / Import Order
- Shuffle Slides — pauses playback, randomizes photo order, seeks to the start
- Shuffle Transitions — keeps photo order; starts a fresh deal of single-slide cuts, group kinds, and window positions. Cadence, which group types are on, and card counts stay. Hand-picked Slide Transitions: asks before clearing. Also Library ⋯:
- Reset Slide Durations
The intro stays first. ⌘Z undoes sort / shuffle.
Every show closes on a short MemoryString credit. On the photo lane that hold is a trailing black end cell — click it to select the end card (same as scrubbing into the closing credit). It is not a media clip you can trim or reorder.
Multi-photo windows collapse followers onto a lead cell (for example “stack of 4”, “carousel of 5”, “ribbon of N”, “pair of 2”, “filmstrip of N”, “Scatter & Settle”). The cell can show a multi-thumb strip and per-video mute badges. One cell, many faces. See Multi-photo groups.