Pro Tools edit window navigation

[Cosme]

Hello,

Does anyone know how to grab the edit screen and slide it left or right?
I can do it in Nuendo, I can do it in FL Studio, I do it in Premiere and I can do it in Vegas. How is it done in Pro Tools?

Just to let you know why I need this, I do TV Commercial VoiceOvers often. Like the 7 I did these past 2 weeks.
I put 1 track on record and do the entire script. Then I cut out the spaces of silence and stack the audio clips going back and forth between track 1 and 2 to make a tight back to back voiceover, and when I'm doing this I'm pretty zoomed in so I only get to see about 4 or 5 clips at a time.

After I stack up some clips I have to slide the screen to the left to reveal more clips that are hidden in the right side of the screen.

To do this I have to go to the bottom of the screen and click on the little arrows to nudge over, grab all my clips, slide back to the left and continue repeating that process.

The universal navigator at the top is way to small to even bother.

Is there a shortcut key combination to do this like in every other program, or is this something that Avid needs to add to the next release of Pro Tools?

[capt kirk]

i just swish across the top of my apple mouse...it moves left or right by finger touch....very quick....i edit tv series....

[Weird Audio]

You mean just scroll from the beginning of the track to the end .
If I can remember on MAC its shift and the mouse scroll wheel. There is even a BIG BAR at the very bottom of the window that lets you move the timeline.

You can resize the tracks time line so the entire session fits onto the edit window. OPTION and MOUSE SCROLL WHEEL this can stretch out the time line or make it tighter so you can see the whole song or just a very small amount of it. Very useful.

[Richard901]

These shortcuts from page 13 of the Pro Tools Shortcuts PDF might help:
Mac shortcuts _____ Windows shortcuts


If you've only got two columns of clips:
Go to end of session
Option+Return _____ Ctrl+Enter

Return to start of session
Return _____ Enter



If you've got several columns of clips:
Select left clip then
Go to and select next Clip
Control+Tab _____ Start+Tab

Go to and select previous Clip
Control+Option+Tab _____ Start+Ctrl+Tab or Start+Ctrl

[grovephil]

I do this with a 2 finger swipe on a trackpad (mac).
BTW are you aware of shuffle mode (F1) for this sort of work? It pulls all other clips over to fill the gaps when a section is deleted. I use it alot for voice work.

[Cosme]

If Avid adds this it would make Pro Tools so much more powerful for me.
I guess I'm spoiled because I use so many other programs and they all have this feature and I'm stomped at the fact that Pro Tools doesn't do it. Hopefully it does and I just don't know how yet.

When I'm tight for time to meet a deadline (which is always the case) on most cases I switch my project to nuendo just because that screen grab and move around feature speeds up my edit by so much. Then I bring it back to Pro Tools for mix and master.

I'm going to record a screen capture video right now to show you what I mean, and post it on here and hopefully someone can say yes pro tools does this

@capt kirk,
I have a regular wireless mouse. Maybe all I'll need is an apple mouse!
We'll see.

Thank you all for your replies.

[Richard901]

Right-click on clip and select Snap to Previous.

[soybalm]

Also, if you turn off the Tab to transient button that is located just above the universe window to the left, you can Tab through you clips with just the Tab key. To backward, I think it's option tab on a mac and control tab on a PC.
After you tighten up a screen full of clips. Tab to the first off screen clip then press shift to select all remaining clips. You could also hit alpha keys 1-5 for quick zooms (custom if you wish) to drag. I would definitely try the aforementioned Shuffle mode. No other program really does it this well. It's made for voice over. I would read the reference manual about shuffle mode to really make it work for you.

Originally Posted by Richard901

These shortcuts from page 13 of the Pro Tools Shortcuts PDF might help:
Mac shortcuts _____ Windows shortcuts


If you've only got two columns of clips:
Go to end of session
Option+Return _____ Ctrl+Enter

Return to start of session
Return _____ Enter



If you've got several columns of clips:
Select left clip then
Go to and select next Clip
Control+Tab _____ Start+Tab

Go to and select previous Clip
Control+Option+Tab _____ Start+Ctrl+Tab or Start+Ctrl

[The Weed]

There's also the Universe Window you can display and use to quickly move through a project.

I do a lot of editing of commercials and while I do occasioanlly use two tracks to tighten a voiceover, I mainly use Shuffle and Nudge to remove a breath and then move the right hand clip away from the left to make the transition as "natural" as possible yet as tight as possible. I also use a 5 button mouse with the following assignments to really speed up editing:

Left Click = Left Click

Right Click = B (Separate at Cursor in Commands Focus Mode) (I don't use the two Right Click menus at all, really, but I've programmed a button on my keyboard for Right Click in case I ever want those menus.)

Scroll Wheel Button = Ctrl+B on PC or Delete on Mac (I can't program Delete on Windows with my MS mouse driver, but it works just as well as Delete, plus holding down the Scroll Wheel Button and Alt brings up the Bounce Dialogue)

Large Thumb Button = Number Keypad "+" (Nudge Right by the Nudge Value)

Small Thumb Button = Number Keypad "-" (Nudge Left by the Nudge Value)

Cheers,

[Cosme]

Here is the screen capture video of what I wanted to show you. Pro Tools really needs this. I put the video on youtube: http://youtu.be/Iuy2p1-JBnE