FCP X: Timeline Index Trick

One of the often-unrecognized features in Final Cut Pro X is the Timeline Index. (Oh! In looking over past articles, I just realized I haven’t written about this – though I cover it extensively in my Final Cut video training. I will have to remedy that soon.)

The Timeline Index is a list of all the different clips, Roles, and elements you have in your Project, which makes it very easy to find and select anything.

Here’s a very simple technique you can use in your next Project to prevent embarrassing yourself in public. How? By quickly making sure all your titles are placed and spelled correctly.

To display the Index click this icon in the lower left corner of the Timeline (or type Shift+Cmd+2)

To resize the Index, grab the vertical line along the right edge and drag. This line can be hard to grab, so drag your mouse REALLY slowly across the edge until the cursor changes shape.

Resizing is not necessary – it just makes the contents of the Index easier to read.

Here’s the trick – click the Titles button at the bottom.

Now the Index displays just the titles in your Project.

Click the top title to select it.

Now, using the Up/Down arrow keys, you can quickly – and I mean FAST – jump from one title to the next using just the arrow keys. This changes the selected title in the Index, jumps the playhead to the title in the Timeline, and displays the first frame of the title in the Viewer.

This is a virtually instant way to check all your titles for correct spelling, as well as verify they are positioned properly in the Timeline.

EXTRA CREDIT

You can adjust column widths by dragging the vertical divider between column headers. To enter a Note, double-click inside the Notes field for each title.

Very fast. Very cool.

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