DaVinci Resolve Trimming and Transitions

Refine your edit with precise trimming tools and add transitions between clips. Here’s how to do it in DaVinci Resolve on macOS, step by step — part of the free DaVinci Resolve beginner curriculum.

Lesson 4 of the DaVinci Resolve curriculum. Before this: Edit Page Basics. Next up: Color Grading Basics.

What you’ll do

• Use the Selection tool (A) to select clips on the timeline
• Use the Blade tool (B) to split a clip at the playhead position; switch back to A after splitting
• Split all clips at the playhead simultaneously with Command+Shift+B
• Ripple delete a selected clip with Forward Delete (Fn+Delete) — removes the clip and closes the gap
• Delete a clip leaving a gap with Delete — use this when you want to preserve timing
• Enter Trim mode by pressing T; cycle trim types with U: Ripple (one side shifts), Roll (both sides move, total duration unchanged), Slip (visible portion shifts, position/duration unchanged), Slide (clip position shifts, neighbors absorb change)
• Use comma/period to trim one frame left/right in Trim mode; Shift+comma/period to trim 5 frames
• Add the default Cross Dissolve transition at an edit point with Command+T
• Open the Effects Library (upper-left panel, Effects Library tab) and drag transitions from the Dissolve, Wipe, or Iris categories onto edit points in the timeline
• Adjust transition duration by dragging the edges of the transition in the timeline

Do it hands-free with Skilly

Reading steps is one thing; doing them while the menus are in front of you is another. Skilly is a voice-first tutor for macOS: you ask out loud — “where’s the trimming panel?” — and it answers while moving your cursor to the exact button, watching your actual DaVinci Resolve window. It’s the same DaVinci Resolve curriculum these lessons come from, taught live instead of read. Free to start.

Keep going

This is one stage of the full DaVinci Resolve beginner curriculum. Previous: Edit Page Basics. Continue with Color Grading Basics.