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Version: 0.4.2

Tracks and Linked Clips

Manage video and audio tracks, then decide when linked clips should stay together and when you need to edit one on its own.

Use the track header​

Double-click a track name to rename it. Use the lock button to protect the track from edits. Audio tracks also have Mute, Solo, and a volume control. Video tracks have Hide and Show. Drag the resize handle at the track's edge when you need more room. Hold Shift while dragging to resize every track of the same type.

Add tracks​

  1. Right-click a track header or the empty space below the headers.
  2. Choose Add Video Track or Add Audio Track.

Solar Sailer names the new track automatically. You can also create tracks by dragging a clip past the outer edge of its part of the timeline. See Move, Trim, and Slip Clips.

Reorder tracks​

Drag a track by its name and drop it on another track. Video tracks can move within the video tracks, and audio tracks can move within the audio tracks. They can't cross between the two groups.

Remove tracks​

  1. Right-click the track you want to remove.
  2. Choose Delete Track.
  3. Confirm the deletion if the track contains clips.

Deleting a track also deletes every clip on it. Locked tracks can't be deleted, and the timeline always keeps at least one video track and one audio track.

Choose Delete Empty Tracks to remove every eligible empty track at once. Locked tracks stay, as does the last track of each type. Press Ctrl+Z once to restore all tracks removed by that command. Undo also restores a track deleted with its clips.

Edit linked clips together​

Links usually connect the video and audio from the same source. With Linked Selection on, selecting one clip selects its linked partners. Trimming, slipping, splitting, and deleting one clip also apply to its partners.

A drag handles locks differently. Unlocked clips move, while clips on locked tracks stay put. That includes a locked linked partner, so check the pair after the move.

A trim or slip is stricter. If Linked Selection is on and a partner sits on a locked track, the edit is blocked. Splitting or deleting one linked clip is blocked for the same reason.

Turn Linked Selection off to move, trim, slip, split, or delete one clip without changing its partners. This doesn't unlink the clips. It only changes how edits treat the link.

  1. Select at least two clips.
  2. Right-click one of them.
  3. Choose Link.

The selected clips become one link group. If you select a clip that already belongs to another group, its former partners keep their existing group, so select the full group you want before linking.

For a batch spread across two tracks, choose Link Overlapping Pairs. Solar Sailer links a pair only when the overlap is a one-to-one match in both directions. Clips with no match or several possible matches are skipped.

Linking is blocked if a selected clip is on a locked track.

Select a linked clip, right-click it, and choose Unlink. Unlinking breaks the entire group, even if you selected only one member. If any member of that group is on a locked track, unlock it first.

Linking and unlinking each count as one undo step.