Common and Time-saving iMovie Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac Users

iMovie is a professional video editing tool that lets you pimp your videos the way you want it with your desired music and other sound effects. To ease your many tasks in iMovie, you can use your keyboard. Here are the keyboard shortcuts for some common commands for your information.

Another way to gain access to shortcuts is through shortcuts menus, which give a list of commands you can use while working on special occasions in the iMovie window. To have access to shortcut menus, hold down the Control key while clicking on the items.

Part 1. Common Keyboard Shortcuts and Hotkeys for iMovie on Mac

Here are standard keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys for iMovie on Mac. You can skip to a specific group of hotkeys for iMovie shortcuts. 

To Manage Projects

You can effortlessly make a new project or move to delete one with a few key clicks of iMovie shortcuts.

• Create a new movie project: Command + N
• To send an item, go trash: Command + Delete

Navigate the iMovie Window

With your mouse or trackpad, you can quickly move around in iMovie, but these keyboard shortcuts also come in handy.

Show components in the iMovie browser, which is the top portion of the window:

• Media: Command + 1
• Audio: Command + 2
• Titles: Command + 3
• Maps and backgrounds: Command + 4
• Sound effects: Command + 5
• Transitions: Command + 6
• Show the list library: Shift + Command + 1
• Go to the library view: 1
• Go to the projects view: 2
• Minimize the window: Command + M

Select and Edit Items

Whether you selected an item to play or edit, these iMovie shortcuts make it easy.

• Select a clip: X
• Choose a part of a clip: Hold R and drag
• Select all clips: Command + A
• Undo all selected clips: Shift + Command + A
• Cut the selected text or frame: Command + X
• Copy the selected text or frame: Command + C
• To paste selected text or frame: Command + / (slash)
• Undo your last action: Command + Z
• Remake your last action: Shift + Command + Z

Play and Control Your Movie

With these shortcuts, you can play your movie or selected items and control the playback.

• Play item: / (slash)
• Play the item from the beginning: \ (backslash)
• Play items from the frame below the playhead: Space bar
• Fullscreen playback item: Shift + Command + F

Exit Full Screen: Escape

• Shift the playhead forward one frame: right arrow
• Shift the playhead back one frame: left arrow
• Skip forward to the next clip in the browser: down arrow
• Jump to the beginning or previous segment in the timeline: up arrow
• Loop playback: Command + L

Control the Audio

If you use audio in iMovie creation, please remember these hotkeys.

• Turn on voice-over control: V
• Mute: Shift + Command + M
• Separate audio: Option + Command + B

Part 2. Alternative to iMovie on Mac - Wondershare Filmora

You can just do some basic editing with iMovie. If you want to power up your videos with more advanced features and effects, you'd better use Wondershare Filmora. It is a modern and safe video editing software that creates beautiful videos in 3-4 simple steps. With Wondershare Filmora, you can drag and drop a large selection of special effects, transitions, and animation titles into the easy-to-use editing timeline, which has up to 100 video tracks in the music library for you to use.

Filmora allows users to crop, increase/decrease the video size, or make them all fit at a specific time. You can choose to "tilt-shift" to blur certain parts of the video so that people can emphasize an object. Audio and video can be adjusted by rotating or flipping. You can also choose to remove the video "noise." Apart from the numerous features offered by Wondershare Filmora, Mac users get some unique features at their leverage, like:

• Available for the latest macOS Big Sur (version 11) and Apple M1 chip
• Touch Bar support for MacBook Pro users

So, now pimp your videos as you desire using Wondershare Filmora, a unique video editing software that helps you create an outstanding and exciting video.

Part 3. FAQs about iMovie Keyboard Shortcuts

Here are frequently asked questions of iMovie maker shortcuts.

1. How do I manage keyboards shortcuts?

One or more keys to press to change keyboard shortcuts:

• Open the event overview and start entering settings.
• Click Settings.
• Click the keyboard shortcut in the sidebar to open the panel.
• Click the row of the desired operation. The setting shortcut window will be displayed.
• Press and hold the desired key combination, or press Backspace to reset, or press Esc to cancel.

2. What is the shortcut to split a clip in an iMovie?

• Drag the long clip to the timeline and move the playhead to the location where you want to split the clip. Select Modify> Split Clip.
• Unusable lens? Split the part and delete it.
• Crop a clip: select it, hold down the R key, and then select the desired material. Hold down the Control key, click the material, and then select the trim selection.

3. How to undo my last action on iMovie?

Select Edit > Undo [action], or press Command-Z.

Generally, you can use iMovie shortcuts to save time while working on an iMovie project. For example, with the iMovie trim shortcut, you can easily cut your video display duration. Now, you are free to explore!