Can you change the keyboard shortcuts in a video editor?

Every key in Video by Zaweba can be changed. Open Edit > Keyboard shortcuts, find the command and press the key you want for it. The editor reports clashes when a key is already taken, offers ready-made sets, shows a drawn keyboard so you can see what is where, and saves your layout as an .ozkeys file you can share or carry to another PC.

Shortcuts matter more in video editing than in most software. An editor may press the same few keys thousands of times a day: play, stop, split, mark in, mark out, ripple delete. Having them where your fingers expect them is the difference between thinking about the edit and thinking about the keyboard.

Why you might change them

Habit is the big one. If you learned on another editor, your hands already know where things are, and a ready-made set or a few remapped keys saves weeks of retraining.

Comfort is another. A command you use constantly may sit on an awkward reach. Moving it under a resting finger makes long sessions easier.

Some keyboards lack keys. Laptops often hide function keys behind another key, and some layouts put punctuation in odd places. Video by Zaweba uses F9 and F10 for insert and overwrite, and ; and ' for lift and extract, so moving those to easier keys can help on a compact keyboard.

How to change a shortcut

Open Edit > Keyboard shortcuts. Find the command, either by browsing or searching for its name. Select it and press the new key or combination. If the key is already used, the editor reports the clash so you can decide which command keeps it.

The drawn keyboard shows your current layout. It is the quickest way to spot free keys and to check nothing important ended up somewhere awkward.

To start from a familiar place, pick one of the ready-made sets, then adjust the few keys you care about.

Sharing and keeping your layout

Save your layout as an .ozkeys file. Keep a copy with your other settings so a new PC or a reinstall is set up in seconds. Share it with others on a team, so everyone has the same keys and can sit at each other's machines without confusion. A class or club can hand out one file so that instructions like "press S to split" are true for everyone.

Defaults worth learning first

Before changing much, it is worth knowing what is already there, since many defaults follow common editing habits. S splits at the playhead, Shift+Delete ripple deletes, Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y undo and redo, and F makes a freeze frame. I and O set in and out marks. M adds a marker. The trim tools sit on single letters: V for select, C for razor, Y for slip, R for rate stretch, B for ripple edit, N for rolling edit and U for slide. Ctrl+E opens the export window, and Ctrl+Shift+P opens the command palette.

The command palette is a useful companion to custom keys. It finds and runs any of about 100 commands by typing part of a name, so commands you use only now and then don't need a key at all.

A few sensible rules

Change a few keys at a time. Rebuilding the whole keyboard in one go makes the app feel strange for days.

Keep the common keys common. Play, undo and save are worth leaving where nearly every program puts them.

Write down what you changed, or keep the .ozkeys file safe. Then you never lose a layout that took a while to get right.

Video by Zaweba is free software that runs offline on Windows with no account, and shortcut changes are yours to keep and share.