Inspector and sidebar
The right pane and the left rail, where ratings, tags, and project lists live
ReelChest is a three-column app most days: sidebar on the left, grid (or workspace) in the middle, inspector on the right. Knowing what each side does keeps your hands off the mouse.
The inspector (right pane)
The inspector shows everything about the currently selected asset. It's one panel split into rotating sections.
What's in there:
- Rating: zero to five stars.
- Color label: the current label, click to change.
- Tags: every tag on this clip, plus a quick add field.
- Transcript indicator: whether the clip has been transcribed, with a button to open the words.
- File details: codec, resolution, frame rate, duration, path.
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The inspector pane with rating, color label, and tags visible for a selected clip.
1280 × 800px · One panel only (sidebar, transcript, paper edit, etc.)
The keyboard inside the inspector:
- ⬆ ⬇ moves between sections.
- ⬅ ➡ moves within an index-style section (like flipping through tags).
- 0 through 5 sets the rating directly. No need to click the stars.
- Tab and Shift+Tab rotate sections in order.
- Esc closes the inspector.
- ⌥+Left sends focus back to the grid.
The fastest workflow is grid-rate-grid: arrow to a clip, ⌥➡ into the inspector, tap a number, ⌥⬅ back to the grid, arrow to the next one.
The sidebar (left rail)
The sidebar is the project structure. Four sections, top to bottom:
- Sources: folders you've added. Each one is watched, so files dropped in later just show up.
- Projects: Paper Edits, grouped.
- Mosaics: assemble projects.
- Tags: the top 20 by usage, with pinned tags floating to the top regardless of count.
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The sidebar showing sources, two projects, one mosaic, and a tags section with three pinned tags.
1280 × 800px · One panel only (sidebar, transcript, paper edit, etc.)
Click any item in the sidebar and the grid filters to that scope. Click a source, you see only that source's clips. Click a tag, you see only clips with that tag. Click a Paper Edit and you're in the Paper Edit workspace.
Pinning tags
The tag list is capped at 20 by usage, which is enough for most projects but means a fresh tag you just made can vanish under high-use ones. Click the star next to a tag to pin it. Pinned tags stay on top regardless of count.
A small thing to internalize: the inspector and the grid are two halves of the same job. If you find yourself clicking back and forth a lot, learn the ⌥+Left and ⌥+Right shortcuts. Your hands will thank you in six months.