Power moves

Searches that surprise, filter presets, locking a take, and the modifier-click trim steps

Things in ReelChest that are easy to miss but pay off the rest of the project. Pick the ones that fit your work and ignore the rest.

Search inside transcripts

Type three or more words into the Library search field and ReelChest searches inside transcripts, not just filenames. So a search for "the part where I" finds the clip where you said it, even if the file is named B_Roll_007.mov.

Two-word and one-word searches still match filenames, paths, and tags. The three-word threshold is what flips it into transcript mode.

Save filter presets

Any filter combination you build can be saved as a named preset. Color label is red, tag is "interview", duration over 30 seconds, untranscribed only, that's a preset. Save it, give it a name, click it any time.

Presets scope to a source, a project, a category, or globally. So an interview cleanup preset can live with one project, and an "everything I've rated 5 stars" preset can live globally.

Pin the tags you use every day

The sidebar's tag list shows the top 20 by usage. A new tag you just created can hide under the heavy ones. Click the star next to a tag in the sidebar and it pins above the unpinned ones in the same list. Tags are global to the app, so the pin persists regardless of which source or project you're viewing.

Modifier-click trim steps

In the Paper Edit trim strip, the ± buttons step the in/out points. Two modifiers tune the step:

• ⌘+click ±: coarse step (default 7 frames).
• ⌥+click ±: fine step (default 15 frames).

Both step sizes are configurable in Settings → Paper Edit. Editors who shoot at 60fps tend to set the fine step to 1 or 2 frames; editors who paper-edit interview footage at 24 keep the coarse closer to 12 (half a second).

Loop One in the Paper Edit transport

The transport's loop button cycles through three states: Off, All, One. Set it to One and the loop follows the row you click in the script panel. Click row 3, it loops row 3 until you click somewhere else.

This is the move when you're tuning a single clip's trim and don't want to keep rewinding manually.

Lock a Mosaic take

Right-click any matched entry in a Mosaic and pick Lock take. The locked entry survives the next Submit. The matcher works around it instead of replacing it.

Use this when you've found a hero take you love and you're still iterating on the rest of the script. Lock the take, change the words around it, hit Submit, your hero stays.

Right-click a Mosaic word for substitution

If a single word in your Mosaic is wrong (the matcher picked the version where you stumbled, or there's a better take you remember), right-click that word and pick Substitute. It surfaces alternates for that one word without you retyping the script.

Send to Asset Transcript from a Mosaic

Right-click any matched word in a Mosaic and pick Send to Asset Transcript. The clip's full transcript opens with that word highlighted. Useful when you want the line before or after the matched phrase, the kind you only remember once you see it in context.

A small habit that sticks: most of these are right-click moves. If something feels like it should be possible, right-click first.