How to Use the "C" Shortcut to Select the Clip Under Your Pointer in Final Cut Pro

Keyboard shortcut: C

Here’s a shortcut that quietly saves you hundreds of clicks: the C key. In Final Cut Pro, C is Select Clip. It selects the clip under your pointer in the Timeline, without clicking.

A lot of editors assume C means "cut." It doesn’t. The Blade tool is B, and Command-B blades at the skimmer or playhead. C is all about selection.

What the C Shortcut Does

When you press C, Final Cut Pro selects whatever clip your pointer is over in the Timeline. The clip gets the yellow selection outline, exactly as if you had clicked it. Because it works from the pointer position, it fits perfectly with skimming: you skim along, spot the clip you want, and press C.

How to Use It

  1. Move your pointer over a clip in the Timeline. This can be a clip in the primary storyline or a connected clip, like a title or a B-roll shot.
  2. Press C. The clip under the pointer is selected.
  3. Do something with it: press Delete to remove it, open the Inspector to adjust it, or apply an effect from the Effects Browser.

Why It’s Useful

  • Fewer clicks: When your hand is already moving the pointer while skimming, pressing C is faster than clicking, and you won’t accidentally nudge or drag a clip.
  • Keyboard-driven editing: Pair C with other shortcuts. For example, skim to a clip, press C, and press Command-C to copy it. Then skim to another clip, press C, and press Option-Command-V to paste the copied clip’s effects onto it.
  • Precise targeting: In a crowded timeline with stacked connected clips, it selects exactly the clip your pointer is over.

Tips

  • If you actually want to cut a clip, press B for the Blade tool, then press A to return to the Select tool when you’re done.
  • Combine C with the arrow-key navigation shortcuts to work through a timeline with very little mouse clicking.

Give C a try in your next edit. Once you get used to hover-and-press selection, clicking every clip starts to feel slow.

Browse all tips and tutorials or search