> ## Documentation index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.tutorial.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cut & Trim

> Remove pauses, mistakes, and unwanted footage from your recording in Clips — with Auto-cut, Cut a segment, and trim handles.

Section: Docs › Editing

Mistakes happen when you record — a pause while a page loads, a wrong click, a false start. Instead of recording again, remove those parts in **Clips**. Cut footage stays in your project, greyed out on the timeline, so you can adjust or restore it at any time.

[Video: Tutorial AI - Cut and Trim Your Recording](https://embed-stage.videoscripter.ai/video/01a0d844-e107-755b-ba2e-223157edce06)

> **Tip:** Clips is available on all paid plans.

## Opening Clips

Click **Clips** in the toolbar above the video preview. Your recording opens on a timeline, where you can cut, trim, and review every edit. New to Clips? Start with the [overview](https://www.tutorial.ai/docs/editing/clips-overview).

![The editor with the cursor on the Clips button in the toolbar above the video preview](https://www.tutorial.ai/images/help/help-10396375-open-clips.78fac19b.webp)

## Smart Auto-Cut when you create a project

When the AI Script Writer generates your script, **Smart Auto-Cut** removes long pauses from each recording automatically. It's on by default.

![The AI Script Writer showing Smart Auto-Cut will remove long pauses](https://www.tutorial.ai/images/help/help-quickstart-ai-script-writer.9d762c1e.webp)

## Removing idle moments with Auto-cut

**Auto-cut** in the Clips toolbar detects idle moments — stretches with no mouse or keyboard activity, such as waiting for a page to load — and cuts them. Hover over **Auto-cut** to preview the spans it would remove; nothing changes until you click.

![The Clips toolbar with the Auto-cut tooltip, Detect and cut idle moments from your video, and automatic cuts shown as hatched sections on the timeline](https://www.tutorial.ai/images/help/help-10396375-auto-cut.f6a56eee.webp)

Treat automatic cuts as suggestions: keep the ones that tighten the pacing, and adjust or undo any that remove something viewers need to see.

- Auto-cut only affects the clip you're on. Other clips are unchanged.
- Your own cuts take priority over automatic ones.
- Auto-cut isn't available for mobile recordings.

## Zooming the timeline

Drag the zoom slider, or pinch on your trackpad, to zoom in for precise edits and back out to review the whole recording.

![The zoom slider at the right of the Clips toolbar, with the timeline zoomed in to a few seconds](https://www.tutorial.ai/images/help/help-10396375-zoom-slider.05b1e55f.webp)

To see more of the picture while you cut, click **Hide padding** above the timeline. It only changes your view — the final video keeps its padding.

## Cutting a segment

1. Move the playhead to where the cut should start.

2. Click **Cut a segment** in the toolbar. The playhead position becomes the start of the cut.

   ![The Cut a segment button in the Clips toolbar](https://www.tutorial.ai/images/help/help-10396375-cut-a-segment-button.45f59b02.webp)

3. The step bar reads **Cut a segment · Click the end**. Click the end point on the timeline — before or after the start both work.

   ![The step bar reading Cut a segment, Click the end, with a Cancel button, while the end of the cut is being placed on the timeline](https://www.tutorial.ai/images/help/help-10396375-click-the-end.3d58dfec.webp)

The removed span turns greyed out. To stop without cutting, click **Cancel** or press **Escape**.

**Shortcut:** **Shift + Click** on the timeline to add a cut.

You can also right-click a clip on the timeline and choose **Cut a segment**.

![The right-click menu on a clip with Rename clip, Cut a segment, Split at playhead, Change speed marked Soon, and Remove clip](https://www.tutorial.ai/images/help/help-10396375-right-click-menu.2ce48812.webp)

## Adjusting or undoing a cut

Drag a cut's start or end edge to make it shorter or longer. To restore a cut completely, hover over it and click **Undo cut**.

![Dragging the edge of a greyed-out cut on the timeline to resize it](https://www.tutorial.ai/images/help/help-10396375-drag-cut-edge.0ad20153.webp)

To restore everything that was cut — manual and automatic — click **Remove cuts** in the toolbar.

## Trimming the start or end

A trim is a cut that touches the start or end of a clip. Drag the handle at either edge of the clip inward to remove opening or closing footage.

![The trim handle at the left edge of a clip on the timeline](https://www.tutorial.ai/images/help/help-10396375-trim-handles.27fda5f0.webp)

A cut always stays inside one clip. If you click past the edge of a clip while cutting, the cut stops at the clip's edge and becomes a trim.

## Previewing your edits

Press **Space** or click play to watch the result. Cut footage is skipped, so you can check that every transition feels natural and nothing important was removed.

> **Note:** **Nearby cuts merge.** Cuts in the same clip that overlap, touch, or sit very close together combine into one cut. Very short cuts aren't allowed, and a cut can't start inside another cut.

## Next steps

  - [Split & Remove Clips](https://www.tutorial.ai/docs/editing/split-and-remove-clips): Split a recording into clips and remove outdated parts
  - [Update or Replace Footage](https://www.tutorial.ai/docs/editing/update-or-replace-footage): Replace an outdated section or add a missing step
  - [Slides](https://www.tutorial.ai/docs/editing/slides): Add intro, outro, and chapter slides
  - [Blur](https://www.tutorial.ai/docs/visual-effects/blur): Hide sensitive data you don't want to cut
  - [Editor Overview](https://www.tutorial.ai/docs/editing/editor-overview): Back to the editor tour

Source: https://www.tutorial.ai/docs/editing/cut-and-trim