DaVinci Resolve Keyboard Shortcuts

Q: What is the practical difference between Insert and Overwrite?

F9 (Insert) opens a hole at the playhead and pushes everything after it later — total program length grows. F10 (Overwrite) stamps the new material on top of what is there — length is preserved. Cutting to music or a locked runtime, you will live in Overwrite; assembling a first rough cut, Insert.

Q: How do I play footage faster without scrubbing?

Tap L again while playing — each press raises the forward speed, and J does the same in reverse. K stops instantly. It is faster and more controlled than dragging the playhead, and it works identically in the source viewer and the timeline.

Q: Do I need Blade mode to make a cut?

Usually not. Ctrl + B cuts the selected track at the playhead and Ctrl + \ cuts all tracks, both from within normal selection mode. Reserve B (blade mode) for click-cutting many arbitrary points, and return to A before you start dragging clips so you do not slice by accident.

Q: What are the macOS equivalents?

Cmd replaces Ctrl: Cmd + B for blade, Cmd + \ for blade-all. The letters — JKL, I/O, page jumps on Shift + 1–Shift + 6 — are identical on both platforms.

Playback 7

Space

Play/Pause

Play or pause timeline

J

Reverse

Play in reverse

K

Stop

Stop playback

L

Forward

Play forward

Left/Right

Frame Step

Move one frame forward/backward

Shift+Left/Right

10 Frame Step

Move 10 frames

Up/Down

Clip Navigation

Move to previous/next clip

Editing 10

I

Mark In

Set In point

O

Mark Out

Set Out point

X

Clear In/Out

Clear In/Out points

M

Marker

Add marker

Ctrl+B

Blade

Cut clip at playhead

Ctrl+\

Blade All Tracks

Cut all tracks

F9

Insert

Insert clip to timeline

F10

Overwrite

Overwrite clip

F11

Replace

Replace clip keeping position

F12

Fit to Fill

Fit clip to fill

Timeline 6

Ctrl++/-

Zoom

Zoom timeline in/out

Shift+Z

Fit Timeline

Fit timeline to screen

A

Selection Mode

Activate selection mode

T

Trim Mode

Activate trim mode

B

Blade Mode

Activate blade mode

Y

Dynamic Trim

Activate dynamic trim mode

Pages 6

Shift+1

Media

Go to Media page

Shift+2

Edit

Go to Edit page

Shift+3

Fusion

Go to Fusion page

Shift+4

Color

Go to Color page

Shift+5

Fairlight

Go to Fairlight page

Shift+6

Deliver

Go to Deliver page

📄 View Printable Cheat Sheet — Download as PDF or print

No shortcuts found

JKL is the transport

Resolve inherits the editing industry's JKL convention: L plays forward, J plays in reverse, K stops — and pressing L or J repeatedly stacks up playback speed, so review happens at 2x or 4x without touching a menu. Left/Right steps a single frame for precision, Shift + Left/Right jumps ten, and Up/Down hops between clips. Space remains the plain play/pause for when one hand is on the mouse.

Three-point editing is all function keys. Mark the source range with I and O (clear it with X), then choose how it lands on the timeline: F9 inserts, pushing everything downstream later; F10 overwrites, replacing what is under the range without moving anything; F11 replaces a clip outright and F12 fits the source into a gap by retiming it. The insert/overwrite distinction is the one to internalise — one changes your program's length, the other does not.

Modes, cuts, and pages

The timeline has tools you wear: A for selection, T for trim, B for blade mode, Y for dynamic trim. For a single cut, though, you rarely need blade mode — Ctrl + B slices at the playhead, and Ctrl + \ cuts through every track at once. Shift + Z toggles between your zoom level and the whole timeline fitted to the window, and Shift + 1 through Shift + 6 jump between Resolve's pages: Media, Edit, Fusion, Color, Fairlight, Deliver.

Frequently asked questions

My shortcuts suddenly stopped working. What happened?

Resolve routes keys to whichever panel has focus — if the viewer or a browser panel holds focus, timeline shortcuts go nowhere. Click once in the timeline and try again. M for a marker is a quick test: if no marker appears, focus is elsewhere.

What is the practical difference between Insert and Overwrite?

F9 (Insert) opens a hole at the playhead and pushes everything after it later — total program length grows. F10 (Overwrite) stamps the new material on top of what is there — length is preserved. Cutting to music or a locked runtime, you will live in Overwrite; assembling a first rough cut, Insert.

How do I play footage faster without scrubbing?

Tap L again while playing — each press raises the forward speed, and J does the same in reverse. K stops instantly. It is faster and more controlled than dragging the playhead, and it works identically in the source viewer and the timeline.

Do I need Blade mode to make a cut?

Usually not. Ctrl + B cuts the selected track at the playhead and Ctrl + \ cuts all tracks, both from within normal selection mode. Reserve B (blade mode) for click-cutting many arbitrary points, and return to A before you start dragging clips so you do not slice by accident.

What are the macOS equivalents?

Cmd replaces Ctrl: Cmd + B for blade, Cmd + \ for blade-all. The letters — JKL, I/O, page jumps on Shift + 1–Shift + 6 — are identical on both platforms.

🤖 Ask AI about DaVinci Resolve shortcuts

Open your assistant with this page preloaded as the source — great for follow-up questions like "which of these work in other apps?"

ChatGPT Claude Perplexity Gemini Grok