This walkthrough covers a simple first edit. You can do everything manually, or use Tella’s AI tools to speed things up.
Open the editor
- Go to My videos.
- Hover the video you want to edit and click Edit video, or open the video’s ⋯ menu and click Edit.
What’s in the editor?
The left toolbar holds Setup, Layout, Cut, Effect, Overlay, Style, Subs, Audio, and Redo. When you click a tool, you will see its options in the panel next to it. On a desktop browser that isn’t Chromium-based, such as Safari or Firefox, you may see For the best editing experience, use Google Chrome above the video preview. Click Google Chrome to open the download page in a new tab, or click the X next to it to hide the suggestion on future visits in that browser. You can keep editing in your current browser. The first panel you will see is Setup, where you can change general settings for your video like its dimensions, title, and description. If your video is playing, switching tools such as Cut, Layout, Style, Subs, or Audio keeps playback running from the same moment. Selecting a layer still pauses playback. When playback is paused, hover over the playbar below the video to preview that moment on the canvas without moving the playhead. Click or drag on the playbar when you want to seek to a new point. To watch your edit without the editor around it, click Fullscreen preview at the right end of the playbar, next to the sidebar button, or press F. Your video fills the screen on black, with the sidebars, Script panel, and canvas handles hidden, so nothing can be edited until you exit. A control bar at the bottom lets you play, pause, skip, and scrub, and fades out while the video plays and the mouse is still. Press Space to play or pause, and Escape or the exit button to leave fullscreen. If the editor ever feels sluggish, check the editing quality button in the toolbar below the video. Low-res (fastest) plays lower-resolution copies while you edit to keep things snappy, Hi-res (1080p) gives a sharper picture, and Source (slowest) plays your original files. Low-res is on by default for new videos, and none of these options affect your final export quality. See Edit faster with low-res mode.The Cut, Effect, Overlay, and Layout timelines hide the transcript row when none of your clips has transcript words. If any clip has a transcript, the row remains available throughout the video.
Step 1: Cut and trim your video
The first edit most people make is removing the parts they do not want.Select and delete sections
- Click Cut in the sidebar.
- Drag across the part you want to remove. You can also select words in the transcript row.
- Click Delete, or press Delete or Backspace.
X when you want to add a boundary at the playhead before selecting a whole segment.
Trim the start and end
To remove silence or dead time at the beginning or end, drag the first or last edge inward. Use More actions → Show cuts when you want removed content to remain visible while you refine the trim.Step 2: Use AI cutting tools (optional, faster)
If you want to speed up cutting, you can use Tella’s AI-powered tools:- Mistakes: click Review or Cut & review to have the Tella Agent find places where you repeat yourself or start over, then check each one in the script. It uses credits: hover over the credits icon next to Mistakes to see your balance.
- Buffers: click Remove buffers to remove the silent part at the start and end.
- Silences: choose Natural, Fast, or Faster to control how much silence Tella removes, then click Remove N silences.
- Filler words: click Remove N filler words (for example, Remove 8 filler words) to cut every detected filler word in one action.
Find and remove mistakes
Open Cut and, under Mistakes, choose how you want to handle them. You can also choose Review mistakes or Cut mistakes & review from the … menu in the script panel.- Review: the agent marks each mistake in the script and cuts nothing. You decide which ones to cut.
- Cut & review: the agent cuts every mistake right away, then marks the cuts in the script so you can bring back any you want to keep.
- The Tella Agent opens and looks for repeated phrases, false starts, and retakes in the current clip.
- When it’s done, click Review in script on the agent’s reply. The script panel opens on the first mistake, highlighted in red with the reason it was flagged.
- Decide on each mistake. Select it and press
AorD, or use the buttons next to it:- With Review, Accept (
A) cuts the words and Decline (D) keeps them. - With Cut & review, Keep cut (
A) leaves the words cut and Restore (D) brings them back.
- With Review, Accept (
- To decide on every remaining mistake at once, click Accept all or Reject all below the script (Keep all or Restore all after Cut & review).
Finding mistakes uses the Tella Agent, so it uses agent credits. Accepting, declining, keeping, or restoring them in the script doesn’t. See How much does the Tella Agent cost?.
Step 3: Add zoom effects
Add zooms manually
- Click Effect in the sidebar, or press
E. - Drag across the time you want to zoom, or select the matching transcript words.
- Click Add zoom or press
Z. - Drag the zoom card to move it, or drag its edges to change the duration.
- Use Scale to control how far Tella zooms in.
Use manual zoom targets (and create a pan)
If you switch zoom targeting to manual, you can place the zoom target exactly where you want it instead of tracking your cursor. If you place manual zooms back to back, you can create a panning effect that moves from one point to another without zooming out in between.Generate zooms automatically (recordings with cursor data)
If you recorded with the Tella Mac or Windows app (or recorded a browser tab with the Tella Chrome extension), you can use Auto Zoom to generate zooms from the recorded cursor movement.- Open Effect.
- Under Zooms, click Generate (the sparkles button) and choose a style, such as Subtle.
- Click Generate at the top. The menu stays open while you compare styles and closes after you generate the zooms.
Step 4: Add layouts
Choose a base layout
- Click Layout.
- Click a bare gap between layout cards to select the base layout.
- Choose the preset you want. It receives the Base badge.
Add layout changes on the timeline
Layout changes let you switch away from your base layout for a section of the video.- Drag across the time you want to change, or select the matching transcript words.
- Choose a preset. Tella creates a layout card for that range.
- Drag the card to move it, or drag its edges to change its duration.
- Select the card and choose another preset whenever you want to replace it.
Change the base layout later
To change the base layout without changing the layout cards you already added, click a bare gap between cards and choose the preset you want. It receives the Base badge. Use Apply to all clips when you want the same base layout on other compatible clips.Generate layouts automatically
To have Tella generate layouts for you:- Click Layout and find Auto Layouts in the Layout panel.
- Click Generate. Tella picks the editing style for your clip, and the Tella Agent adds the layouts to the timeline.
Auto Layouts uses the Tella Agent, so each generation uses Credits.
Step 5: Change your background
- Click Style. Background options appear at the top of the panel.
- Select a background you like (you can choose patterns, animated backgrounds, or create your own colors and gradients).
- Your choice applies to every clip by default. Turn on Apply to this clip only if you want the active clip to use a different background.
Switching from Layout to Style keeps playback running. Pause first if you want to preview style changes on a specific frame.
Step 6: Crop your screen recording for a cleaner look
If your screen recording includes extra UI (like a browser border or your Mac menu bar), you can crop it out:- Click Crop in the toolbar below the video, then choose Adjust screen. You can also open Layout → Adjust and click the Screen crop thumbnail.
- Set the crop manually by dragging the crop handles, or click Auto Crop to let Tella suggest a clean crop.