Video editor

The editor runs in your browser. Use it to trim and cut a video, arrange your screen and camera, add text, images and music, and change the shape of the video.

Available on: Free, Starter and Pro can edit and save. Downloading an edited video needs Starter or Pro.

Open the editor

There are two ways in. They behave differently, so pick the one that matches what you want.

Edit a copy: Open in Editor

1. In the sidebar, click My Library and open a video.
2. In the Edit in Editor card on the right, click Open in Editor.

Zidi makes a copy of the video named after the original with " - Edited" added, for example "Product demo - Edited". Everything you do in the editor goes to the copy: your timeline edits, and AI Tools such as subtitles, translation, voice change and dubbing, from the first click.

Open in Editor never changes your original video. Its transcript and the audio its share link plays stay as they were. The copy starts with the original's transcript, voice change and dub, if it has any. Back to Video takes you to the copy's page.

The copy is a separate video with its own share link and view counts. Links you already sent still show the original. The copy does not keep the original's password or call-to-action button. If the original is in a Team Library, the copy is added there too.

The copy appears in your library straight away, in the same folder as the original. You see it there even before you save. Only the owner of a video sees the Open in Editor button.

If you click Open in Editor again on the same original, Zidi reopens the copy that still has the default " - Edited" name. It does not make a second copy. If you click it on the page of a copy, you edit that copy directly.

Edit the video itself: Edit in Editor

1. In My Library, hover over a video card and click the … menu.
2. Click Edit in Editor.

This opens the video's own editor project. No copy is made, and AI Tools work on this video.

The editor toolbar

The buttons at the top of the editor open these panels and actions:

Work on the timeline

The timeline shows each part of the recording on its own track. Tracks are labelled by source, such as Screen, Camera, Mic and System audio. There are also tracks for layout changes, overlays, subtitles and background music.

• Trim: drag the left or right edge of a clip. You cannot trim past the end of the source.
• Move: drag a clip along its track.
• Cut: place the playhead (the red line) and press S to cut the selected clip. Press Shift+S to cut every track.
• Delete: select a clip, overlay or subtitle and press Delete or Backspace.

If you delete the last clip from a source, Zidi asks whether to remove that original recording, for example "Remove the original Camera recording?".

Ripple and Linked

• Ripple on closes the gap when you delete a clip. Off leaves the gap.
• Linked on edits video and audio together. Off lets you edit them separately. The button reads Link while it is off.

Click a button to turn it on or off. Its tooltip shows ON or OFF.

Click Fit to fit the whole timeline in view. Hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and scroll to zoom.

Older projects can have clips that overlap. The editor then shows a warning count and a Fix overlaps button.

Keyboard shortcuts

On a Mac, use Cmd where the table says Ctrl.

Arrange screen and camera

The Layout panel controls how your screen and camera appear. Layouts are set with keyframes. A keyframe says "from this moment, use this layout". The layout switches instantly at each keyframe.

1. Move the playhead to where the layout should change.
2. Click Layout, then Add Keyframe Here.
3. Turn Screen and Camera on or off. Camera appears only if the recording has a camera.
4. Pick a preset.

To change a keyframe, pick it in the keyframe list and adjust the layout. To remove it, click Delete Keyframe.

Layout presets

Presets are grouped as Camera Only, Screen Only and Screen + Camera. Every aspect ratio has Padded Camera, Full Camera, Padded Screen and Full Screen. The combined presets depend on the aspect ratio:

Fine-tune a layout

Open Fine-tune Controls under the presets.

• Camera Position & Shape: position, size (XS, S, M, L) and shape (Circle, Square, Portrait, Landscape).
• Split Layout: orientation and split ratio (30/70, 50/50 or 70/30).
• Background: one of 22 gradients, a preset colour or your own colour.
• Style: padding, corner radius, gap and a camera border from 1 to 8 px.

Add text, images, emojis and shapes

Click Elements. Each item you add appears on the overlay track at the playhead.

• Quick Add: Image picks from your media library. Upload adds a new image or video.
• Text Templates: Title, Subtitle, Caption Box, Call to Action, Highlight and Lower Third.
• Emojis: Faces, Hands, Symbols, Objects, Arrows and Nature.
• Shapes: Rectangle, Circle, Rounded Rect, Diamond, Pill, Square, Oval and Banner.

Images and video you can upload

Uploads are saved to your media library for reuse. Delete Asset removes one from the library for good.

Change an overlay

Drag an overlay on the preview to move it. Select it to open Overlay Properties:

• Position and size.
• Text Content: text, font, weight, size, alignment, colours, line height, padding and radius.
• Shape Style: fill colour and corner radius.
• Timing: start and end, or Full Duration, Start Here and End Here.
• Appearance: opacity.

The buttons Duplicate, Split and Delete Overlay are at the bottom.

Change the aspect ratio

Click Aspect Ratio and pick a shape. Your layout positions are kept. Check overlays on the preview afterwards, as they may need adjusting. Reset Layout to … Defaults restores the default layout for the chosen ratio.

Add background music

1. Click Music.
2. Pick a track from the Music Library. It has 110 tracks in 11 genres, such as ambient, corporate and cinematic.
3. Or click Upload Custom Music (max 15MB). You can upload MP3, WAV, OGG, AAC, FLAC or M4A. Uploads appear under Your Music.
4. Set the volume with the slider.

A video has one background track. It loops for the whole video and fades in and out on its own. To remove it, click the trash icon in the panel or on the music track.

AI tools

Click AI Tools for three sections:

• Subtitles: generate, edit, style and translate subtitles. See Captions and subtitles. Free on every plan.
• Voice Changer: replace the voice. Uses credits.
• AI Dubbing: dub into another language. Starter and Pro, and uses credits.

See AI dubbing for both voice tools and Credits for costs. AI Tools works only when you opened the editor from a video.

AI Tools work on the video you are editing. After Open in Editor, that is the copy, so your original video does not change. After Edit in Editor from a video card's menu, it is that video itself.

Save your work

Auto-save

The editor saves your changes about 2 seconds after you stop editing. The status under Video Editor shows "Unsaved changes", "Last saved" with a time, or "No changes". Click Save or press Ctrl+S to save at once.

Auto-save keeps your project safe. It does not update the video in your library. For that, use Save to Library.

Save to Library

1. Click Save to Library.
2. Enter a Video Name of up to 255 characters.
3. Click Save.

Zidi shows "Video saved to library" and opens the saved video's page. The edited video plays with your edits applied, including any subtitles on the timeline.

When you save a copy, Zidi keeps " - Edited" at the end of the name. If you type "Final", the video is named "Final - Edited".

After Open in Editor, the Video Name box starts with the copy's name, for example "Product demo - Edited". The dialog says "Saving will overwrite the current library entry" followed by that name. Saving updates the copy. Your original video is not changed.

Make a second version

Give the first copy its own name when you save it. Then open the original video from your library and click Open in Editor. Because no copy has the default name any more, Zidi makes a new copy. If you keep the default name, Open in Editor reopens the same copy and your next save replaces it.

Leaving the editor

If you leave with unsaved changes, Zidi asks first. Save & Leave saves and then leaves.

If the same project is open in two tabs, you may see "This project changed elsewhere". Choose Reload from server to load the newer version. Choose Save anyway (overwrite) to keep this tab's version.

Export an edited video

Available on: Starter and Pro

The editor has no Render or Export button. You export from the video page:

1. In the editor, click Save to Library.
2. On the video page that opens, click Download.
3. Zidi renders the video. The button shows Queued..., then the progress.
4. The download starts when the render is done. Keep the page open until then.

The file is an MP4 (H.264) at 30 frames per second. Its size is fixed by the aspect ratio, as shown in the aspect ratio table. There is no resolution choice, and the size is the same on Starter and Pro. If you download the same edit again without changes, it starts straight away.

On the Free plan you can edit and save to the library, and viewers can watch the edited video by its link. You cannot download it. Download opens a dialog that asks you to upgrade.

Troubleshooting