Create clips
Cut, tag and save clips from your videos.
On this page
A clip is a trimmed moment from a video — built around an action type, flagged for attention, and ready to share or export. Clips are the core output of cliply's analysis workflow. You create them in the video analysis workspace while in Analyze mode, by pressing a tag button (or its hotkey) during playback.
The video analysis workspace
Opening any video inside a project launches the video analysis workspace. A toggle at the top switches between two modes:
- Analyze mode (default) — the buttons deck is active and you create clips by pressing tag buttons or hotkeys during playback. This is the mode for tagging footage.
- View mode — clips play back sequentially and hotkeys become replay/navigation controls. Switch here when you want to review what you've tagged without creating new clips.
All clip creation happens in Analyze mode.
The buttons deck
The buttons deck is the row of tag buttons at the bottom of the workspace. Each button represents an action category you configured for the project — press it the moment the action happens and cliply captures a clip around that instant.
What determines the clip's boundaries:
- Pre-roll — seconds before the button press included in the clip
- Post-roll — seconds after the button press included in the clip
Both are set per tag in the project's tag settings. A typical defensive action might have 3 seconds pre-roll and 5 seconds post-roll.
Tag variants (qualifiers)
If a tag has variants configured, pressing the button opens a qualifier selector — pick one (or more) to describe the clip in a single step without interrupting playback. For example, a Goal button with variants Left foot, Right foot, and Header lets you stamp the exact sub-type as you tag. Each variant breaks out separately in clip stats. Configure variants in Decks & catalog.
Using hotkeys
Hotkeys are remapped for a natural tagging feel — hover any button or control to see its keyboard shortcut in the tooltip. Press the key during playback instead of clicking the button. This keeps your eyes on the video and your hand free from the mouse — essential for live tagging.
Open a tag's settings to assign or change its hotkey.
Playback speed
Use the speed dropdown in the player controls to step through speeds from 0.25× up to 8×. All sources including YouTube support the full speed range. Slow down to spot the detail, ramp up to skim long recordings.
How to create clips
Open a video in the workspace
Open your project and click on a video. It opens in the video analysis workspace in Analyze mode.
Press a tag button at the right moment
Play the video and press the tag button (or its hotkey) when the action happens. cliply creates a clip immediately — it appears in the clip list on the right.
If the tag has variants, a qualifier picker appears. Select the variant and the clip is saved with that qualifier attached.
Review and adjust in/out points
Click a clip in the list to jump to it. Drag the in and out point handles on the timeline if you want to trim the clip more precisely.
You can also select clips directly on the timeline — hover a clip segment to see a readout of its label and duration, then click to select it. Use the keyboard to nudge clip edges frame-by-frame for precise in/out adjustments without dragging. The timeline is a full editing surface — snapping magnet, zoom-to-clip and more in The editing timeline.
Add a reaction and notes
Mark the clip with one of your reactions — personal markers (Good, Important, Doubt, To-fix) visible only to you, independent of what teammates mark. The reaction set is configured in Decks & catalog.
Add a team note for the whole organization to see, or a private note that only you can read — useful for personal observations you don't want to broadcast to the group.
Telestrate (optional)
Pause on a key frame and use the drawing tools to annotate the freeze frame — arrows, shapes, ground markers, and text. Drawings are stored with the clip and appear in share links and exports. See Drawing & telestration for the full toolset.
You can also take a screenshot directly from inside the player to capture a still image of any frame.
Switch to View mode to review
Toggle to View mode to play through your tagged clips sequentially. Hotkeys become replay and navigation controls. Switch back to Analyze mode whenever you want to keep tagging.
Workbench shortcuts and controls
| Feature | How to access |
|---|---|
| Floating clip navigation | Jump forward and backward through the clip list without scrolling |
| Editable seek-jump | Click the seek-jump amount in the player to set a custom skip interval |
| Fullscreen deck drawer | Open the deck fullscreen to tag on a large display |
| In-player screenshot | Capture a still from any frame directly from the player controls |
| Keyboard shortcut hints | Hover any button or control — the tooltip shows the bound hotkey |
Manual clips
To cut a clip without pressing a tag button:
- Pause the video at the start of the moment you want.
- Set the In point.
- Advance to the end and set the Out point.
- Save as a manual clip.
Manual clips carry no tag type but can still have reactions, notes, telestration, and be added to collections.
The clip library
All clips appear in the filterable clip library on the right side of the workspace. Filter by:
- Tag type (action category)
- Reaction (Good, To-fix, Doubt, Important)
- Player
- Date range
Toggle My reactions to instantly narrow the list to clips you personally marked — useful for picking up where you left off in a long session.
After flagging and annotating your clips, add the ones you want to a collection. Collections play through clips sequentially — ideal for a pre-match briefing or individual player feedback session.
Working with the clip list
Beyond tagging, the clip list behaves like a file browser — click to play, select several rows at once, right-click for more.
Click, double-click, and details
- Click a row to play that clip.
- Double-click a row to open its details panel — telestrations, notes, and variants. It's sticky: it stays open as you move to other clips, so you can work through a whole run without reopening it each time.
- On the row that's currently playing, Enter also toggles the details panel; Space always plays.
Selecting multiple clips
Build a multi-clip selection the same way you would in a file browser:
- ⌘/Ctrl + click a row to add or remove it from the selection without playing it.
- ⇧ + click selects every clip between your last click and this one.
- ⇧ + arrow keys extends the selection as you move between rows.
- ⌘/Ctrl + A selects every clip currently visible in the list — wherever you last clicked, as long as you are not typing in a field.
- Esc clears the selection.
Selected rows get a gold wash, and the selection follows whatever filter is active — filter a clip out of view and it drops out of the selection too.
With clips selected, a bulk bar appears above the list to add the whole selection to a collection or playlist, export it, or delete it in one go. The \ and Shift + \ hotkeys act on the whole selection too, sending it straight to your last-used collection or playlist.
The quick menu
Right-click any row for a quick menu — play, select/deselect, show/hide details, edit, export, delete — plus bulk export/delete once the row is part of a selection. On touch, long-press opens the same menu; its Select item is how you start a multi-select without a keyboard.
Reading a row at a glance
Small icon chips on a row show anything else attached to the clip — active variant qualifiers and, on decks with a zone map, the zone it was tagged in. Hover a chip to see its label.
Hovering a row's actions button (the last one on the row) shows its tooltip with the row's gestures underneath: ⌘/Ctrl-click to select, ⇧-click for a range, click again for details, ⌘/Ctrl+Enter for actions.