Visual Space manual, Live Apps, Assemble A Local Video Draft

Use this walkthrough to assemble a short local sequence in Frames, check its timing, and capture the editing decisions you want to keep. You will finish with a useful session draft and review plan, **not a rendered or finished video**.

Decide Whether This Session Is Safe To Start

Frames project identity persists, but the work inside the editor does not. Leaving Frames, refreshing the page, or switching to another Frames project resets the timeline, assets, captions, titles, audio, markers, comments, settings, clipboard, and history.

Before you begin:

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Confirm your access - Sign in, join the current space, and open the area that should own the project. You can open only projects available to you in that area. Creating a project requires Coordinator permission and access to the selected area; a private area must already be available to you.

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Reserve one uninterrupted session - Finish the useful assembly pass without refreshing, following another Frames project link, or returning to the explorer. Ordinary edits are safe to undo while the workspace remains open, but there is no durable autosave or recovery point.

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Open a durable place for decisions - Keep a separate Visual Space document, article, or another persistent note outside Frames. You will use it near the end for the clip order, wording, timestamps, and follow-up work that must survive the session.

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Set the right expectation - Frames currently helps you plan timing and structure. Its media reference, playback, waveform, review, and export surfaces do not produce a finished video.

If losing the current sequence would be costly, stop here and wait for a workflow that saves Frames edit content. A reusable project link protects only the project entry.

Create Or Open The Project

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Open Frames - From the current space area, choose Apps, then Frames. The project explorer opens in that area.

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Open existing work when appropriate - Select an accessible Frames project if its identity and location are already suitable. Do not expect an earlier timeline to return with it.

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Create when eligible - Choose New Frames project if you are a Coordinator with the required area access. Frames creates the project entry and opens its workspace.

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Check the destination - Confirm the expected project name and area before editing. The timeline should begin as empty Video, B-roll, Audio, Caption, Text, Overlay, and Adjust lanes.

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Read the session warning - Look for the warning that leaving or refreshing resets edits. Treat it as the boundary for everything that follows.

You are ready when the editor is open on the intended project and you can stay in that workspace until the decisions have been recorded elsewhere.

Stage A Representative Sequence

Start with a small sequence that lets you exercise the editor without mistaking the supplied material for your own production media.

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Place the playhead - Move the playhead to the frame where the first visual should begin. A clip added from Assets starts near the current playhead, so set the position before adding it.

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Open Assets - Open the Assets panel and choose Import sample reference. This adds the supplied existing-media reference to the session; it does not upload a file or open a real media picker.

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Add the reference - Find the imported asset and choose Add to timeline. Frames places a compatible clip in an available visual lane, selects it, and brings its start into view.

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Add a title layer - In the empty Text lane, place the playhead at the intended title start and choose Add title. Open Captions, find the new text layer, and replace the Title text copy. You can also choose a template, style, placement, and font size.

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Add a manual caption - In the empty Caption lane, choose Add caption. In Captions, replace Edit this caption, add a speaker label when useful, and choose its placement and style. Automatic transcription and transcript import are unavailable, so enter the caption yourself.

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Add a local audio cue - In the empty Audio lane, choose Add audio. This creates a local voiceover placeholder that you can time and adjust through the existing controls; it does not import, decode, or play a real audio recording.

At this checkpoint, the timeline should show a referenced visual clip plus the title, caption, or audio elements you chose. The lanes express when each part belongs, even though Frames is not combining real media into a playable result.

Navigate And Shape The Timeline

Build a readable editing rhythm before fine-tuning individual properties. Frames supports a focused clip and a wider selected set, so pay attention to which clip owns commands such as Split or Trim.

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Move through the draft - Click or scrub the ruler to reposition the playhead. Use the timeline zoom controls to see a wider span or focus around the playhead, and return to 100% when you need a neutral view.

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Focus one clip - Select a clip to make it the command target. Frames moves the playhead to that clip's start, so reposition the playhead afterward when a command must happen at an interior frame.

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Select several clips when needed - Use Cmd or Ctrl to toggle clips in the selection. Use Shift to span the visible clips between the focused clip and the one you choose. A selected set is useful when several layers need to move together.

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Split at a meaningful beat - Put the playhead inside the focused clip, not on its first or last frame, then choose Split. You can also use the Blade tool at a valid point. The two resulting clips remain local timeline pieces; no media file is cut.

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Trim an edge - Put the playhead inside the focused clip and use Trim start to playhead or Trim end to playhead. On desktop, you can also use the clip's trim handles. Frames prevents a trim that would collapse the clip to an invalid length.

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Move the timing - Drag a clip or selected set along the timeline. For a precise correction, use Move left 1 frame or Move right 1 frame. Frames keeps the move within the sequence boundary.

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Duplicate a useful part - Choose Duplicate for the current selection, then move the copy to its new position. On desktop, Option or Alt-drag can create and move a copy in one gesture.

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Use the Frames clipboard carefully - Cut, Copy, and Paste work on selected timeline clips and retain their track relationship when pasted at the playhead. This clipboard belongs only to Frames; it cannot paste clip data into another app or accept content from your device clipboard.

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Correct a change immediately - Use Undo and Redo while the session remains open. A new edit after undo clears the redo path, just as it would in a normal editing history.

Pause after a few edits and scan the tracks vertically. The visual, title, caption, and audio spans should now communicate the intended order without requiring every lane to begin or end at the same frame.

Read the draft vertically: each track shows when its audio, caption, or title layer contributes to the sequence.

Inspect And Refine The Draft

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Review one clip at a time - Select a clip and open Inspector. Confirm its Start, End, and Duration before changing the controls that apply to its type.

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Refine the visual cue - For a supported visual clip, adjust available properties such as opacity, playback speed, or fit. Crop and media replacement may remain unavailable, so do not build the plan around those actions.

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Polish text and captions - Use Captions to adjust title copy, template, font size, style, and placement, or caption copy, speaker, style, placement, and Burn into video. These settings describe the local draft only; they are not being rendered into media.

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Shape the audio cue - Open Audio to change Clip volume, Mute clip, Fade in, or Fade out, or mute the Audio track. The waveform is a visual placeholder, and solo, ducking, voice enhancement, and loudness normalization are unavailable.

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Use the preview as a timing check - When the preview is ready, use Play preview, frame-by-frame scrubbing, loop, preview volume, and Fit or Fill to inspect timing and composition cues. The preview is a timing shell, not decoded playback of the assembled video.

The most useful checkpoint is agreement between three places: the clip spans on the timeline, the selected clip's values in Inspector, and the title or caption copy visible in the preview. A blank, missing, unsupported, or poster-error state indicates the reference cannot be represented normally; it does not mean Frames has produced a playable sequence.

Use the selected caption span and Inspector together to verify which local clip owns each refinement control.

Mark A Review Moment

Use markers to preserve your reasoning inside the current session long enough to review it, then copy the important decision into your durable note.

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Add a navigation marker - Move the playhead to a transition or decision point and choose Add marker. Frames creates a marker such as Marker 1; selecting it later returns the playhead to that frame.

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Create a local review note - Move to a second moment if useful, open Comments, and choose Add local review marker, then Add marker. Frames creates a review marker and an open timestamp comment at the current frame.

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Check the link - Select the review comment or its frame marker. The playhead should return to the same moment, confirming that the note is anchored where you intended.

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Recognize the limit - The generated review-note text, assignee, review status, and resolved state cannot currently be edited. It is a personal session aid and is not sent to collaborators or meeting participants.

If the wording of the decision matters, write the real note in your durable document now and include the displayed timestamp or frame. Do not leave that meaning only in the generated Frames comment.

Verify The Local History

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Open History - Open the History panel after your edits. Check Undo available, Redo available, the latest command name, and the markers listed with their frames.

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Test one reversible action - Undo a harmless recent move or duplicate, confirm the timeline returns to its earlier state, then redo it. This verifies the current session history without claiming that a saved version exists.

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Inspect Versions only as a boundary - The Versions panel can describe the current local draft, last edit, and recovery or snapshot placeholders. It does not create a saved version, autosave the sequence, or provide recovery after you leave.

History is healthy for this walkthrough when it reflects the latest editing command and the expected markers. It remains part of the same disposable session as the timeline.

Inspect Export Without Starting One

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Open Export - Review the Current draft details and the available preset descriptions. They can help you record an intended shape such as Visual Space, landscape, vertical, square, audio only, or captions file.

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Treat every preset as a preview - Export and publishing are disabled is the controlling status. Choosing a preset cannot start rendering, create a file, publish the draft, or make a download available.

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Record the intended destination - Write the chosen format idea, aspect, caption decision, and audio decision in your durable note. This is a production handoff, not an export from Frames.

Do not wait for a progress result. The shown history, advanced settings, and job states are explanatory previews only.

Preserve The Decisions Before Leaving

While Frames is still open, transfer the parts another person—or you in a later session—would need to rebuild the idea:

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Record the sequence - List the visual order and the approximate start, split, trim, and end frames.

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Save the words - Manually record the title, caption, and speaker wording. Frames Copy uses the app-local clip clipboard, so do not rely on it to move text into your notes.

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Capture the audio plan - Note where voice, music, or effects should begin, the intended level, mute state, and fade choices.

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Carry over review points - Copy the meaningful marker frames or timestamps and rewrite each generated review note as a clear action or decision.

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Describe the intended output - Record the desired destination, aspect, captions, and audio treatment shown in Export, while making clear that no file was created.

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Keep the project reference - Preserve the Frames project name or link so you can return to the same project identity. Returning later will not restore this assembled sequence.

The walkthrough is complete when the open Frames session shows the intended timing structure and your durable note contains enough information to explain or rebuild it. You have a local editing draft and decision record, not a finished video asset.

Fix Common Problems

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New Frames project is unavailable - Confirm that you are signed in, joined to the space, have Coordinator permission, and can access the selected area. Private-area access is still required.

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The project opens with an empty timeline - This is expected after a refresh, departure, or project switch. Only the project identity persists; Frames cannot recover the earlier edit session.

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There is no file picker or upload action - The current Assets workflow provides only the supplied media reference. Real picking, upload, replacement, and processing are unavailable.

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Split or Trim is unavailable - Focus one clip, then move the playhead strictly inside its start and end. A boundary frame cannot divide the clip or trim it to a valid remainder.

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Paste does nothing outside Frames - The Frames clipboard is app-local and holds timeline clips, not device clipboard content. Record important copy manually in a durable note.

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The preview does not look like a finished cut - The preview checks timing, guides, text, and local states. It does not decode and combine the referenced video and audio.

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The review note cannot be rewritten or resolved - Review-note body and status editing are unavailable. Keep the actionable wording in your durable note.

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Export does not start - Export is preview-only. Frames cannot render, publish, or create a downloadable file.

Continue From Here

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Read Frames for the full workspace, access, and session-boundary overview.

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Follow Use Frames in a meeting when the draft needs to occupy a supported activity meeting stage.

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Return to Live Apps when you need a workspace with a different persistence or collaboration model.