Clips and editing
Edit a clip with chat
Type a change in plain words and Reeltopus makes it. What you can ask for, what chat won't do and the limits.
Updated
The Chat tab lets you change a clip by typing what you want, like "start at 'the trick is'" or "yellow captions". Reeltopus makes the edit and tells you what changed. This article covers what you can ask for and the limits.
How to use it
- Select a clip in the editor.
- Open the Chat tab on the right.
- Type your request and press Send, or press one of the suggestions, like Make it 30 seconds or Remove the ums.
The reply says what changed, and a list under it shows each change. The preview updates right away. Each chat request is one undo step, so Undo puts the whole request back.
Each clip keeps its own conversation while you switch between clips, so follow-ups like "a bit earlier" work.
What you can ask for
| You want to | Try asking |
|---|---|
| Move the start or end | "Start at 'the trick is'", "End after the punchline", "Add the sentence before" |
| Change the length | "Make it 30 seconds", "Shorter" |
| Cut part of the middle | "Cut the part about my dog" |
| Bring cut words back | "Put back what I cut" |
| Remove pauses and fillers | "Remove the ums", "Tighten it" |
| Change the caption style | "Use Karaoke" |
| Change caption colors | "Yellow captions", "Make the highlight blue" |
| Highlight words | "Make 'million' pop" |
| Rename the clip | "Write a punchier title" |
| Change the hook | "Make the hook shorter", "Remove the hook" |
| Change the shape | "Make it square", "Make it 16:9" |
| Split screen | "Show both speakers" (only on clips where it's available) |
| Zoom | "Turn on auto zoom" |
| Overlays | "Hide the hook", "Add a progress bar" |
| Apply a saved look | "Apply my podcast template", "Use my brand" |
| Dub | "Make a Spanish version" |
You can ask for several changes in one message.
What it won't do
- It won't make up words. Chat can only use what was said in the video. Titles and hooks are written in the transcript's language and stay true to what's said.
- It won't start a dub. A dub uses hours, so chat offers a button instead, like Set up the Spanish dub. Pressing it opens the dub panel, where you start it yourself. See Dub a clip into another language.
- It only edits the clip you have open. For other clips, select them first.
- It won't guess at unclear requests. If it can't tell what you mean, it asks a short question or says what it can do.
Limits
- A message can be up to 500 characters.
- Each person can send up to 60 chat edits an hour. Past that, you'll see "Too many requests. Try again in a little while."
- Chat waits while the clip is exporting or being dubbed. Try again when that's done.
- A dubbed clip's words and timing are fixed to the voice, so chat can't trim or cut it. Edit the original clip instead.
- Owners, admins and editors can use chat. Viewers and clients can't edit clips.
Chat edits don't use any hours.
If something goes wrong
- "That didn't work. Try again." Your message is put back in the box so you can send it again.
- "The editor is busy right now. Try again in a moment." Wait a few seconds and resend.
- "I couldn't work out what to change. Try saying it another way." Rephrase, or quote the exact words you mean.
- The Chat tab says chat editing isn't switched on. Chat isn't available on your account yet. You can make every one of these changes by hand. See Edit a clip.
Tips
- Quote the words you mean. Small differences in punctuation or a misheard word are fine.
- For length, chat lands close to your target on a sentence boundary, so "30 seconds" may come out a little over or under.