iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual

Edit Menu

The Edit menu contains all of the editing commands described in Chapter 5. In fact, along with the various drag-and-drop editing techniques described in this book, the commands in the Edit menu are the only tools you need to build your movies.

Undo

In iMovie, you can take back not only the last editing maneuver, not only the last ten, but an infinite number of steps, all the way back to the last time you saved your document (or created it, depending on which came most recently). The ability to change your mind, or to recover from a particularly bad editing decision, is a considerable blessing.

The wording of this command changes to show you which editing step it’s about to reverse. It might say Undo Import, Undo Move (after you’ve dragged a clip), Undo Split (after you’ve chopped a clip in half), and so on. Keyboard shortcut: ⌘-Z.

Tip

Remember, saving your project or emptying the project Trash command wipes out iMovie’s memory of your last steps. You’ll no longer be able to undo your previous editing actions.

Redo

We’re only human, so it’s entirely possible that sometimes you might want to undo your Undo.

For example, suppose that you’ve just used the Undo command a few times, retracing your steps back to a time when your movie was in better shape, and then decide that you’ve gone one step too far. That’s when the Redo command is useful; it tells iMovie to undo your last Undo, so that you can step forward in time, redoing the steps that you just undid. (If you haven’t yet ...