A synced timeline is one group of files recorded at the same moment. A project can hold as many as you need, so give each guest, session, day, or scene its own synced timeline. Each one stands on its own with its own transcript, topics, and speakers, and a single draft can pull from several of them.

Selects can line your files up two ways:

Selects picks whichever fits your footage, or you can choose yourself.

You can ask chat to set it up, or build the timeline yourself.

Selects waits for you. When your files finish importing, prep chat opens by asking how your footage was shot, and nothing syncs until you answer.

If you are not sure, describe your shoot in chat and Selects will work out whether anything needs syncing.

Chat can handle the whole thing. Tell it what you shot and it will group your files into synced timelines, place each angle on its own track, and run the sync.

Things worth asking for:

Chat chooses the sync method for you by reading your files, so you do not need to know whether your footage carries usable timecode.

When it finishes, it tells you which clips synced and which did not, with the reason for each failure. If the result looks wrong, undo it and try a different approach.

Not sure how to phrase a request? Read How to write prompts for AI editing in Selects for templates by use case.

To build one by hand, there are two ways in. Let Selects lay the clips out for you, or place them yourself.

Either way, once the clips are in place you are ready to sync.

To add more files to a timeline you already built, select them, right click, and choose [Add to] followed by that timeline's name.

Once your clips are placed, click [Sync clips]. If your footage carries usable timecode, Selects lets you pick between the two methods:

If timecode sync is not possible for the clips you selected, Selects skips the choice and syncs by waveform.

To sync only part of a timeline, select clips from at least two tracks and choose [Sync selected clips]. This is useful when an earlier sync left a few clips behind.

When syncing finishes, Selects tells you whether everything lined up. If it did, you see [Sync complete]. If some clips failed, the [Sync clips] button is replaced by a red [Review unsynced clips] button showing how many.

To fix them:

You can also position them by hand instead of removing them.

A video file with no audio track cannot be synced by waveform, because there is no sound to match against. If it carries no timecode either, Selects has nothing to work with and the clip stays unsynced no matter how many times you run the sync.

Line it up yourself using markers, which the timeline snaps to:

Play the timeline back to check the alignment before you go any further. A sync that reports success can still be slightly out.

If a clip is off, select it and nudge it a frame at a time:

You can also drag a clip left or right with the mouse instead. To move a clip to a different track, drag it up or down.

Analysis reads directly from your sync, so a transcript is only as accurate as the alignment underneath it. Get this right before you spend credits.

When you click [Analyze media for edit], Selects asks you to confirm with [Please double check before analysis]:

Click [Start analysis] to continue, or [Go back] to keep working on your sync.

Learn more in How AI analysis works in Selects.

If you shot on one camera with no separate audio, like a vlog, there is nothing to sync. Skip the prep timeline and click [Analyze media for edit] straight away. Every clip still comes back with its own transcript, topics, and subtopics.

Selects supports 10 or more camera angles in a single project. It also syncs separate audio recordings, including lav mics, boom mics, and wireless feeds, with your video. If you shot with one camera but recorded audio separately, that works the same way.

Selects may not be able to sync a file if:

If a file will not sync, check that every camera was recording at the same time for at least a few seconds of shared audio. A clap or a counted slate at the top of a take makes syncing much easier.

Syncing no longer starts on its own. When your files finish importing, prep chat asks whether anything needs syncing, and waits for your answer. Pick [My clips need syncing] if you shot multiple cameras or recorded audio separately, or [Review for files to sync] to have Selects check for you.

Yes. A project can hold as many synced timelines as you need, and each one is treated on its own with its own transcript, topics, and speakers. You can then build a single draft that pulls from several of them.

No. Syncing is only needed when footage was recorded at the same moment across several files, like multicam or a separate audio recorder. If you shot a single camera with its own audio, go straight to [Analyze media for edit].

Not by sight. Selects does not analyze the picture for syncing yet, so it will not spot a visual slate on its own. It does hear the clap, though, and that sharp sound gives waveform syncing a strong point to match against, so clapping is still worth doing. If a clip has no audio at all, you can use the clap visually by placing markers on the frame where the clapper closes. See Syncing videos with no audio above.

Either works and they do the same thing. Chat is faster when you have a lot of files or several shoots to separate, because it groups and places everything for you. Doing it yourself gives you direct control over which clip sits on which track, which helps when the grouping is unusual.

Yes. Selects saves the state from before the sync, so you can revert if the result looks wrong and try the other method or a different grouping.

Not yet. Files added after a project is created stand on their own and cannot be synced together into a new timeline, so multicam is not an option for them. Learn more in Add media to an existing project.

No. Selects syncs from the audio waveform by default, so no timecode, slate, or clapboard is required. If your files do carry usable timecode, [Sync with timecode] is offered as an alternative and is faster.