There are two moments where you can start creating a draft manually:
When a project is first created: the editor opens with no timeline yet. Click [Create new timeline] in the empty timeline area to start a blank one.
After that: click + on the draft tab bar above the timeline and choose [New timeline] to create a new blank timeline.
Build your edit
There are three ways to get clips onto the timeline. Mix them freely as you work.
Add topics or subtopics
Click a file in the project panel to open it, and Selects shows the topics and subtopics it found. Drag a topic or subtopic onto the timeline and the whole section comes with it. Clicking it first selects the same stretch of transcript, so you can see what you are about to carry before you move it.
Tip: Use search to find specific moments across your footage. Learn more in Search your footage: text and scene search.
Add from the transcript
In the transcript panel on the right, select any sentence or paragraph and drag it onto the timeline to add that segment to your draft.
You can also edit at the word level using text-based editing. Learn more in Transcript and timeline editing.
Scrub through the preview
Turn on [Compare with source] (the icon button in the preview toolbar) to show the original footage in the preview.
Scrub through the original footage to find the section you want.
Select the section you want by clicking and dragging in the preview timeline, then drag it onto the timeline.
Tip: Select the preview timeline when you want to browse your original footage. Sections not included in your draft are grayed out. If the draft timeline is selected, the transcript only shows what is in the draft.
Add B-roll and audio
Drag B-roll or audio clips from the project panel directly onto the timeline. You can also ask chat to find and place cutaways for you.
Learn more in Add B-roll and audio to your edit.
When to use this
Manual editing is the right choice when:
You have a specific creative vision that AI suggestions would not capture.
You want to explore the footage yourself before deciding on a structure.
Your content is too specialized or unconventional for AI to structure effectively.
You still have AI tools
Starting manually does not mean giving up AI assistance. All cleanup tools are still available in the [Apps] tab of the left panel: remove silence, cut filler words (for English footage), and speaker audio settings. Camera switching runs through chat, and [Speakers] in the floating toolbar is where you assign each speaker to a face on camera and an audio track. Search works the same way, too. You are simply building your timeline yourself instead of starting from an AI-generated draft.
Learn more in Editing tools in Selects and Set up speakers, cameras, and audio for multi-cam.