This is our biggest update yet! We rebuilt how Selects creates and organizes projects from the ground up.
Everything you add or create in a project is now a resource: a video file, an audio file, or a synced timeline. Every resource that has audio gets its own transcription, topics and subtopics, and speaker detection. That one change is what makes everything below possible.
Which projects get much more powerful
Give each guest, session, day, or scene its own synced timeline, then build one draft from all of them. That is the big jump for multi-guest interviews and podcasts, documentaries and multi-subject stories, and multi-day or multi-scene shoots.
Vlogs and single-camera footage get the other end of it: nothing to sync, so you go straight to analysis. Every clip comes back with its own topics and subtopics, so you pull from whichever ones you want and build the draft freely.
1. Many synced timelines in one project
Before, a project could hold only one synced timeline, so your transcription, topics, and speakers were all tied to that single timeline. Anything from more than one interview or shoot had to be squeezed onto it, which mixed everyone's topics and speakers together.
Now you can create as many synced timelines as your project needs, and each one is treated on its own. You can also build one draft that weaves together parts from different synced timelines, which is what makes deeper, multi-source stories possible, like cutting between three interviews that all touch the same theme.
Topics are hidden by default, because a project can now hold several resources, each with its own topics and subtopics. Hover over a resource and click [View topics] to open them.
Once your footage is analyzed, [How should we start the edit?] asks how you want to begin:
[Create a stringout] appends every clip in order with topic markers, right away and with no AI involved
[Create an assembly cut] places your clips in order, then asks you follow-up questions to shape the edit
[I have a script] matches your footage to a script you paste or upload (.txt, .md, .docx, .pdf, .srt)
[I'll do it myself] leaves the timeline to you
2. Any resource can be A-roll or B-roll
Before, a project had one main timeline. Your A-roll went on it, and everything else was sorted away into B-roll, music, and sound effects. How a file got sorted decided how you could use it.
Now that every resource stands on its own, that split is gone. Any clip works as A-roll or B-roll, whatever it came in as, on the same track as your A-roll or on a separate one. Synced timelines, single video files, and audio files are all resources, so one draft can draw on any of them and arrange them however the edit needs.
3. Syncing, your way
Before, syncing started automatically the moment you added footage. Now you decide when and how it happens, which matters even more now that a project can hold several synced timelines.
Prep chat opens by asking. Pick [My clips need syncing] if you shot on multiple cameras or recorded audio separately, or [Review for files to sync] to have Selects check your footage first. Not sure? Just ask in chat
Already synced your footage in another editor? In prep, use [Import a synced timeline] to pull the synced timelines out of a Premiere (.prproj), Final Cut Pro (.fcpxml, .fcpxmld), or Final Cut Pro 7 XML (.xml) file
Before analysis starts, a confirmation step asks you to double check that every synced timeline lines up
When there is nothing to sync, like a vlog, skip the prep timeline and go straight to [Analyze media for edit]
Note: Import brings in clean synced timelines only. Edited timelines are skipped.
4. Add and reanalyze resources anytime
Before, your media was set the moment you created the project, and a resource that failed analysis stayed failed. Now you can add more whenever you want, and give the failed ones another go.
In prep, use the [Add] menu, then [Add media files]. In the timeline, open the project panel's more menu and choose [Add media].
Nothing is analyzed automatically. Each file you add gets its own [Analyze] button, so you decide what is worth the credits
A resource that failed to analyze gets an [Analyze] button, so you can try it again
An added file can go onto the timeline right away, so footage you plan to place by hand can skip analysis entirely
Notes:
Chat only works with analyzed files. An unanalyzed file can be placed by hand and sorted into folders, but it has no transcript, topics, or speakers, so chat will not use it in a draft or find it in a search. Analyze it whenever you want chat to work with it.
Files you add after a project is created stand on their own. They cannot be synced together into a new timeline, so multicam is not an option for them yet.
Adding resources is not available in projects you created before this update.
5. Only pay for analysis that works
Before, if a project failed partway through analysis, you could still lose credits and have to start over. Now you only pay for the resources that analyze successfully.
[Overview of media to analyze] shows the estimate before you commit, with a Credits column for every resource
Resources that fail to analyze are never charged, and Selects tells you which ones failed
Stop and come back anytime. You keep the resources that already analyzed, and you will not pay for them again when you resume.
Note: Re-analyzing a synced timeline after editing it is charged again. Apart from that, you are never charged twice for the same resource.
6. Selects flags shaky and blurry shots
Before, finding the blurry, shaky, or out-of-focus moments meant scrubbing through everything yourself. Now Selects marks them for you, so you can spot and skip the weak takes at a glance.
It works on all analyzed footage, including multicam synced timelines
Bad stretches are marked on the source timeline, so you can see them without playing anything
It is on by default. Turn it off or back on anytime with [Mark bad shots in source] under Preferences
Ask chat to clean them off a draft and it will. On a single camera, it removes those stretches. On multicam, it switches to a clean angle showing the same person rather than cutting, and tells you if there is no clean angle to switch to
The cherry on top
A faster, more flexible Selects, with a smarter chat.
Chat moved to the left. Set your intent in the [Assistant] panel, review the result in the timeline on the right, and show or hide it from the bottom left.
Camera switching, fully in chat. The manual panel is gone, so just say how you want your cameras to cut, like "switch to whichever camera is facing the person who is speaking."
Every editing tool in one menu. [Remove silence], [Cut filler words], [Speaker audio settings], and [Check names and terms] all live under [Tools].
A tidier timeline toolbar. Selection and razor stay out front, with [Zoom], [Hand], [Add marker], and [Shortcuts] under [More], and [Speakers] on its own button.
Folders that survive export. Group drafts, synced timelines, and original files, and the structure carries through to your editor. Folders show up in [List view].
Chat can do the filing. Ask it to organize your folders, or drop in a screenshot of the bin structure you use in your editor and it will match it.
A real Resolve project file. Handoff now gives you a .drp instead of a zipped XML, so you open it directly and relink far less.
Preview before you analyze. In prep, hover a file and click [View], or open a synced timeline with [View synced].
Comment, then send the batch. In [Comments] mode each comment becomes a timeline marker, and sending them starts a fresh chat that works through them all at once.
Show chat an image. Attach a reference frame or a bin layout when it is easier to show than describe.
Tip: Not sure what to say to chat? Read our new How to write prompts for AI editing in Selects guide to get prompt templates by use-case.
Quick update reference
Here are all the updates at a glance.
Area | Before | Now |
Synced timelines | One per project | Multiple per project, each treated on its own |
Main timeline | One per project, with your A-roll on it and everything else sorted by role | Gone, so any clip works as A-roll or B-roll |
Starting an edit | One dialog offered a suggested edit, a script, or doing it yourself | How should we start the edit? offers a stringout, an assembly cut, a script, or doing it yourself |
Transcription, topics, speakers | Ran once, per project | Run for every resource that has audio, including synced timelines |
Syncing | Started automatically | You choose when and how, in chat or by hand. Nothing syncs automatically |
When there is nothing to sync | Still had to build the prep timeline first | Go straight to analysis, and every clip gets its own topics |
Importing a synced timeline project file | Not available | In prep, Import a synced timeline reads a .prproj, .fcpxml, or .xml file and finds the synced timelines in it |
Camera switching | Chat, with a manual panel as backup | Fully through chat, the manual panel is gone |
Chat | On the right panel | Moved to the left panel |
Reviewing a draft | Not available | Comments mode: leave comments on specific timecodes, then send the batch to chat at once |
Showing chat something | Describe it in words | Attach an image, like a bin layout or a reference frame |
Editing tools | Mixed into the floating timeline toolbar | Collected in the Tools menu, so the toolbar keeps only cutting tools |
File organization | No real structure | Folders that carry through to your export, by hand or by asking chat |
DaVinci Resolve handoff | A zipped XML you had to unzip and import | A Resolve project file (.drp) you open directly, with less relinking |
Credits | A failed project could still use credits, and you started over | You only pay for resources that analyze successfully, with the estimate shown up front |
Adding new files to a project | Media was set when you created the project | Add more files anytime, analyze the ones you choose, and retry anything that failed |
Bad shots | You scrubbed through footage to find blurry or shaky takes | Selects flags shaky and blurry shots on the source timeline, on by default, and chat can clear them for you |
On the roadmap 👀
This update reworks Selects's infrastructure foundation so your media is no longer tied to one timeline. The same change opens the door to something bigger we are building next: letting any project reuse any media, resource, or synced timeline across your work, not just the ones inside a single project. This is not available yet, but it is where we are headed in the coming months.