How to edit faster in DaVinci Resolve: Cut page, keys, mouse

What makes editing in DaVinci Resolve faster, in order?

Four changes, in this order: stay on one editing page for the rough cut, put the actions you repeat on keys, set the project to its final size and frame rate before you cut, then add hardware if your hands are still travelling. Hardware bought before the first three rarely fixes a slow edit.

1. One page for the rough cut. Blackmagic's product page says editing is done on the cut and edit pages. Pick one for assembly and stay there until the story works.
2. Keys for your repeat actions. The edit page has fully customizable keyboard shortcuts, so the ten things you do most can sit under one hand.
3. The right project shape. Vertical and square resolutions sit in the project and timeline settings. Choosing them first saves a reframe pass later.
4. Less hand travel. A Speed Editor, an Editor Keyboard, or a mouse with mapped buttons, so you stop reaching for menus.

We make mouzeclick, a mouse shortcut app. Its own section further down is labelled as ours. Every Resolve and Blackmagic hardware fact on this page comes from Blackmagic Design's own pages, linked under Sources.

Should you edit on the Cut page or the Edit page in Resolve?

Use whichever one you can stay on for the whole rough cut. Blackmagic lists both as editing pages. Pick one for assembly and stay on it: switching back and forth mid-assembly means re-reading a different layout each time.

One split that works: the first page for getting clips into order, the second for fine trims, titles and the parts that need more panels. If you choose that split, make it a rule: no fine trimming during the assembly, and no re-ordering during the polish. Each page switch resets where your eyes and hands are.

One detail matters for speed. Blackmagic's product page lists the fully customizable keyboard shortcuts with the edit page. If you rely on a remapped keyboard, check in your version which of your custom keys also apply on the cut page before you commit to it for the rough cut. Blackmagic's support center carries the instruction manuals, software updates and support notes.

The other pages each have their own job, per Blackmagic: Fusion for visual effects and motion graphics, color for correction and Fairlight for audio. Batch those passes. Grade everything once the cut is locked, mix once, export once.

How do you set up a Resolve project so it doesn't slow you down?

Decide the delivery shape, frame rate and whether you need Studio before the first cut. Changing them mid-edit means rechecking work you have already done.

• Vertical and square from the start. Blackmagic says Resolve offers square and vertical resolutions in the project and timeline settings, for TikTok, Instagram, X, YouTube Shorts and Snapchat. It also lists Smart Reframe and direct upload to YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo and X, which cuts out a separate upload step.
• Know the free version's ceiling. The free version works with virtually all 8-bit video formats at up to 60fps, in resolutions as high as Ultra HD 3840 x 2160. If your footage is 10-bit or above 60fps, check this before you start: Blackmagic lists 10-bit video up to 120 frames per second among Studio's additions.
• Studio's playback and encode help. Blackmagic lists Studio with support for multiple GPUs for real-time playback of professional 10-bit formats, plus accelerated H.264 and H.265 hardware decoding and encoding. It is optimized for Metal and Apple Silicon unified memory GPUs on a Mac, and for OpenCL and CUDA on Windows and Linux.
• Text based editing is a Studio feature. For talking-head edits, Blackmagic lists text based editing among Studio's additions, along with voice isolation and a dialogue separator for audio.

The full split between the two versions is on our DaVinci Resolve free vs Studio comparison. For the two jobs that eat the most time on spoken content, see removing silence in DaVinci Resolve and auto captions in DaVinci Resolve. Blackmagic lists Subtitles and Closed Captioning as an edit page feature.

Which DaVinci Resolve keyboard shortcuts should you learn first?

Learn the keys for the actions you repeat most in your own edits, and nothing else at first. A short list you use every minute beats a long list you look up.

Do this once: edit one real project and tally what you reach for. A typical list looks like the one below. Then look each action up in the DaVinci Resolve keyboard shortcuts list, and if a key sits awkwardly, move it. The edit page's shortcuts are fully customizable, and our guide to changing keyboard shortcuts in DaVinci Resolve walks through it.

Two rules keep a custom layout fast. Keep left-hand actions on the left side of the keyboard so your right hand can stay on the mouse. And write your changes down, or export them if your version allows it, so a reinstall doesn't cost you a day of muscle memory.

Is the DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor worth it for fast editing?

It is worth it if you cut in Resolve most days and would buy Studio anyway, because the box includes a DaVinci Resolve Studio activation key. If you only edit in Resolve now and then, learn the keys first.

What Blackmagic publishes about it:

• A large search dial in a design that includes only the specific keys needed for editing.
• It plugs into a computer's USB-C connection or connects by Bluetooth BLE, with one USB Type-C port for software configuration and updates.
• Bluetooth with a battery for wireless use, so it is more portable than a full-sized keyboard.
• Supported systems: Mac 13.0 Ventura, Mac 14.0 Sonoma or later; Windows 10 Creators Update, Windows 11 and Windows 11 for ARM; Rocky Linux 8.6.
• In the box: the Speed Editor and a DaVinci Resolve Studio activation key.

What Blackmagic does not publish, on the pages we checked on 3 November 2026: whether the bundled Studio key is perpetual or per seat, the Bluetooth version and battery life, the full key map, and whether the Speed Editor works with software other than Resolve. Treat it as a Resolve tool. Blackmagic's keyboard page has the official description. For controllers that work across several editors, see our roundup of video editing controllers.

Speed Editor or Editor Keyboard: which one suits you?

Pick the Speed Editor if you want a dial and editing keys beside your normal keyboard, or a wireless unit for a laptop. Pick the Editor Keyboard if you want one full-sized keyboard that replaces your current one and has a dial built in.

The Editor Keyboard can also be installed inset for flush mounting, per Blackmagic. Both are on the Blackmagic tech specs page. Neither replaces the mouse: you still point, drag and trim with it, and the keyboard's hub has ports for one.

How can your mouse make Resolve editing faster?

Your mouse can carry the keys you use most, so the hand already on it can cut, undo and step frames without moving to the keyboard.

Start small. Put cut at the playhead on one side button and undo on the other, and use them for a whole edit before you add more. Our piece on what mouse side buttons are for covers layouts that work. If you are shopping, see our guide to the best mouse for video editing.

A mouse setup and a Speed Editor are not either-or. You can keep the dial for shuttling and the mouse for cuts and trims. What matters is that each action lives in exactly one place you never have to think about. If you are weighing a separate controller against the mouse you own, our TourBox alternative comparison sets the two approaches side by side.

Where mouzeclick fits (we make it)

mouzeclick is a mouse app for Windows and Mac that puts shortcuts, macros, gestures and three wheels on any mouse, per app. It has no DaVinci Resolve panel. In Resolve it works like in any other app: it sends the keys and actions you set.

What that gives a Resolve editor:

• Buttons per app. Mouse 4 can do one thing in Resolve and another in Chrome, and it changes the moment you switch windows. It uses up to five standard buttons plus scroll and tilt, on any wired, wireless or Bluetooth mouse, with no driver.
• Eleven slots per button. Tap, hold and move in four directions, a chord with another button, or hold and scroll.
• The Options wheel (F8, or Fn + F8 on a MacBook keyboard): 48 favourites per app on three rings of 12, 16 and 20. Middle-click steps out to the next ring. It can also open from Ctrl + right click or a side button.
• Ready-made wheels for Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop and CapCut, filled with everyday editing actions. They are new in the app's current Windows and Mac betas. A wheel you have already set up is never changed.
• The Orbit switch (F9): every open app on a wheel, for hopping between Resolve, a browser and your files.
• Hotkeys and macros. Record a shortcut, or chain keys, clicks, waits, typed text and launches. A hotkey can also block a combination an app keeps stealing.

Be clear on the limits. The Tool wheel works only in Premiere Pro and After Effects, not in Resolve. The built-in library of 309 shortcuts, Resolve among them, is the Windows figure; on a Mac, plan to record Resolve's keys yourself. There is no Linux app, so a Rocky Linux edit suite is Speed Editor territory. mouzeclick needs an internet connection while it runs: if it drops, shortcuts pause and the mouse acts normally. It never changes DPI or polling rate.

The workspaces, captions and Retakes are Premiere Pro and After Effects tools, and they are Windows-only. Cloud sync and in-app updates are Windows-only too. The mouse app, wheels and gestures, everything you would use in Resolve, run on both Windows and Mac. See the three wheels, or pricing: $25 a month, $249 a year, or $499 once for one of the first 100 lifetime keys, after a 3-day trial with no card. If you also cut in Premiere, the same app covers Premiere Pro mouse shortcuts.

How do you set up a Resolve mouse wheel with mouzeclick?

Install the app, press each mouse button once, open Resolve and hold F8. The steps:

1. Install mouzeclick and paste your key. On a Mac, follow the four steps on the Mac install page: drag to Applications, allow it once under System Settings › Privacy & Security › Security › Open Anyway, turn it on under Accessibility and Input Monitoring, then quit and reopen.
2. On first run, press each mouse button once. The settings page is built around the buttons your mouse really has.
3. Open DaVinci Resolve. It gets its own profile, separate from every other app.
4. Hold F8 over Resolve to open the Options wheel (Fn + F8 on a MacBook keyboard). If Resolve has no wheel yet, the ready-made one fills it.
5. Put cut at the playhead and undo on the two side buttons, and timeline zoom on a hold-and-scroll.
6. If you changed Resolve's keyboard layout, check that each wheel slot and button sends the key your layout now uses.

If nothing fires: on Windows, apps running as administrator ignore apps that are not elevated, so pick Restart as administrator in the tray menu. On a Mac, recheck Accessibility and Input Monitoring, then quit and reopen mouzeclick. Check your internet connection too. On Windows, Ctrl + Alt + F12 stops mouzeclick at once if a mapping misbehaves.

When is the Speed Editor a better pick than a mouse setup?

The Speed Editor is the better pick when you want a physical dial, a Studio key in the box, or Linux support. A mouse app can't give you any of those three.

• You shuttle a lot. A large search dial is made for scrubbing long footage. A scroll wheel can step and zoom, but it is not a jog dial.
• You were buying Studio. Both Blackmagic keyboards ship with a Studio activation key, so the hardware partly pays for software you planned to get.
• You edit on Linux. Resolve and both keyboards list Linux support; mouzeclick has no Linux app.
• Your suite is offline. mouzeclick needs a connection while it runs. The Blackmagic pages we checked don't say whether the Speed Editor needs one, so check before relying on it in an air-gapped room.
• You only use Resolve. Per-app profiles matter most when you jump between editors. If Resolve is your only app, the Speed Editor is built for exactly that.

A mouse setup is the better fit when you work in several apps, edit on a laptop where extra hardware is a nuisance, or already own a mouse with side buttons.

Questions people ask

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03. Prices and features change: each link goes to the maker's own page.

1. Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve product page (pages, shortcuts, price, free version limits)
2. Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve Studio (GPU, frame rate, hardware encoding, audio tools)
3. Blackmagic Design: What's new in DaVinci Resolve (vertical resolutions, Smart Reframe, direct upload)
4. Blackmagic Design: Speed Editor and Editor Keyboard
5. Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve tech specs (keyboard connections, supported OS, what's included)
6. Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve and Fusion support center

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