Get started with Rooster: record, edit, export

Rooster is a video editor you edit by editing the transcript. A first video takes four steps: get a recording into a project, let Rooster transcribe it, cut what you do not want from the script, and export.

1. Start a project

With no project open, Rooster shows its welcome screen and three ways in:

• Record video opens the recorder. Record your camera, your screen, both, or audio alone, and the take arrives in a project of its own. See Record video.
• Import media asks for one video or audio file and makes a project from it, named after the file. See Import video or audio.
• New project makes an empty project you can add a recording to later. See Create a new project.

The same three are in the File menu as Record Video… (⌘R), Import Media… (⌘I) and New Project… (⌘N).

2. Let Rooster transcribe it

A recording or an imported file is transcribed as soon as it arrives, on your Mac, unless you have turned off Transcribe when recording ends in the recorder's settings. The very first time, Rooster downloads its speech model once; after that, transcription works offline. When it finishes, the script appears in the script pane. See Transcribe a video on your Mac.

3. Edit the words

Click a word to move the playhead to it. To cut part of the video, select the words and press Delete, or press Cut in the bar that appears over them. The words leave the script and the video skips them, and a ¦ mark stays where they were so you can put them back with Restore. Your recording itself is never changed. See Edit video by editing the script.

4. Export

Press Export at the top of the editor, or choose File > Export… (⇧⌘E). Choose a format, press Choose destination and export…, and pick where the file goes - Rooster suggests your Downloads folder. See Export a video.

What next

A tour of the Rooster editor names every part of the window, and Where Rooster saves recordings and exports says where your files end up.